Beginning F1 - Suggestions and more

Thanks a lot Chris! I got it.

Particularly, a friend of mine was really impressed when he saw that many stretching positions that are thought to work on hamstrings flexibility were instead limited by my calf flexibility and/or lower back. This really means below and above where I have the problem. OK, this night I'll have a look at the material.

chobbs said:

I believe Jon was saying take care of above and below the problem area - if the problem still persists then it is a good chance it is related to the area where you are feeling pain. Most hamstring related issues have zero to do with the hamstrings. Tight hips are the biggest culprit.

Given your issues with swivel hips I'd say there is a good chance all of the hamstring stretching really isn't helping you at this point, search around and see if stretching something above, below, or in front of the body helps alleviate the pain. Quite often the hamstrings are tight because of other problems and stretching them further, while giving more ROM to toe touches, tends to just make the problem worse.

- Chris

Yes, that's what I meant. I've had deceptive referred pain/tightness in hamstrings on two separate occasions, solved by particular glute and calf stretches respectively. I've also noticed a lot of people with the same experience, so beginning with an easy possible fix in the process of isolating the problem is the logical start

OK, thanks a lot guys for the input.

 

At the moment, I am ordering Kit's book. In addition, I contacted him (again, I am really grateful he had the time to read my story) and he suggested me to work on the piriformis stretches. I then watched the suggested videos on YT and tried. I realized that one movement, the most difficult one, is similar (similar is not equal) to what my friend included in my routine. The caveat there is that the way I was doing it is wrong, and I really felt like I overstretched something which is not the piriformis. While doing piriformis stretches today, in a gentle, focused and controlled manner, I understood where this muscle is when I was doing the contractions.

 

I also realized that glutes activation is important Joshua, this is why if you go back couple of posts, I even recorded my form on Kit's recommended glute activation movement on Swiss ball. 

 

I now feel some pain also in the right leg, after today's windmills. The pain in there if I bend laterally with straight legs. 

 

Another thing I wanted to add is that I tried out both exercises from Kit's YT channel to stretch the upper/middle back and the lower back. While the former is really giving an amazing feeling, I feel the latter on my calves tremendously. My calves also lack muscle mass, and I think this entire business is intimately connected. People are always surprised to see how small they are compared to the rest of my body, especially for someone who has been a cyclist for years.

 

Finally, as a note, I tried to keep my knees as close as possible during the tuck ups, but there is no way for me to keep them together. Already like this, I feel testis compression and I don't want to make this worse in any way. Probably with time I can improve as well.

Don't crush yourself with those tuck ups

 

It will probably take time to get all of that leg pain stuff under control. If you're ever able to get to one of Kit's seminars, I have been told he's extremely good to work with when you have some interesting issues like what you've got going on... these situations are pretty close to impossible to correct just over the internet, and Kit's got a whole lot of experience evaluating and correcting movements.

 

As for the windmills, if you don't ever do middle split stretches you might find they help. They have helped me, I had inner hamstring issues during windmills on my right leg, when the right leg was the main support, that originated from some stupidity with deadlifting about a year ago. A combination of simply taking a few months off and doing some moderate middle split work (mostly not piked) has really helped a lot. Good luck with your leg!

Thanks, science will solve the issue, I am sure. It is just matter for me to study more and get my hands dirty following Kit's guidance.

Joshua Naterman said:

I had inner hamstring issues during windmills on my right leg, when the right leg was the main support, that originated from some stupidity with deadlifting about a year ago.

You?  Not being sensible!?  Gasp!

 

*sarcasm*

Seriously tho Josh, were you just constantly beating yourself up until Coach came along and sorted you out or what?

I did F7 with deload scheme. I can only say that to me it really seems a good idea as I could strongly focus on the movements, details, Im, with no struggling. 

 

For the windmills, I simply moved to the ROM that was allowed today, I tried to avoid feeling pain, and that turned out to be approx. 1/2 of the ROM I had before. 

 

I worked on dynamic frog stretch and hip flexors, glute activation and piriformis and followed Kit's suggestions. We probably figured out that I have a lot of mobility in my lower back but that is totally hampered by my piriformis. In addition, my glutes do not activate correctly and already today I felt better working on it, yet not there of course.

 

I'll stay positive, and keep learning. 

Bipocni said:

Seriously tho Josh, were you just constantly beating yourself up until Coach came along and sorted you out or what?

 

Let's just say that Josh continues to be a work in progress.  

 

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Coach Sommer said:

Let's just say that Josh continues to be a work in progress.  

 

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Hope to obtain at least 1/10 of his achievements and to be highly inspired by all you guys.   

Today at home (in Italy) I did F7. This was mastery week for me. Although I did not feel extremely good the last couple of days, I decided to give it a try.

 

My current injury seems difficult to deal with. I objectively observed that it reduces my ROM on the arch holds and makes almost impossible for me to do windmills with decent ROM. Besides this, there is no sign of an improvement at all.

 

For the rest, well, I mastered the bHBH with no struggling, I am ready to move to PE2. I mastered RC/PE2 as well and I will move to PE3. For the deck squat instead, I don't know. On both sessions I managed to complete 5x15 with good form, but I always had 1 or 2 reps per set where I had to repeat the rep as I could not get up in first instance. What should I do? I think mastery means do it with ease in a way, so would it make sense to repeat a minicycle? Please let me know.

 

Working my way through KIt's material. I can only say that I am sick of these swivel hips and I do them quite "unmotivated" these days.

federicoC said:

Today at home (in Italy) I did F7. This was mastery week for me. Although I did not feel extremely good the last couple of days, I decided to give it a try.

 

My current injury seems difficult to deal with. I objectively observed that it reduces my ROM on the arch holds and makes almost impossible for me to do windmills with decent ROM. Besides this, there is no sign of an improvement at all.

 

For the rest, well, I mastered the bHBH with no struggling, I am ready to move to PE2. I mastered RC/PE2 as well and I will move to PE3. For the deck squat instead, I don't know. On both sessions I managed to complete 5x15 with good form, but I always had 1 or 2 reps per set where I had to repeat the rep as I could not get up in first instance. What should I do? I think mastery means do it with ease in a way, so would it make sense to repeat a minicycle? Please let me know.

 

Working my way through KIt's material. I can only say that I am sick of these swivel hips and I do them quite "unmotivated" these days.

congrats on mastering those PE's! 

 

on the deck squats, don't sweat it. i've had that happen to me where i didnt use enough momentum, so i don't count it, roll backwards and just count the next one as the rep. as for a test, i dont have an official answer on that, a coach or athlete can answer that. 

 

as far as your injury goes, whats the nature of it? because i applied some myofascial magic and it opened up quite a lot of ROM in my hips and back. 

 

maybe if we can work around it, we can release some scar tissue and that makes the movements soooo much easier. 

KeilaniG said:

congrats on mastering those PE's! 

 

on the deck squats, don't sweat it. i've had that happen to me where i didnt use enough momentum, so i don't count it, roll backwards and just count the next one as the rep. as for a test, i dont have an official answer on that, a coach or athlete can answer that. 

 

as far as your injury goes, whats the nature of it? because i applied some myofascial magic and it opened up quite a lot of ROM in my hips and back. 

 

maybe if we can work around it, we can release some scar tissue and that makes the movements soooo much easier. 

Thanks!

 

For the deck SQ that's exactly what I did. I could do the mastery 5x15, but I had to roll back in 1 or 2 reps per set. 

The nature of the injury are the windmills themselves I think I can say. I don't know more about it but it looks like a pull of the hamstring. I'm planning to following Kit's suggestions and work constantly on it. I'm wondering whether I should stop doing the windmills even with the current reduced ROM to favor a better recovery. However, I suspect it will take a while to heal. Also,  I'm really not sure what is that about. Almost never had injuries in my cycling and PLing life, so almost no experience on recovery.

 

Needless to say, I'd appreciate if you could elaborate more on myofascial release. I applied it to my calves couple of times, using a barbell as there is nothing else in the gym to use for rolling.

federicoC said:

Thanks!

 

For the deck SQ that's exactly what I did. I could do the mastery 5x15, but I had to roll back in 1 or 2 reps per set. 

The nature of the injury are the windmills themselves I think I can say. I don't know more about it but it looks like a pull of the hamstring. I'm planning to following Kit's suggestions and work constantly on it. I'm wondering whether I should stop doing the windmills even with the current reduced ROM to favor a better recovery. However, I suspect it will take a while to heal. Also,  I'm really not sure what is that about. Almost never had injuries in my cycling and PLing life, so almost no experience on recovery.

 

Needless to say, I'd appreciate if you could elaborate more on myofascial release. I applied it to my calves couple of times, using a barbell as there is nothing else in the gym to use for rolling.

use a lacrosse, softball, tennis ball or baseball. basically just go find the areas in your body where you feel tension and give yourself a thorough massage to break the knots and scar tissue, if you've accumulated any

 

the resulting relaxness and ROM is well worth working through the discomfort. don't rush through the places, work where you can and you'll start to see the tension evaporate and move somewhere else.

 

i've come to really enjoy it, so i do my lower body on MN/SL/SLS days and my upper body on FL/sPL/RC/HBP days you can get a lot of ground covered like that and you'll feel amazing afterwards.

 

my calves, surprisingly are almost never tender or painful to work on, my shins however...

Thanks! I guess you'd suggest to work expecially on these areas I feel very tight now, right?

well, thats why i asked about your injury, i wouldnt roll over any place that is injured. i dont know what risk that would entail but i know it wouldnt feel great or move you forward.

break up into sections: upper & lower

upper: rotator cutf, upper back, middle back, chest and i had tenderness in my upper arm, so ill mention that.

lower: calves, shins, entire upper leg(quads, hamstring, adductors, abductors) glutes and lower back.

with the lower back, you'll want to be gentle, dont roll from one side of the spine to the other, work your way down on one side, then roll the other side.

that's the roadmap im using right now in my sessions

Sure. I meant tight, not damaged

 

OK. Thanks, I will try to use it for my posterior chain first. 

hey guys, on what kind of floor are you doing twisting squats? i tried many, but feet are burning after a few or the thing under my feet, like a small carpet, camping mat etc is gliding away...and my ligaments near the ankles feel very stressed after i.e. 4x10 sets.

Hi William, I can't help as I just finished week 11 for the deck squat and have to see what others suggest to do now.

Ok, i hope it's ok to asked this question in this thread

Wait to get more answers 

William said:

hey guys, on what kind of floor are you doing twisting squats? i tried many, but feet are burning after a few or the thing under my feet, like a small carpet, camping mat etc is gliding away...and my ligaments near the ankles feel very stressed after i.e. 4x10 sets.

Have you tried wearing socks or something on your feet? That worked well for me on the carpet. If your ankles and ligaments feel stressed in a bad way, you need to immediately cut your volume. Drop back down to the first week and that'll save you from ten additional reps. Then you can play it by ear after that.

William, I'm no expert, but Vincearoo's suggestion worked for me, (though I wore socks and performed on a foam mat). This gave a good level of friction to allow the twist to occur, but not so much that the feet slid away uncontrollably (plus the extra padding was welcome on a wooden floor ).

 

see this thread I created to check my twisting squat form showing me using socks on foam matting.

Vincearoo said:

Have you tried wearing socks or something on your feet? That worked well for me on the carpet. If your ankles and ligaments feel stressed in a bad way, you need to immediately cut your volume. Drop back down to the first week and that'll save you from ten additional reps. Then you can play it by ear after that.

Yeah, my first try was with socks on my carpet, but with every twist it was getting hotter and hotter and my socks will not deal long with that i think

But i think i will post a video soon of my technique and when its good enough i will try mastery of the element and the iM 2 and i'm out of it!

I think i just need to stretch my ankles before doing this, because there's no similiar movement in my life to that.

 

ajgregory said:

(plus the extra padding was welcome on a wooden floor ).

 

see this thread I created to check my twisting squat form showing me using socks on foam matting.

Yes, i tried it once on a wooden floor, never again...thanks for the link

William said:

hey guys, on what kind of floor are you doing twisting squats? i tried many, but feet are burning after a few or the thing under my feet, like a small carpet, camping mat etc is gliding away...and my ligaments near the ankles feel very stressed after i.e. 4x10 sets.

I use paving stones.  The other day it was raining for the first time since I started F1 and I had to wear shoes.  Instantly I stopped stumbling around and had perfect form for the first time.  So, don't use shoes, because you're just cheating yourself.  Just keep trying whatever's available.  I'm sure the burn in your feet can't be as bad as the burn for a mastery set of hollow rocks...

 

The first few SLS>iM's are going to be very hard on your joints.  iM3 in particular is the first time I've seen anyone actually try and train an adaptation to valgus knee...

I bought a gymnastic mat. Twisting squats are hard enough without worrying about a hard surface on the outside of your feet.

Haven't you noticed we have pads on the bottom of the feet, rather than the sides