The myth of dicipline

[Seiji]

Thanks !

It seems you've been doing some research, Ido

[AlexX]

My philosophy when I was a trainer wasn't far from this. When people would tell me they lack motivation/time to eat healthy and get proper sleep I would say no you just like eating crappy food, and watching late night tv more.

[Brandon]

This part in the article sort of bugs me, "acupressure points that instantly give increases in flexibility"

Is that a bunch of snake-oil salesmanship or is there some validity to it?

[JL]

If we do what we want the most, then why don't we wind up doing who we want the most?

Myth busted!

P.S. Don't ban me, Coach!

[Coach Sommer]

This part in the article sort of bugs me, "acupressure points that instantly give increases in flexibility" Is that a bunch of snake-oil salesmanship or is there some validity to it?

This reference to trigger point therapy is absolutely accurate, within limits. The catch is that it must be performed by a skilled therapist and can be rather painful. Ok, very painful .

The Chinese Mens National Team uses trigger point therapy, or something quite similar, a great deal as part of their prehab program.

I have personally seen a trigger point therapist dramatically extend the ROM in a very strong athlete's lat/shoulder girdle in moments; an area that for this athlete had been completely resistant to conventional flexibility work for quite some time. It was amazing to observe. The restricted area suddenly simply released and extended with no pain or tension. What is especially interesting is that attempting to have gained the same increase in ROM by conventional methods would have certainly resulted in injury.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

[Guest Ido Portal]

Coach,

I am a big believer in external soft tissue manipulation for flexibility gains.

The combination between active, static, dynamic and passive-loaded stretching and external soft tissue work yeilds the best gains.

Sometimes, due to a problem area along the fascial-muscluar-tendonous chains any further gains in ROM, even using optimal stretching schedule will be impossible. Soft tissue manipulation can be the solution in such cases.

I am now in Bangkok and experimenting with various types of thai massage. It is very different from the thai massage in the west, much more agressive and painful, but also much better in results. I am also happy to say it is dead-cheap here to get a treatment - along the lines of 6 $ for two hour treatment. (Yes, TWO hours, not one)

The treatments include a combination of partner stretching along with external pressure applied in various ways to the tissue, and the procedure is repeated until further gains in ROM are made possible.

If you can take the pain, I highly recommend you to experiment with various methods, among the many treatment systems I have experimented with, the best for this type of work are: ART, Rolfing, Deep and cross friction massage, thai massage (in thailand, mainly) and myofascial release.

Ido.

[Neal Winkler]

$6!!!!!!!!!!!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

[Razz]

Yeah I was in Thailand a few months ago, it's ridicoulous! Unfortunately I was scared of the masseurs because of my shoulder injury, didn't wanna risk them ripping my shoulder apart so no massage for me.

[Mats Trane]

Can someone please explain/give an example of:

Active stretching

Static stretching

Dynamic stretching

Passive loaded stretching

Thanks

[Guest Ido Portal]

CDX,

some cake with that tea also, sir?

Google is a beautiful thing.

Ido.

[Joshua Naterman]

If we do what we want the most, then why don't we wind up doing who we want the most?

Myth busted!

P.S. Don't ban me, Coach!

Good joke

[Joshua Naterman]

Thailand is great. Sounds like massage is even cheaper up north than it was in Phuket. Ido, you seem like you are so flexible that it is honestly hard for me to imagine what ROMS you are trying to work on.

What ROMS are your sessions helping you extend?

[Mats Trane]

okey, okey

I´ll do it the google way

Cdx

[Ed Frank]

One form of trigger point therapy you can easily do yourself is self-myofascial release, done with a foam roller, medicine ball, tennis ball, etc. NASM teaches its trainers that SMR always precedes stretching precisely because it inhibits the overactive muscle you are trying to retrain. Muscles work in groups and when one is overactive ("tight") it's antagonist is generally inhibited and weak. So, following SMR and rehearsal of elongating the overactive muscle, activation exercises are done for the opposing muscle(s). Anyway, you can look up foam rolling with google. One thing I'd say is that you don't often see a presentation of the NASM approach to foam rolling which is supposed to be backed by data. Rather than just rolling (massaging) the muscle, instead think of the rolling as a search: you're looking for the most tender place in the muscle. When you find it, you then stop rolling and hold the pressure for 20 to 90 seconds focusing on relaxing the muscle, relaxing through the guard reflex. If you can't relax, it's too much pressure. Holding on the sensitive spot causes the trigger point to let go and also inhibits the golgi tendon organ, allowing the muscle to elongate.

As for the article, I think it's wonderful. But black and white, all or nothing thinking can really slow you down. I don't think it is love OR discipline. You use both. If you love what you do and aren't making progress, maybe you need to crank up the discipline to not miss (or mis-do) your workouts. But, if you are always having to use discipline, then you are learning that something is wrong on the "love" or motivation side. You've got conflicted feelings / drivers (some probably subconsciously) and you should work through them. It's easier to go to the gym when you are seeing fast gains. When that stops and you aren't getting warm fuzzy rewards each workout or every few days, why continue? If you simply find the workout enjoyable (that's what the article is saying) you'll want to be there for the fun of it. If you don't, it's possible that desire for the long term outcome will get you to go if you believe in that outcome strongly enough. Both have their positive role. One final thing...if you find you aren't enjoying the workout for its own sake, maybe you've just got something wrong, like the intensity too high, and the lesson is to be more patient so that the workout is less torture, less whip, more appropriate.

[cccp22]

Thailand is great. Sounds like massage is even cheaper up north than it was in Phuket. Ido, you seem like you are so flexible that it is honestly hard for me to imagine what ROMS you are trying to work on.

What ROMS are your sessions helping you extend?

********** I liked Pattaya better!

Brandon Green

[Nic Scheelings]

When I was in thailand I knew people who seemed to be getting massages to recover from their massage!!

Life can be good over there!

[Nick Van Bockxmeer]

What ROMS are your sessions helping you extend?

[Zac Rhyne]

Quadrant.

[Gavin Strelitz]

Covey's work is very good. I am working my way through the 8th Habit at the moment. There is also an excellent book called "The Inner Game of Tennis" by W. Timothy Gallwey in which he describes love as a powerful force to be used when directing thought and for use as a means of focus.

Poliquin's article is good if a little simple but the message is quite clear.

[Longshanks]

Coach,

I am a big believer in external soft tissue manipulation for flexibility gains.

The combination between active, static, dynamic and passive-loaded stretching and external soft tissue work yeilds the best gains.

Sometimes, due to a problem area along the fascial-muscluar-tendonous chains any further gains in ROM, even using optimal stretching schedule will be impossible. Soft tissue manipulation can be the solution in such cases.

I am now in Bangkok and experimenting with various types of thai massage. It is very different from the thai massage in the west, much more agressive and painful, but also much better in results. I am also happy to say it is dead-cheap here to get a treatment - along the lines of 6 $ for two hour treatment. (Yes, TWO hours, not one)

The treatments include a combination of partner stretching along with external pressure applied in various ways to the tissue, and the procedure is repeated until further gains in ROM are made possible.

If you can take the pain, I highly recommend you to experiment with various methods, among the many treatment systems I have experimented with, the best for this type of work are: ART, Rolfing, Deep and cross friction massage, thai massage (in thailand, mainly) and myofascial release.

Ido.

When training a the camps in Thailand I used to go for a massage once a week routinely and was so impressed with the results that I got my qualifications in it. Unfortunately it doesn't help you treat yourself very much (I'm sure my girlfriend appreciates it from time to time though). You can use a tennis ball though and get similar results. I have noticed a lot of crossover from Thai massage to myofacial trigger point release. The lines they train you to follow in the body are all very similar in both methods, the Thai's are just lot more aggressive in their treatment of them.

[Joshua Naterman]

Where can I learn about that outside Thailand?

[Longshanks]

Where can I learn about that outside Thailand?

I'm not even sure where you would learn it in the US to be honest but if you're a student I'd just go over there in your summer break. I think it'd take about 4-6 weeks if you did a couple of hours every day and it'd be relatively cheap once you're there. It'd probably work out about the same doing it over there as doing it in the US and you'd get it straight from the horses mouth. From what I remember the schools of the blind are the best places to go for it, more more sensitive to touch you see.