Tweaked Oblique?

My left oblique has been giving me issues for I guess a while now. The thing is, it only bothers me on certain rotational movements, while others not at all. Shoulder pancake is fine, russian twists ain't too bad, either. I can't recall what "did" it so to speak, but it's been long enough and it hasn't patched itself up. So, what should be my course of action? 

My right oblique, mind you is totally fine and I can do SL/PE2 on that side (right arm down) at mastery with form, reps, and pace. I have been using reduced ROM on the left side but am thinking to go about it differently now. Yes, I probably should have rested it at its onset but it was never too uncomfortable (nor is it now). Should I rest my obliques full stop? Should I regress to SL/PE1? Should I rest my left side since that's what is in discomfort while I continue training my right side which experiences no discomfort? 

Thanks, I look forward to people's thoughts. 

Stop twerking so much to your left, Daniel.

Also, maybe master you core elements soon! Progress up! (not regress), in order to allow the body to be exposed to training new elements. The body craves this variety and pushes your core to adapt.

(Just some immediate thoughts... you know not to take me too seriously ) 

Haha. I am ready to progress up. The left oblique is limiting my straight arm windmill and elbow plank twists. Everything else is steadily improving.

If it's not really bad, then I'd say set SL aside entirely for a few days. 4 or 5 at the most. Just do a light single set of SL/mobility every day to keep it loose and keep blood flow going to that area. Go on business as usual with everything else and at the end of 4 days test to see how you feel with the SL element. In my personal experience. The fastest way to recover is only do things that make it feel good. If it don't feel good. Don't do it. Barring ice baths. There's nothing feel good about ice baths lol

Hey Daniel,

To prevent creating an imbalance between the two sides, I suggest you hold off on exercises that cause any pain or discomfort and work on meeting with a physio ASAP. In the meantime, drop down in progressions if needed. 

2 hours ago, Ronnicky Roy said:

If it's not really bad, then I'd say set SL aside entirely for a few days. 4 or 5 at the most. Just do a light single set of SL/mobility every day to keep it loose and keep blood flow going to that area. Go on business as usual with everything else and at the end of 4 days test to see how you feel with the SL element. In my personal experience. The fastest way to recover is only do things that make it feel good. If it don't feel good. Don't do it. Barring ice baths. There's nothing feel good about ice baths lol

I have a hard time coming across lots of ice. So i just stick to ice cold showers. But noted, I'll just go easy on my obliques and see what a few days of rest/light mobility do for it. If nothing changes I'll consider PT, but without insurance I miiiight not be looking into that option too deeply.

Sometimes when I have some kind of temporary imbalance or tweak (I am learning pole fitness  and it is so darn hard for me, that sometimes I have temporary aches),  I do myofascial release in all the surrounding tissue. Not directly on your tweak (even though it could work), but all around. Sometimes, if there is tightness somewhere else close to it, and you release it, this tweak may let go too. I would roll my lats, serratus, hip-flexors, lower back etc, and see if something is way too tight than it should be. Especially on your tweaked side. Maybe you can help yourself to release it. 

So, despite walking 10 miles delivering wholesale goods today with my day job, I got my core/legs/handstand workout in. I regressed SL to PE1 and it was easy! More importantly, my obliques didn't show any signs of wincing pains, any sort of tweaks, and definitely no twerking (@Ryan Bailey). I realize that on the iM, though I've mastered it for PE1, that I need to push my hips out laterally. This gave me a greater stretch sensation in a good way. I'm going to keep refining this exercise until I feel that my oblique is back to normal. Not what I'd like and I had hoped that I was finally free and clear of injuries, but so be it. Everything else is slowly moving along in a good way. 

On a side note, I also found that my oblique issue is what is holding back my MN progression, as I am much stiffer on the left side for the straight armed windmill, such that I can do 8lbs no sweat on my right side, but 5lbs is only almost good on my left. Going to keep working that, as well and see how things fair in a couple weeks. 

So, after some aggressive yoga side stretching and revisiting PE1, my obliques feel good again and I'm going to go back to PE2. 

This is my most recent form check of my mastery set for PE1. Seems good to me, definitely had more in the tank. Anyways, just following up.

Hey Daniel,

Glad you're all healed up! Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, since I know your stoked to progress back through the SL elements, but it is worth remastering these with a straighter back. You want a straight line going from your low back to your shoulders. 

I think you have the strength to master this movement with that adjustment. Focus on a longer spine and you'll be done with these in no time. 

46 minutes ago, Everett Carroll said:

Hey Daniel,

Glad you're all healed up! Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, since I know your stoked to progress back through the SL elements, but it is worth remastering these with a straighter back. You want a straight line going from your low back to your shoulders. 

I think you have the strength to master this movement with that adjustment. Focus on a longer spine and you'll be done with these in no time. 

Gaaah, can't I just refine them? It's hard to self-adjust while i'm doing these to know whether the back is straight or curved. To be fair, I should've filmed my earlier sets, I always get a bit of performance anxiety when I film myself haha and either overcompensate or worry too much about the camera catching me in full view. 

Had I not recently tweaked my oblique I likely wouldn't heed your advice but maybe I'll just play it safe and work these a little more. I need to figure out what "straight back" feels like because in my mind it is straight, but clearly the video says otherwise.

Just refine them, master with good form, and move on. Like I said, I think you're strong enough to get through that process fairly quick.

Noted. I may just do these again later today or tomorrow and work to keep the back straight--need to figure out what that feels like first. Will check back. 

Thanks.

I am starting to feel like I'm spinning my wheels with these. I made my back as straight as it will go while applying some lean to it during the Russian twists. I have a hard time finding a rationale to stay on this PE as it doesn't even feel taxing to me anymore after five sets. I'm squeezing my obliques throughout the entire exercise. Maybe I'm missing something. I marked them as too easy because I felt like they were. If I still need to work on these, I will, but from my view, I can't rationalize what else needs refinement that a later PE wouldn't shore up on its own.

Hey Daniel,

Like I said in video review, you're good to progress now. Alex agreed with me on MN/PE1 and I think he'll agree here as well.

Thanks. I just like to get as many opinions as possible (which is why I post both to the forum and on the video reviews). I already saw your e-mail responses.

Cheers.