Sorry I haven't posted much boys. I'm doing lots of very specific things to prepare for
Tuesday that are just really hard to explain like I normally do.
Basically, I've put "Bob", my punching dummy with 75 pound basin of water at the bottom, on top of a metal patio chair to weigh it down. Then I attach a resistance band to the chair at different heights and try to train every angle my arms would be at in an arm wrestling match. ESPECIALLY the compromised angles. AKA, the pinned side of the table. Trying to at least make a brain muscle connection to that specific range of motion and those muscle groups, throughout the arm, lat, trap, hips, legs, and their companion muscles on the same and opposite sides of the body. I know these couple days aren't enough time to cultivate a significant amount of stabilizer muscles in those areas if I don't already have them. So I'm focusing on activation and muscle teamwork. Lots of concentration. I train my wrists the same way. And then my grip.
Plus, I've been told not to do anything for at least 3 days before hand as this is going to be rough and they want me fresh for the grinder...
Which brings me to my next topic...
Guys, I say what I say next in love, if you are starting a new exercise that you haven't done before, or haven't done on a consistent basis... Then please, for the love of cheesus. Take it slow. For instance, this...
IMO Should absolutely not be your first pull up. Even though it's the correct movement. It should be something like this done from the beginning...
You can pretty much do the same on some rings btw.
Thing is, some people can get away with going full on body weight or even really heavy weights because their bodies heal fast. HOWEVER, those same people still have fundamental
foundational weaknesses. Even if they are lifting more than you, are bigger than you and got there faster. Why? Because it takes a REALLY long time to cultivate healthy, strong tendons. For instance. Lets say that you are person A and you've taken it slow for an entire year and you've babied your muscles and focused on your tendons and stabilizer muscles so very high rep, lighter weight workouts focusing on bloodflow and letting your body also focus on healing and developing your tendons instead of split it's healing energy and concentration between them and your tendons. Then we have person B, (80-90% of people who workout at the gym IMO) who has focused on their larger, bulky muscles while neglecting their tendons by doing heavier weight, high damage exercises.
Lets say person A has finished his tendon and stabilizer training and is now focusing on larger bulky muscle (<--I wouldn't do this personally, I'd take it slower and not so bulky, this is just an example for those that do.). He trains to the point that he is now as large as person B. Person A is going to be FAR better equipped to, withstand and recover from injuries, do more dynamic ranges of motion in his workouts, gain more flexibility, switch to other types of workouts and be more functional in real life situations where he would need to use his muscles in a dynamic manner than person B. I'd even say person A would be generously stronger that person B even at the same size. Person A would be better equipped to maintain his strength and mobility FAR longer throughout his entire life compared to person B as your tendons and stabilizers
greatly impact how much damage your joints take. Not to mention, during the tendon training, you've cultivated a vast and healthy system of capillaries etc. that help with repair and maintenance.
And let me be CLEAR. The scenario above for person B is only if you are lucky and your big bulky muscle grows fast enough to compensate for and cover up your weaknesses
before you injure yourself. In my experience a whole lot of people quit working out because they start off wrong by going full bore and incur an injury to their tendons, stabilizers or joints and give up. And then many others who don't give up try to take the fast road with all kinds of growth hormones or crazy supps so that they "get bigger faster!"
And yes, some people have genetically strong tendons that develop quickly. But how are you going to know that you do? It's better to be safe than sorry.
But, even if you do... then why not train them to be even stronger?
Also,
off duty ninja
. Bro, about your toe. I don't know if this is your issue, but along with starting off slow and taking it easy per the above, I had something similar happen to me. After I had melted away in the hospital bed I stopped taking the same vitamins that I had been when I was working out. I totally forgot about taking them again when I started working out again. Namely Calcium. One day, my friend came over and we played Uncle (A strength game where you start with your arms up grabbing hands by lacing each others fingers and you try to twist the others arms back and make them say uncle), he had his gun holstered to his side under his sweater and I didn't know. He tried to body check me as I was pinning him and it broke my rib... I still won though. I didn't know till after a couple hours or so that it was broke. Anyway, this happened again in a different way and on the other side. So my wife figured I had a calcium deficiency so she put me on some Coral Calcium along with Vitamin D and magnesium since K2 helps direct calcium on where to go... I usually try to get everything through my food, but I had an imbalance in one of these areas so my body just wasn't processing it correctly. Haven't had any issues since and as a bonus, I even feel less sore. I'd bet I was causing a lot of micro fractures during my workouts since my bones where weak.
Also, if you aren't already, maybe look into barefoot running mate. At one point, my knees where so bad from years of tile that I was on crutches. It wasn't till I started to go barefoot that my knees started healing and I could walk again. Right now, being off your feet, you could look at it like a reset so when you start up again it could give you something to look forward to since you need to build a whole new set of muscles for it. I could sit here and explain all the benefits but I'll just leave these.
And then when you are done laughing and your brain is ready to process some deep stuff...
Oh, and my wife says to do some epsom salt foot baths a couple times a week. I know that's common knowledge but sometimes we forget.
Food for thought.
Keep chasing your dreams, champions.
CRANK IT UP AND TAKE
