I think the more you can cultivate a “beginner mind” the better off you will be. That’s the advice I have received anyway. Mixing things up is one way to get there but it’s not necessary.
Like you, I have struggled with being too goal directed and then maybe too hard on myself when I fall short of those goals. I’m working on being more process orientated or at least more curious and less judgmental when it comes to my body and what it can and can not do. That’s been a helpful headspace for me.
My mindset needs a lot of work, in most dimensions of my life right now. I wouldn’t label it as learned helplessness but that frames it well enough at this point.
The beginner mindset is something I’ve given some thought with regards to climbing but not lifting other than programming linearly ^^. I should move somewhere else in the world because outdoor climbing is when I’m my best person. Going from the ground to the anchors (yes, anchors are at the top — weird) in one single go is satisfying yes, but I don’t care about “looking cool” and doing that outdoors. I’ll happily go bolt to bolt, or rappel down and work a problematic section. I’ve even tried to go through another route to get past cruxes that I couldn’t get through (dangerous).
Rough day initially. Intended rest-day. Feeling very beat mentally. I can’t explain why but just going out for a walk felt like something I genuinely didn’t want to do. Just imagining it I felt “exposed”, maybe because I’ve had more than one walk in my life where I’ve had to hide my face in my cap to not have others see me crying.
Had a really hard time with appetite, and body-image, and felt disgusted just staying on the couch. I’ve been trying to listen to my body a lot more which was telling me I needed to rest despite having already slept an hour or so of the day away, but there I was trapped between not wanting to train (and not ever having intended to on that day) and realising that if I was to be able to eat dinner I’d have to do something physical. I got in, and out, of my training gear more than once. I even biked past the gym and shopped groceries instead, went back home, and restarted the whole “will he/won’t he”. Cried a while in my hallway in sheer frustration, with one shoe on before wiping my face clean, putting on the other shoe, and heading out.
Session
Sumo deadlift 1x5@40
Deadlift 1x5@60
Figured I started doing hinges “every” session to restore the pattern. Still not pain-free
Then I tried one set of a Tempo contrast back squat from Pendulum Bodybuilding but my elbow signalled quite modestly that was not the right idea. I’m glad I listened as I feel it today.
A. Front squats, ramp to 3@80 and then back-off 5,5,4@72
B. Slow eccentric front squat 4,5,4,5@50
C. Hip thrust 12@80, then I went for TUT. 45s@90 (6reps), 50s@80 (6r)
D. Leg extension 60s@26, 60s@40,60s@47,40s@54
Got some good news after the training session. Trap-bar and SSB are ordered and are a few weeks out. Finally. I’ve been wanting these two items desparately to the point where I offered that I’d buy them and they buy them off me once their economy is out of the red despite my own finances not really being in order.
@Koestrizer @j4gga2 @aldebaran any of you learn anything about collagen synthesis in your studies? I read Overcoming Tendonitis by Steven Low and came across this diagram
Was curious if you had a take on it. As the text notes, there are rehabilitation programs that have you do things daily — even twice daily and yet somehow recovery happens. However, I can’t think of a tendon rehabilitation program where the specific tendon loading is programmed at a greater frequency than 3x/wk. As a matter of fact, the ones that I have in mind go for 2x/wk except for an initial portion of lower intensity work at 3x/wk.
But even a 3x/wk might be excessive if performed M/W/F with 24hrs inbetween. One is then banking on that the resynthesis over the weekend is great enough to allow for supercompensation.
The frequency with which you load a tendon will depend on the type and volume of load applied. Keith Baar’s studies have found that collagen synthesis in tendons peaks at 6 hours, so he recommends completing isometric exercises 2-3 times a day. You can get away with this because isometrics impose less breakdown on tendons (as far as I am aware) and do not irritate load-related tendinopathies. However, many tendinopathies, such as bicipital tendinopathy or insertional achilles tendinopathy are not related to load, but compression against bony structures. Such tendinopathies cannot be managed isometrically.
Isotonic exercises (i.e. traditional strength training) cannot be completed with such a high frequency because isotonics impose greater muscle damage than isometrics. There is no real difference in effectiveness between isometrics and isotonics, except that isometrics have a highly analgesic effect, particularly in the lower limb. This is why they are programmed with very high frequency in early phases of patellar tendinopathy, for example.
Another important consideration here is that elbow tendinopathie haven’t been shown to respond more favourably to a isometric → isotonic → plyometric progression (like you’d use for patellar tendinopathy) than conventional isotonic exercises. For whatever reason, the analgesic effect of isometrics isn’t consistently demonstrated in the upper limb. Therefore, you are more likely (but not required) to perform isotonic exercises to manage the upper limb, and are therefore more inclined to rest 2-3 days between sessions.
So, tldr: *If you’re performing isometric exercises for load-related tendinopathies, loading multiple times a day is likely to be tolerated. If you’re performing
Keith Barr and his work inspired this
But I think it has received some criticism because it enhances tendon stiffness which isn’t always what you want. Any thoughts on that from a risk of injury perspective (or any other perspective you’d care to comment from)?
Are you doing a bunch of hanging as your hand/finger rehab?
It takes a lot of internal rotation in your shoulder to get your arm straight enough at the elbow joint to “hang” properly. If you don’t have the rotation, your elbow cannot lock out and you’re just hanging off of 1 forearm tendon instead of distributing the load across multiple muscles and tendons.
This applies to every reaching/pressing motion and pulling/rowing motion where your arm is extended.
Not really but I should and intend to. How does one determine if one has adequate internal rotation for this? Fortunately there are “no hang” solutions too.
This guy shows a test for internal rotation at 1:00. I’m not sure How Much you need for various activities, but if one shoulder has less than the other it might be something to think about.
Anyway, He’s sitting against the wall so his back can’t arch to cheat shoulder ROM. With his upper arms parallel to the floor and his starting with his forearms vertical he internally rotates his shoulder by pushing his palms towards the floor.
At 2:45 he shows a basic stretch for the back of the shoulder to improve ROM.
At 3:45 he shows how to mash up the back of the shoulder with a lacrosse ball to free up restrictions.
At 4:45 he tests again to look for improvement.
Thank you. I’ll have to have a look. I struggle immensely with learning from videos. I’m way better with articles. There is a lot of educational content on Youtube that I wish I could digest (my Watch Later is over 600 videos at this point) but it is just the wrong format for me most of the time. I can listen to videos if I’m walking but that necessitates that I already know what is being talked about. I took some ADHD drugs so today may be the day I get through all the videos you’ve sent me.
I appreciate you investing the time in reading my log and referring me to all this content.
It is unfortunate that the monetization for Youtube seems to favor long-form content so there is a lot of things I miss out on. To return your kindness, I think you might enjoy Hooper’s Beta. The channel is for climbers mostly (@mr.v3lv3t don’t miss out on this gem) but I believe it applies elsewhere too.
Gym
Sumo deadlift 5@40,5@50,5@60
Deadlift 5@60, 5@70
MP (ss: BPAs) 5@30,5@35, 1@40, 8@42, 7@42, 2x6@42
Seated DB Press 9,9 ,9,6@15/h
Isometric-dynamic contrast seated cable rowing (straps help the elbow) 3x7
Found some BFR straps on the ground, been curious about those so I finished with a 30/15/15/15 set of rope biceps curl. I don’t think I wore them tight enough, but I did feel a fairly strong pump and a novel sensation in my muscles after I took them off.
I’m one of them DYEL people at the moment, but if anything has routinely stood out for me as a feature it’d be my forearms. Climbing through a blistering painful pump is the only thing I’ve done to hypertrophy them and well, accumulated over the years that mechanism for growth seems to work for me. I’ve been curious to find a way to replicate this pump in the gym, and BFR-straps (if I wear them tighter) might be the way.
After
Indoor-climbing was scheduled but the sun came out, so we opted to go slacklining instead. We got ourselves about an hour before it became overcast again. We were near a local museum so we went in there and saw an exhibit with interviews from the last remaining survivors of the Holocaust. I’d mention it’s name but then people could figure out which city I live in.
There was one part of the exhibit which was a screen with one of the interviewees and it was possible to ask the screen questions entirely off-script. Somehow there was some mechanism (AI presumably) interpreting the question and matching it to the best suitable pre-recorded message. It worked very well but I couldn’t help myself and test its limits. I found them.
Forgot to do abs in the gym so, pre-dinner I did:
Ab-wheel rollout
50 in as few sets as possible, 18, 18, 14
I got in a quick hangboarding session before I went slacklining. I want to do a long-term investment in my fingers and that’s a cumulative year-long process. Best start now. The first set was hell on my elbow and then afterwards: no pain. I have some pain today but my forearm felt fantastic the remainder of the day yesterday.
I wish I had the tools to look at my tendons. I really want to know what is going on there. I wonder how degenerated tendons can be and still function at a high level after rehab.
On a related note: as many of you know, I’m aiming to go back to school and study to be a physiotherapist. One thing that I really want to do is learn orthopedic manual therapy (OMT) to help adjust things when they are out of wack. OMT comes in three levels, and I’ve eyed two different universities to attend. I can’t really decide which one I want to go to the most.
One city is closer to the one I currently live, and it is closer to “fjällen”. It includes OMT level 1 which costs some 16-23 grand (SEK) otherwise (and that’s not including the travelling costs).
It’s a smaller city than the one I currently live in. I genuinely excel in living in small cities, I dislike the vibe of bigger cities (one exception thus far: Oslo). Haven’t spent much time in the city itself but whenever I visit I feel that it is remarkably pretty.
Also, found there are social circles dedicated to getting out in nature which is very important for me.
The other city does not include OMT, and is further away from fjällen. It is closer to Europe, and there is more outdoor climbing there. You can take the buss to go bouldering outside. I do not love the city, I’ve been. The best part of it is the ease of access to local climbing. And, being bigger at least they have decent cuisine from various cultures.
The thing I worry about is that going down this path I’ll come to discover that my body cannot cope with the demands of using my hands (for OMT which I’ll do regardless) in my day-job + climbing + lifting. I do believe my previous injury came about from doing too much too soon, as I was trying to build up my fingers for fingertip push-ups while simultaneously making strides climbing, but I have a “comprehensive” injury history for my fingers that do not include that.
This time I injured my finger to such an extent that wiping my ass was painful for several months. I still can’t give a massage.
People sometimes come onto these boards thinking ahead of time if it is worth it to train, if they have “good genetics”. I don’t really follow that line of thought if one has a desire to do something as a hobby. If you’ll get enjoyment out of lifting, what does it matter how far you can go. So, in that context I’m more in the camp of: fuck genetics. The only way to find out those limits and determine the extent of ones physical prowess and strength is to level the shit out of those attributes and see how far the slider goes. If it doesn’t go very far but you enjoyed yourself nevertheless then there are worse ways to invest time.
But I’m not thinking about a hobby swap, I’m talking about a career change. I feel as if it demands some more thought.
The above is where my anxiety and overthinking gets me.
It felt good to write it all out. But I should probably focus my thoughts on that I’m a good software developer, and while I’ll acknowledge getting a new job might be more difficult given my long sickleave I can at least try the PT thing and succeed or fail. Falling back to this type of desk job is very much possible if I cannot sustain the life that I want to make work.
Glad you’re back posting fella. You’re always a valued poster on here.
Fwiw regarding BFR bands I got some medical quick release tourniquet thingies from eBay for like $1 that do the same thing if you don’t want to fork out without giving them a good trial first.
I’ve also done BFR with my legs but for that I found knee wraps worked pretty good wrapped right up high on my thighs
I realise my head must be tired. 3x/wk is entirely sustainable with 48 hours of rest inbetween and even EOD. No one called me out on this, either you are all too kind or too tired as well 
I understand your concern about the use of your hands in this profession. If it makes you feel any better, you will come to learn, should you pursue physiotherapy study, that the simple fact of performing manual therapy is therapeutic. The “correctness” of the technique and even the structure which you manipulate seems to have minimal effect on the effectiveness of manual therapy.
University educators (at least at my university) and very antsy about students using correct ergonomics, so you will recieve suitable guidance in that regard. They will (at least in my experience) also teach a variety of modifications to manual techniques that allow tool use rather than the use of your hands.
In a nutshell the videos say that it’s your lack of scapula motion and control that’s limiting the function of your Shoulder.
Because your shoulder lacks full range of motion your elbow is forced into and unhealthy ROM.
Because your shoulder lacks full ROM your pecs and lats have to work overtime to stabilize your shoulder. This causes your kyphotic posture.
Your lack of scap control and shoulder ROM makes it hard to get under the bar for squatting. Because your shoulder doesn’t move fully your back has to overarch or overextend to get your arm/shoulder into a comfortable position. This makes it real stuff and tight.
If you get down on your hands and knees with your arms locked out and depress or anti shrug your shoulder you will feel your scapular stabilizer muscles working. You’ll feel your triceps and your elbow trying to extend or lockout Properly. You’ll probably feel tightness and pain in unusual places. THIS may be the underlying, hidden, forgotten pain your avoiding, that’s causing the wonky movement in your shoulder and all your elbow issues.
As you retract and protract your shoulder blades while keeping your arms extended you’ll feel your mid back, chest, rotator cuff stuff and Serratus muscles working as your shoulder blades move around your ribs. You should be able to feel any differences between the sides or any “hitches” in your movement.
Here’s a picture of the top position and bottom position of a scap pushup. I recommend getting on your knees to start.
Anime
Here’s a shitty article about scap pushups.
I had some less than correct assumptions about OMT before I pursued physical therapy myself (my teachers share those but I’ve learned better by now). I invite you to have a discussion about the mechanics at play when using these techniques and their limits. I’ve come to realize that the scientific point of view is the by far less popular one and I don’t feel like discussing this in a public forum at the moment because it’s a bit tiring. In a private conversation I’m more than happy to though.
Just something to think about, that I wished I knew sooner, not meant to be discouraging at all.
Agreed 100%
There is no evidence to support that scapular dyskinesia is pathological
I don’t know man, I’ve seen enough evidence to decide that it Is pathological.
Flats I love you man, but you can’t decide if something is or is not pathological
