Definitely not like steel wool or tree bark. They aren’t stretchy at all (at least not right out of the pack) but somehow that doesn’t make them hard to wrap. At least, up to a point. I suspect I’ll need to pre stretch them considerably to get more revolutions.
I find it easier to wrap with less stretchy wraps, not so much slack to pull out of them. You just need sufficient arm strength, which shouldn’t be a huge deal. Yury Belkin uses Phantoms and wraps himself so it can definitely be done. I just heard they felt terrible, Reed was the one who said they felt like tree bark.
I got some EliteFTS Kraits, they are pretty awesome but seeing as you live in Australia I can imagine shipping and customs duties would be a problem.
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Woke at 268.7 lbs, looking a bit less bloated. Did a couple of sets of 10 bracing hip thrusts on waking and tried some stretches. My lower back is super, SUPER tight but unlike last time I have no issues rolling over in bed or anything. It’s just tight as all hell. Makes getting shit off the floor tricky, ditto getting up of low seats but apart from that could be a ton worse.
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Back is improving as the day goes in. It likes me standing. Sitting low, not so much.
I decided to have a play with the Phantoms just to see how a bit of pre stretching changed things. Well, pre stretching them by hand isn’t fun. They’re happy to stretch but it takes some force. I think I may invest in a portable roller for meets, because even a moderate pre stretch was relatively tiring on my hands.
Pre stretched they’re still easy to wrap, BUT I still only got six revolutions out of them. Except this was a much tighter six. I think with a wrap roller and a little more effort I could get seven or eight. As it is I was sitting on a bench on a tiled floor and was worried about sliding around.
In any case, I think once I figure out how to best go about preparing them to wrap they’ll be very good.
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Dumb question as im sure I know the answer, do you use a roller at all?
And what about just regular back work with a chiropractor/massage therapist.
I’m younger than you, but given my job and this hobby minimum once I month I spend an hour with a massage therapist since then my back has been A-OK.
also send you a follow on Instagram im sure youll figure out who it was ha.
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Ain’t no dumb question.
Except whether I want dessert. That’s a dumb question. I always want dessert.
I rarely use a roller. I’ve never found they do much. I do stretch every time I train though, and I really notice if I don’t.
I also rarely get massages, again because I find them nowhere near as useful as they are expensive.
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Each their own, im lucky I get very extensive benefits from work so I can get roughly 6 of each a year free so I split the months between the two.
But my massage therapist was the wrestling coach for the polish army way back when, its a odd style he does but I swear by it.
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So he’d know his shit, which makes him useful.
I just occasionally fuck up, like yesterday. Chances are if I’d done some core activation during my warmup this wouldn’t have happened.
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Funny enough, he’s the one who told me less is more before your excellent explanation yesterday.
He’s been pushing me to lift less than I do and organically let my strength occur, huge stressor to me about how its all CNS over muscle size/mass.
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Fun fact, I’m half Polish on my father’s side.
The ex Eastern Bloc countries figured training for strength out way before any NATO ones did.
It really is a case of less weight, more reps and more sets for your main lifts. Then you bodybuild. I think overall you want your main lifts and supplemental lifts to account for 20-30% of your overall volume in terms of reps. The rest is assistance work. That’s what builds your muscles up, or as Greg calls it weaponising your body.
If you combine using Prilepin’s chart to determine sets and reps and the idea of using main and supplemental lifts for no more than 30% of your volume and also make sure you deload regularly you’re most likely going to make continued progress over a long, long time.
Whether you wave your loads, set things up in blocks, whatever, doesn’t matter as long as you follow those principles. While not many of them set it out in those words, the majority of successful systems do this.
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After lunch did
3x25 reverse hypers on the dining table (works better than the couch)
50 good mornings with the mini/light band.
By the end of the good mornings I could almost touch the floor with my fingertips.
Back still tight but I think my more aggressive approach to fixing it is paying dividends.
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Makes a lot of sense, most of progress came from just grinding out reps with as high numbers as I could then returning from a short rest period and smashing pr’s.
I’m hoping with the guidance of coaching I can enter elite numbers for my lifts, I am bias but I believe I have the frame to do so and I definitely have the determination.
But as you said he stresses this is a long term game, anything that comes quick leaves quicker in this case usually injury.
Also good to hear the injury was minor and progress was made on your end for mobility.
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The frame honestly doesn’t matter as much. It’ll help but the main factor will be your ability to delay gratification and commit to make consistent improvements over a long time.
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Had another go wrapping the Phantoms, this time without prestretching and instead stretching as I wrap. The result was pretty much identical: six revolutions. Very tight cast, even though the revolutions were few. Again really pretty comfortable for how tight they were compared to something like the red Slingshots at similar tightness. Or at least, comfortable until I tried squatting and then close to parallel hoo boy, they bit.
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Decided to do a little more rehab before bed.
50 light band good mornings, really close to fingertips touching the floor. Really good back pump too
2x25 couch reverse hypers (couldn’t be bothered to clear the dining table)
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Name wise I would guess western poland. Former Prussia/ Schlesien. Because your name sounds really really German and is not uncommon here.
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You’re thinking the first half of my surname, which is indeed German. I’m half German on my mother’s side.
Ah there you go. I honestly assumed that the second half was from your wife and you took a double name at marriage.
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Woke at 267.9 lbs, looking much the same. Back is still tight but much, much better.
@Koestrizer nope, that would have made things way too complicated. My wife took my name, and to her credit didn’t take that long to learn how to spell it.
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Combined back rehab with my extra workout.
Two rounds of
50 light band good mornings
25 band pull aparts
25 band hammer curls
25 lying leg raises
I’m going to keep the light band good mornings going forward, the pump is much, much better than with the medium band.
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