Urgan Breathes Fire, Vol. III

[Urgan]

1 minute ago, Sam Ashen said:

Heard the same thing over here, but I forget what article I was reading.  It said the IT band has the consistency of a tractor tire and it is supposed to be that way.

 

I find rolling down that side of my leg lets me find knots tangential to the I.T. band. I have knots that love to form around my knees. Can't very well avoid the it in the process. 

3 minutes ago, Sam Ashen said:

Deciding when to switch over?  Or what to switch over to?

 

Just as I wrote, when. When to give up on novice and switch to TM...

[starsapart]

Nice finish!  I'm over here overhauling my lifts again, too.  One of these days I'll go back to following a regimented program invented by someone much smarter than I..... but my floundering seems to get results for now so I'm just keeping on.  Research is exhausting, or something.

[Urgan]

7 minutes ago, Sam Ashen said:

If the answer question is "what," how about the Dangerous 4-Day Split?  Here is the general concept as well as I can explain it.

 

 

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In general, you are working 4 major lifts:  Squat, Bench Press, Deadlift, Overhead Press.  It runs a "block periodization."  Four weeks you are running 10's.  Four weeks you are running 5's, followed by some 3's, 2's, 1's, a deload "peaking week, followed by a "test" week.  The total is 15 weeks and there is a spreadsheet for it.  The template (going by memory) looks like:

 

Day 1:  Squats and Bench Presses with full Volume.  Work up to a 10RM and then run working sets at 90%.  Finish with accessory work.

Day 2:  Deadlifts and Overhead Presses with full Volume.  Work up to a 10RM and then run working sets at 90%.  Finish with accessory work.

Day 3:  Rest.

Day 4:  Squats and Bench Press with reduced Volume.  Accessory Work.

Day 5:  Deadlifts and Overhead Presses with reduced Volume.  Accessory Work.

Day 6:  Weaknesses.  Pick a couple and attack them.  Most likely requires an outside opinion.  Basically you are doing some accessory exercises.

Day 7:  Rest.

 

Linear progression is from week to week.  If you look at the program, the first four weeks gradually adds volume.

 

Hmm, my biggest problem with the format actually is I have no love for 10RM work...it's a philosophical difference, one might say. 

 

8 minutes ago, Sam Ashen said:

Why not do Squats on Deadlift Day?  Because it sucks.

 

I'm beginning to wonder if I've hit the wall on this one that will require immediate switch-over. Might be whistling past the graveyard to do another ramp-up on deadlifts, but then I'll be damn sure I've worn out my welcome, right?

[Urgan]

2 minutes ago, starsapart said:

Nice finish!  I'm over here overhauling my lifts again, too.  One of these days I'll go back to following a regimented program invented by someone much smarter than I..... but my floundering seems to get results for now so I'm just keeping on.  Research is exhausting, or something.

 

You're more or less doing novice linear progression with a few repeats of weights, right? Advanced novice, then. If you don't feel like you're stalling, don't switch~ Work it.

[shaar]

45 minutes ago, Urgan said:

My belief is that sleep arrangements have a powerful ability to undo whatever good you do over the course of the day and set you up to get further in the mobility hole. Ensuring your neck is properly supported (pillow arrangements) is step one. Step two is ensuring your mattress is working for your shoulders. After that, it's about daily posture and self-care. Sounds like you? 

 

Oh you're totally right.  A ton of my neck pain has been alleviated by re-training my sleeping posture... it's crazy what a difference it makes!!! I used to tend to curl up just enough when I slept to cause "forward head" problems - like we don't deal with that enough during the day, right?.... I wonder how much of that sleeping position was instinct actually, now that I think of it... Anyway Step 2 is a tough one, sometimes I'll wake up and my shoulders are a little sore because of it.  I just try to reposition and keep on keepin' on.

[Urgan]

2 minutes ago, shaarawy said:

Anyway Step 2 is a tough one, sometimes I'll wake up and my shoulders are a little sore because of it.

 

Are you lying on the front of your shoulder? That may be it. I found that if I adopted postures that tend to encourage "hunching" with or without the curling up can lead to tight shoulders. I'm about this close to experimenting with putting egg crate foam on my bed to mitigate the firmness slightly, however lately I've had slightly less prompt headaches, so maybe I'm getting close to the right posture. 

[Sam Ashen]

Sometimes I think just having the shoulder in the same position while sleeping does something.  My issues have migrated to the left shoulder.

[Urgan]

1 minute ago, Sam Ashen said:

Sometimes I think just having the shoulder in the same position while sleeping does something.  My issues have migrated to the left shoulder.

 

You mean does something positive or creates tension? I've been mulling that question over, too. Tension is a jerk. 

[Sam Ashen]

 

You mean does something positive or creates tension? I've been mulling that question over, too. Tension is a jerk. 

Tension. Sleep is not the only culprit. Also see Evil Bulgarian program above. Doing reduced volume and bonus accessory prehab and rehab work. It is getting better.

Sent from my LG-D800 using Tapatalk

[Urgan]

1 minute ago, Sam Ashen said:

Tension. Sleep is not the only culprit. Also see Evil Bulgarian program above. Doing reduced volume and bonus accessory prehab and rehab work. It is getting better.

Sent from my LG-D800 using Tapatalk

 

Do you ever feel your shoulders want to curl toward one another and the next morning it's all tight as far down as your scapulas? When I hunch up like that, the muscles between my right scapula and spine are more prone to spasming when I hunch over when sitting. It's like the things are related....lol. 

[starsapart]

1 hour ago, Urgan said:

 

You're more or less doing novice linear progression with a few repeats of weights, right? Advanced novice, then. If you don't feel like you're stalling, don't switch~ Work it.

 

.......Kinda?  Squat and DL, yes, because I'm building back up from injury.  Bench I'm doing alternating high volume/lower weight and lowe volume/higher weight days, but my lifts are improving finally after a long stall on bench so I'm taking this as a victory......

[Urgan]

4 minutes ago, starsapart said:

 

.......Kinda?  Squat and DL, yes, because I'm building back up from injury.  Bench I'm doing alternating high volume/lower weight and lowe volume/higher weight days, but my lifts are improving finally after a long stall on bench so I'm taking this as a victory......

 

As long as you're happy with your rate of improvement, don't change for change's sake. You're doing great. 

[miss_marissa]

1) You could always move to an intermediate program for your lower body and try to ride out the linear progression on your upper. No reason you gotta do one of the other.

2) Best sleep trick anyone ever told me. I sleep on my back. Head on the pillow, take the corners of the pillow and tuck them up so they are sitting on top of your shoulders instead of below them. It makes a nice little head cradle.

[starsapart]

Chiming in on sleep: my best and truest love is a memory foam pillow, like one of these:

 

All neckand shoulder pain eliminated.  Yes I paid $130 for my pillow but I can sleep on my side OR my back OR really any way I want and not have pain.

[Urgan]

14 minutes ago, miss_marissa said:

1) You could always move to an intermediate program for your lower body and try to ride out the linear progression on your upper. No reason you gotta do one of the other.

2) Best sleep trick anyone ever told me. I sleep on my back. Head on the pillow, take the corners of the pillow and tuck them up so they are sitting on top of your shoulders instead of below them. It makes a nice little head cradle.

 

Sorry I was unclear, I am waffling on when to throw deadlift onto TM, squat is already there. I'll definitely be keeping upper body on linear progression, got to milk all the gains. Sometimes to the point of absurdity, lol.

 

I'm really trying to work on sleeping on my back, it just seems like the only way I can manage it is if utter exhaustion is involved. Has to do with wanting to flop my head to the side. 

 

11 minutes ago, starsapart said:

Chiming in on sleep: my best and truest love is a memory foam pillow, like one of these:

 

All neckand shoulder pain eliminated.  Yes I paid $130 for my pillow but I can sleep on my side OR my back OR really any way I want and not have pain.

 

I've thought about something like that. Been making do with a rolled up towel to bridge the gap and after some small tweaking I think I may have found the magic shoulder position to minimize neck tension with my current setup. Now to mobilize like no tomorrow and see if that makes the difference. 

[shaar]

24 minutes ago, miss_marissa said:

2) Best sleep trick anyone ever told me. I sleep on my back. Head on the pillow, take the corners of the pillow and tuck them up so they are sitting on top of your shoulders instead of below them. It makes a nice little head cradle.

 

I'm a side-sleeper and I do this too and it's the BEST.  This combined with mentally getting my head and neck into a better sleeping posture right off the bat usually does the trick.

 

My problem is that I'm a super heavy sleeper (cats puke all the time at night and I ZZZ right through that mess) and I'll occasionally end up in some bizarro forward shoulder curl thing and wake up painful.  Can't win 'em all, but we sure try. 

[Urgan]

1 hour ago, miss_marissa said:

2) Best sleep trick anyone ever told me. I sleep on my back. Head on the pillow, take the corners of the pillow and tuck them up so they are sitting on top of your shoulders instead of below them. It makes a nice little head cradle.

 

Thinking more on this...I do try to get the pillow right up under my chin such that there is no gap between neck and pillow. I think a gap promotes Bad Things. 

 

50 minutes ago, shaarawy said:

 

I'm a side-sleeper and I do this too and it's the BEST.  This combined with mentally getting my head and neck into a better sleeping posture right off the bat usually does the trick.

 

My problem is that I'm a super heavy sleeper (cats puke all the time at night and I ZZZ right through that mess) and I'll occasionally end up in some bizarro forward shoulder curl thing and wake up painful.  Can't win 'em all, but we sure try. 

 

...we are sleep problem sisters. ...yay? Lol. I feel like if I can just get into the proper position before I fall asleep, that helps. Also not tossing and turning for an hour plus, lol. 

[Kishi]

Good job all around with the challenge. Lots of stuff to figure out for next time, but that's always the way.

 

With the neck stuff, have you considered maybe doing some kind of direct strengthening work? Like, doing bridges and eventually developing to neck bridges/planks and headstands? I understand that it can sound daunting, but I have found in some cases that pain can be an indicator of a certain frailty in that place. In such cases, strength can be a pretty potent, counter-intuitive cure.

 

I know for instance that I've had trouble in my right lat and shoulder regions for a while due to poor execution of a certain throw in judo. Sleeping a certain way does help it to go away, but doing banded pull aparts and TGUs and twists has really helped to ameliorate that pain for me. It's not completely gone, you understand, but on the other hand, I haven't hit the goals yet on any of those moves, and I wake up every day with a shadow of the pain I used to carry. I'm pretty optimistic that it's going to work.

 

It's just a thought, though. Maybe useful, maybe not. Just wanna see you get better.

[Urgan]

1 minute ago, Kishi said:

Good job all around with the challenge. Lots of stuff to figure out for next time, but that's always the way.

 

With the neck stuff, have you considered maybe doing some kind of direct strengthening work? Like, doing bridges and eventually developing to neck bridges/planks and headstands? I understand that it can sound daunting, but I have found in some cases that pain can be an indicator of a certain frailty in that place. In such cases, strength can be a pretty potent, counter-intuitive cure.

 

I know for instance that I've had trouble in my right lat and shoulder regions for a while due to poor execution of a certain throw in judo. Sleeping a certain way does help it to go away, but doing banded pull aparts and TGUs and twists has really helped to ameliorate that pain for me. It's not completely gone, you understand, but on the other hand, I haven't hit the goals yet on any of those moves, and I wake up every day with a shadow of the pain I used to carry. I'm pretty optimistic that it's going to work.

 

It's just a thought, though. Maybe useful, maybe not. Just wanna see you get better.

 

I feel like I'm actively doing something stupid that is encouraging the tension to stick around. I won't say it isn't due to lack of strength, because more is always helpful, I just want to be careful that I don't inadvertently pile on additional tension. I haven't yet fully optimized the things I could do to improve my sleep--I'm giving this a good thing-through and being methodical because I really want to solve the problem for good and I'm trying not to throw money around too much without determining that the investment is one that will work for me. A cushion for the mattress and a new pillow are potential purchase I could make (a new mattress technically is another variable I could change, but...yeah. Not so much right now). I have obtained and set up the humidifier, so that will be put to the test this week. Good sleep that doesn't involve tossing and turning is a basic must.

 

After that it's time to get serious about mobility. It hurts like hell, but it has to be done. No two ways around it. Part of my problem is being averse to the lacrosse ball. I also stretch and go through neck ROM when idle.

 

So far the last few days, I've had somewhat less pain than usual? Perhaps coincidentally, I've fallen asleep faster with less interrupted sleep. Maybe it's exhaustion, maybe I'm doing something right. Maybe I'm just too cautious to assume this is a permanent upgrade in status. 

[Urgan]

New challenge is up~