Please don't take this the wrong way but how long have you been working with your trainer and have you been given any indication of when you can move onto more strength work instead of corrective work? I only ask because I can't see anywhere you have had a severe injury to justify months of rehab? If I have missed something I apologise
Since Oct 2016, with sessions all in this thread. We were progressing to some more strengthy type stuff (KB swings, for instance), but backed off of that for the time being due to low back issues. I feel like he has been slowly helping me build correct movement patterns. Some things that have changed since I started training with him: - I was barely using my hamstrings for anything. I couldn't really feel when they were activating or not, and was very quad dominant. We did targeted hamstring stuff for a while which helped, and now I use them a lot better (e.g., stairs don't hurt anymore, see below). - Stairs, step-ups, etc used to hurt my knees. He's mostly gotten rid of that (occasionally I still have minor issues), probably a lot due to the hamstring & glute recruitment being better now. - I injure my shoulders (generally muscle strains) a lot--he has me doing various shoulder stability exercises. - Hip stability work: this has helped some with my low back issues. I'll try to remember to ask him what the plan is in terms of moving more towards strength work.
(sorry can't edit, so new post) Also, just in general, I'm happy to answer any questions/etc anyone has. No worries on asking potentially uncomfortable questions.
I still have a bunch of congestion in one ear, but am otherwise pretty much better from the cold (3 weeks now). Muay Thai, beginners class, 1 hour The warm-up was 3 minutes of jump-rope. Then we grabbed pads, belly pads, shin guards (only padholder), and gloves. We drilled a lot of kicks today: - jab, cross, check a rear kick from padholder, counter with a rear kick - jab, cross, check a rear kick from padholder, counter with a rear kick, step knee (just drop kicking leg in front, then knee) - rear kick; 2 rapid rear kicks, check a rear kick from padholder, counter with a rear kick - jab, cross; lead uppercut, cross, lead hook, rear kick, check a rear kick from padholder, counter with a rear kick Then we took off all gear & finished with skip step knees into a kick shield held by a partner, while holding our partner's head in the clinch. So pushing & pulling their head to alternating sides (into your shoulder area) while kneeing the kick shield held against their torso. 4 minutes, swap the kick shield every 10 reps. I was gassed by the end but kept the intensity at a decent level the whole time. I recovered after class much faster than I did Monday, and didn't have a headache at all. My checking leg was getting pretty tender in one spot on my shin by the end of drills. The 3rd drill with all the kicks had me slowing down a bit by the end, but overall I kept fairly decent intensity. My injured knuckle is mostly through the month of extremely low contact intensity. I just got gel hand wraps, which I put on before applying my regular hand wraps. They just barely fit in my gloves. I used moderate intensity instead of just touching the pads, and had no soreness or other issues with the knuckle. The fingers on my left hand did fall asleep, but I think if I'm careful how I wrap I can stop that from happening again (didn't happen on the right). I'll likely use the gel wraps for a month or two under my regular wraps (they are really just a glove with gel padding at the knuckles, not really wraps), to make sure the knuckle fully heals instead of getting re-injured. Self Care Rotator cuff exercises 3 sets of 12 reps on each arm: - external rotation at neutral (10 lb tube) - external rotation at 90-degree abduction (20 lb tube) Foam rolling/Triggerpoint 15 minutes total: foam roller (quads, glutes, hips, back) lacrosse ball (shoulders, glutes) eclipse roller (calves) softball (calves)
I've not seen that eclipse roller before - it looks...... focused I have a rolling stick which I use for focus on the calf area, I imagine you can get more in the eclipse roller by putting your weight into it.
If you are happy with the progress you are making that's great, but I've never seen anyone outside a major traumatic injury spend over a year on corrective exercises it seems a bit excessive in all honestly, I've seen MMA fighters and powerlifters recover from some pretty bad injuries or correct imbalances caused by improper warm ups in weeks and months not over a year. And even then they kept up real strength training if they could, outside of those injuries imbalances are normally corrected during warm up and cool down periods not usually making up the entire workout. But as I say if you are happy that's the main thing
The other thing that may be going on here is I just interpret most of what we do as corrective. That isn't based on what my trainer has said. I tend to give him the benefit of the doubt; he was trained by a guy who weight trains professional fighters out of a few gyms in my area. And I've worked with a bunch of trainers in the past and as far as I can tell he is the most competent I've worked with (all but one have been high quality, I think he is a step above that). I'll bring this up with him on Saturday and at least get a sense of what his long term plans are with me, in terms of training progression. Yeah I find it is really great at getting the lower calf near the ankle, especially if you put your weight into it. I find it is a bit more awkward to do upper calf stuff, but if I manage to get the angle right it can hit those areas pretty well too.
Oh trust me I've read some of your log you are right it's corrective stuff if he says it's anything other I'd worry lol I've been lucky enough to train alongside pro fighters speak with and train with some very good s&c coaches and all of them made use of corrective exercises in warm ups and cool downs but all put in major compound exercises even jc Santana the king of functional training lol
I can feel my left knuckle a bit today. I wouldn't go so far as to call it discomfort, but extending the finger feels a bit off (only at the limit--doing finger extension exercises today didn't bother it). Though I've felt that on and off over the past month anyway, I'll pull back a little on the striking intensity--I probably should have restarted above-touch-contact with less intensity anyway. I did my 10 kicks on the heavy bag with each leg today. I also did it yesterday before class but forgot to post it. My right shin is pretty tender in and is swollen a bit in one spot--I'm going to hold off on kicking the bag for a few days until it is better. Grip work (prohands/CoC) Crush 10 xx-hvy Hook 10x heavy Finger play 10x each finger, medium tripod 2 sets of 10, hvy trigger 10x xx-hvy thumb press 2 sets of 10, hvy, 2 buttons power pinch 2 sets of 10, medium, 2 buttons crush 10x xx-heavy coc trainer 6x, 5x, 4x, 3x. Lots of problems closing on the left. coc #0.5 5 second hold as far closed as I could, left couldn't close, right closed & was easy finger extension 15x white, 12x green, 12x green Self Care My right foot was bothering me a bit today, and my left Achilles was bothering me a bit too. Stretching - stretched calves together & individually on a half foam roller - pec stretch using a doorway Triggerpoint - golf ball (feet) - eclipse roller (calves) - softball (calves)
No exercise today--between a migraine (kept mild all day with medicine, but has started coming back) and fairly intense stomach issues, I skipped class. I did warm my shins up with hot water and pressed out the swelling as well as I could last night. I also did some additional trigger-point & stretching for my calves this morning.
I talked to my trainer about my programming. He says the reason we backed off from deadlifts was due to my knee and/or back hurting when doing them, or feeling off. Looking back at my log we had started doing deadlifts in May 2017, and stopped by the end of August 2017. He said he was ok trying to go back into deadlifts and see how the knee & back do. For the squats, he says we have been progressing towards squats--we started with step-ups and I couldn't do them without knee pain, so we did other things to build up to those. More recently step-ups have been pain free and we've moved on to TRX split squats (also pain free), and continue to progress towards squats from there. I did foam rolling/triggerpoint for 15 minutes before training. Weight Training, 1 hour Leg raises (8x per leg) with ankle circles (10 per leg) after, while holding a 10kg kettlebell straight up in one arm (lying on back). Clams, 15x/leg, 2 sets Trapbar deadlift: 125lb, 2 sets of 5 (warmup) 175lb 5x 215lb 5x I was breathing hard after these. 2 rounds of: Single arm KB walk, 20kg, then 24 kg in 2nd round Cable 1 arm row, 160lb x 12, 180lb x 12 (this is that pulley, its not actually that much weight) Trx split squat (8x per leg) Body saws (from forearm plank, feet on valslides): 10 seconds on, 20 seconds rest. 4 rounds. (He added these after I told him about the 60s plank leaving me panting.) These had my heart going for a good bit afterwards, I almost vomited. Trx pec stretch
Muay Thai, 1 hour, beginners class I am back to doing the 10 kicks with each leg, did them before class today. The warm-up was 5 minutes of jump-rope. I had a longer rope and didn't catch it in my feet as much, but had to pause several times for muscle fatigue or to catch my breath. Then we shadow boxed, I didn't see how long the timer was. First we drilled using a kick shield & a partner, switching the holder every round: - The pad holder walked forward with constant pressure, holding the kick shield at torso level, while the striker teeped several times and then passed (triangle step) to get to the side & throw a kick. First drilled without the kick, then with it (in one longer round). - The pad holder held the kick shield wherever they want, and the striker threw the appropriate kick. - Alternating front/rear teeps into the kick shield. After that we drilled with gloves & shin pads: - step in with jab (parry), step out to avoid counter jab, step in with jab (parry), rear kick (block), alternating with step jab, step out, step jab cross, switch kick - add: defender counters with the blocking leg at the end (stutter step) - add: striker moves forward as if to enter a clinch after eating the counter kick, defender passes (triangle step) and throws a kick. Then, without shin guards (switching roles every round): - striker throws alternating rear & switch kicks, defender moves with the kick & catches it - striker throws alternating front & rear teeps, defender pulls back their midsection & parries No cardio issues during class, aside from during jump-rope. Self Care Massage, 90 min, full body Rotator Cuff Exercises External rotation at neutral 3 x 12 x 10lb External rotation at 90-degree abduction 3 x 12 x 20 lb
12 kicks to the heavy bag with each leg. Grip work (prohands/CoC) Crush 10 xx-hvy Hook 10x heavy Finger play 10x each finger, medium tripod 2 sets of 10, hvy trigger 10x xx-hvy thumb press 2 sets of 10, hvy, 2 buttons power pinch 2 sets of 10, medium, 2 buttons crush 10x xx-heavy coc trainer 8x, 6x, 4x, 2x. Left closed most reps, missed 1-2 (barely). No issues on right. coc #0.5 5 second hold, closed all the way with both hands finger extension 15x white, 12x green, 12x green I'm surprised by how different this went than usual--I closed nearly every rep with the left, and those I missed were very nearly shut. This is in stark contrast to the last few grip workouts I've done, where I struggled to close any of the reps, and only closed maybe 20% of them. Right hand still much easier than the left, but I didn't expect otherwise. Self Care Triggerpoint The ball of my right foot was bothering me slightly (felt off/slight discomfort walking around today). I rolled the foot out with a golf ball. Briefly rolled out the other foot too.
Weds: Stayed home fearing snow that never came til Thurs. Thurs, Fri: Out with a bad migraine, no training Saturday Weight Training, 1 hour I was pretty sluggish, doing the warm-up was hard (leg raises w/ ankle circles, clams). We stuck to easy stuff/mobility/recovery. I don't recall all the exercises.
I woke up today and planned to stay at work late to catch up from being out Thurs/Fri. I went back and forth a bit on whether to pack a bag for class in case I could make it, and did end up packing my gear. Then I forgot to bring it to the car, realized as I was getting in the car, and ended up just leaving it behind as I thought there was no way I'd have time to get to class today. And then, of course, some stuff got switched around at work and I could have actually left in time for class. I worked late anyway since I didn't have my gear, but did some training at home. Muay Thai, training on my own today 3 x 3-minute rounds of jump-rope. Caught my feet a decent bit, several breaks in the 2nd & 3rd round. I like the jump-rope I have at home... my wife got it a while ago. I'm getting another to bring to class with me so I don't get stuck with one that is too short sometimes. 2 x 5 minute rounds of shadow boxing (no video today) 5 x 3 minute rounds on the heavy bag (no video today) I wore just my gel "wraps" and my bag gloves (which are very snug with the gels under them). I tried to take it easy on the punching intensity as my left knuckle is still healing a bit. I think it will probably be good to go after I'm out of training for a month in April. I worked a lot on switch kicks and a bit on switch knees, in addition to various other freestyle combos. I'm getting the distance or angle wrong on my switch kicks--the top of my left foot is very red as I hit it tons on my switch kicks, maybe all but 3-4. The top of my right foot is barely red at all, I hit it on maybe 2 of my rear kicks. I also can't kick through the bag/follow through as well on the switch kicks, so they are fairly weak power-wise compared to my rear kicks. I also practiced entering punching range & going from punching to clinching range a bit too, as well as some close-up striking in clinch range (elbows, knees, hooks to body, with and without grabbing the bag for simulated clinch). Self Care Rotator Cuff Exercises External rotation at neutral 3 x 12 x 10lb External rotation at 90-degree abduction 3 x 12 x 20 lb
Grip work (Prohands/CoC): Crush 10 xx-hvy Hook 10x heavy, try going up Finger play 10x each finger, medium tripod 2 sets of 10, hvy. This bothers my thumb a good bit... trigger 10x xx-hvy thumb press 2 sets of 10, hvy, 2 buttons power pinch 2 sets of 10, medium, 2 buttons crush 10x xx-heavy coc trainer 8x, 6x, 4x, 2x. Left couldn't close maybe 4 reps total. coc #0.5 5 second hold, closed all the way with both hands finger extension 15x white, 12x green, 12x green My left thumb has stayed at a pretty irritating level for a few months--hurts to grip things in certain ways, can't put it all the way down to the palm. I'm seeing an ortho dr. about it next week. She looked at it a few years ago when I first injured it.
Muay Thai, beginners class, 1 hour The warm-up was two 3-minute rounds of jump-rope. I took a few breaks & caught my feet some, but did a good amount of jumping. We paired up with full gear on and drilled attack & defense. A little punching, lots of work on kicks & teeps. We also drilled with kick shields (without shin guards) doing teeps & lunge kicks. Self Care Rotator Cuff Exercise External rotation at neutral 3 x 12 x 20lb External rotation at 90-degree abduction 3 x 12 x 30 lb The last few reps on the 3rd set of each were rough.
12 kicks with each leg on a heavy bag. The surgery instructions did say no aspirin for 10 days prior, so I'm guessing having bruises might also be an issue. I didn't think to ask. I'll go no impact on that leg starting after class tomorrow, but keep kicking the bag with touch contact on that side. Grip Work (Prohands, CoC) Crush 10 xx-hvy Hook 10x x-hvy Finger play 10x each finger, medium tripod skipped (bothers thumb, waiting to see dr before doing more of this) trigger 10x xx-hvy thumb press 2 sets of 10, hvy, 2 buttons power pinch 2 sets of 10, medium, 2 buttons crush 10x xx-heavy coc trainer 8x, 6x, 4x, 2x, all reps closed on left! coc #0.5 5 second hold, closed almost all the way with left, all the way with right finger extension 15x white, 12x green, 8x yellow. The yellow one was hard, I wasn't able to extend the band out as far (maybe 2/3 as much as green), though probably about as far as when I started with green.
