Ok, so I’m thinking the core workout schedule is going to be:
-swiss ball jacknives on push day
-stir the pot on pull day
-hanging leg raises on leg day
@Rattus you read my mind!
edit: oh and a few sets of bird dogs in my warm up (which I really should have already been doing, lazy boy)
edit #2: oh fuck it; I’ll do some fucking planks on my days off too. Sigh.
Weighted ab wheel changed my life. I would highly recommend it.
I would actually break into pieces if I tried that. I’m regressing the core exercises back to their easiest variations to essentially start again with core training. I think I’ll progress quite quickly.
In other news: remind me to tell you the story about how the ab wheel almost ruined my life sometime. It involves sex, lies, and hurt testicles…
If you tried to make love while using an ab wheel, I’m truly impressed at your sense of efficency.
or maybe some girl tried to run it over his nuts…
Sounds like Yogi and Hallowed have met up.
Maybe. But only if the situation started with him talking about being so strong that she could wheel over his abs, then she slips and destroys his boys. My imagination is weird.
I second this (actually I don’t do them weighted, still progressing to that point). My front squat feels a hell of a lot more solid since I started working with the ab wheel.
Also pallof press variations - both the anti-extension and anti-rotation type.
Do you plan to work in anti-rotation stuff, or are your goals such that that would give you too little return on investment? (so to speak)
man I wish[quote=“TheWolfMan, post:328, topic:221798”]
Do you plan to work in anti-rotation stuff, or are your goals such that that would give you too little return on investment? (so to speak)
[/quote]
absolutely, there’s just not enough hours in the day quite yet. I seem to have mostly extension issues, so for the time being I’m going to prioritise that. I’ll definitely be doing pallofs in the future
RIght, I’ve got some time to kill while tomorrow’s lunches are cooking, so allow me to present:
Yogi’s Cautionary Tale of Sluts and Sore Nuts
(I actually really dislike the term “sluts” but hey; it rhymes with nuts…)
So going back to when Yogi was young and stupid, I was going out with this girl. I was also cheating on her like crazy. What can I say? I was like 23 years old and a total dick. I’ve matured since then, I hope…
Anyway, one of my regular chicks was actually my best mate’s little sister (just to ramp up the asshole-ness even further). Don’t scoff! My mate has 6 sisters, each one totally slamming, and every one of my circle of mates has had one at some point, so it’s totally fine.
So one day this girl calls me up and tells me she’s tested positive for chlamydia. Now, I couldn’t really give a shit about that as it’s generally symptomless for guys but it can make girls infertile, so I knew I would have to tell my girlfriend to get tested if I had it. Obviously this would give rise to some awkward questions like “why do you have an STD?”, “where did you get an STD from?”, “how can you have caught an STD if I didn’t have an STD?” and so on.
The girl told me I was the only guy she’d been sleeping with, so it looked like I was firmly on the hook for this one. My freaking out was compounded by the fact that for about the last week since before she told me, my nuts had been killing me, and I could swear I felt a little tiny lump.
So her having an STD + my achey nuts = serious worries for Yogi. I went to the doctor and he diagnosed me with epididymitis, which is medical speak for sore nuts. I asked him if it could be caused by an STD, and he said no, but according to Google in rare cases it could be. Seemed like too much of a coincidence for me, so I got tested…
…and got the all clear! Cheeky bitch was clearly sleeping with someone else and caught it from them! This meant no need to tell my girl to get tested, no awkward questions, and good times all round. I have no idea why that girl didn’t admit to having sex with someone else. It’s not like I’d have cared and she knew I had a girlfriend.
So after a while the sore nads went away, but a few weeks later it would come back, then it’d go away, then it’d come back. As it turns out, apparently epididymitis can be caused by your abdominals straining forcing bacteria from your urine into your nuts, causing them to get inflamed and sore. The ab wheel was the culprit! Every time I trained it I got sore nuts! It was just really bad timing for it to have happened during the great STD scare of 2008!
So yeah. Fucking ab wheel.
Still better then being kicked in the nuts… lol
Have you addressed hip extension at all? I noticed on you list of exercises you’ve got 2 that target flexion (jacknives and hanging leg raises).
I only bring it up because you and I have had similar issues in the past and when I stand I hyperextend as well from the lumbar spine because I have poor hip extension. My hip extension is so poor it affects my running gait and is causing me plantar fasciitis and calf issues.
I’ve been hitting the Thomas stretch 4x a week and I think it’s making a difference but I’ll know for sure in another month or so.
Normal, prone hip extension is 10-20 degrees. I get to about 5 on a good day, along with funky muscle recruitment patterns. It should go something like: hamstring, glute max, contralateral erector, ipsolateral erector. Mine is hamstring, contralateral QL, traps, ipsolateral lat as I attempt to stabilize on the same side I’m lifting my leg by curling over to that side, then both erectors in spasm followed by me not being able to breath or get off the floor and a week of vicodin and muscle relaxers.
Im joining in to the “bad back club” discussion.
@Yogi1: your recent posts has got me thinking maybe I should get a belt. Quick related question: do you feel any pain/strain/discomfort in your lower back when you stretch your calf/hamstring?
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Thank you Dr Bob!
Have been struggling with this problem for a while. Had sort of worked out that it somehow was linked to training, and probably wasn’t malignant. But hadn’t seen anything to give me a clue what else to look for. I had noted it seemed to go with strained abdominals, but that is as far as i got.
Now if you could just diagnose why the fuck my back appears to have popped a disc this weekend I’d be greatful! 2nd time in a decade. The first i could live with as i hadn’t been training for years and had become a bit sedentary. Now, I’ve been training steady for the last 5 years and although not nearly back to where i was, form is good and i even remember to DL regularly. (i’m nearly old now, and damn it feels a lot harder this time around! Tip - don’t ever stop.)
Anyway. Great thread and I’ll keep reading as usual.
Cheers
Lewis
Hey, Pangy. Thanks for stopping by.
I am doing an absolutely brutal hip stretch before every workout, but should probably be doing it every morning and every night. It’'s the one from here:
It’s crazy how much tighter my right side is than my left. Worryingly so.
My mobility in general is absolutely fucking terrible, and it seems that it’s all linked to having such a weak core. It makes your body limit movement to try and protect itself from injury (that’s why I get an instant boost in mobility after a few sets of bird dogs).
It all comes back to the core. Core core core. I’m obsessed.
And I haven’t ran in years. I hate to think how messed up my mechanics would be.
How else are you addressing your back issues?
I never stretch my hamstrings on account of being so far into the anterior pelvic tilt hole, but I don’t recall any from the past. If I were to try and stretch my hamstrings it’d just be a huge amount of spinal flexion, and it’s not usually flexion intolerant pain I get (although I have had it in the past). I take it you get pain when you do so?
As for the belt, I can’t really recommend it yet as the twice I’ve used it so far has been a total fucking farce!
glad I could help, and thanks for reading! I’d still get those balls of yours checked by a doctor if I were you. Nad pain is to be taken seriously.
As for your back, it’s a bitch, eh?
I’ve been having a brave, potentially foolhardy thought, about how I could alter my training while I get used to the belt.
Trap bar deadlift.
Seems a little reckless, I know, but my thought process is:
-Bracing against the belt I’m ruined after 5 reps of anything.
-Low reps squats do nothing for me in terms of training effect.
-Deadlifts lend themselves better to lower reps.
-Increased abdominal bracing from the belt might mean the deadlift isn’t as injurious as it has been.
I may give it a try.
Aren’t trap bar deadlifts mechanically similar to squats? In terms of weight distribution and cg?