Gemma v. Chaos

[Gemma]

15m version of Resilience - Legs, Shoulders, and Back 🚀

I don't remember ever attempting a Peacock Squat before, but I love it! This feels like an actually accessible way to move towards single-leg squats. I can't go terribly deep with it, but my balance seems pretty solid which was a nice surprise. 

I skipped the Arm Swing in Prep because that range of motion is particularly hypermobile and injury-prone for me, so I did extra Quadruped Shoulder Circles there - didn't realize that Shoulder Circles would come up again in Practice. Cool, though, since I really like those and my shoulders definitely appreciate them. 

Prep
→ Resilience Kneeling Back Flexion to Prone Lying Back Extension
→ Single Arm Swing Side To Side Quadruped Shoulder Circles
→ Seiza to Sumo Squat
 

Practice
→ Resilience Plank Hollow Body Shrugs
→ Resilience Plank Shoulder Circles
→ Resilience Peacock Squat
 

[Gemma]

45m version of Elements - Straight Leg Frogger and Crab to Bear to Frogger Transition 🚀
 

Straight Leg Frogger was particularly difficult today. When I tried to do it as a Toe Pull as shown in the demo, I got cramps in my quadriceps - both legs - so I reverted to doing them with hops.  In the Crab Flow, I tried Verity's "Twiddly Legs" maneuver but that was a bit too much twisting and made my left knee unhappy so I stuck with F&B, R&L, Swing Set, and 3-Point Bridge.
 

Prep
→ Supine Hip Circles
→ Walk Into Squat
→ Quadruped Spinal Circles
→ Quadruped Shoulder Circles
→ Wrists - Palms Down, Fingers Facing Knees
 

Practice
→ Crab to Bear to Frogger Combination
→ Straight Leg Frogger Open and Closed
 

Play
→ Crab Free Flow
→ Frogger Free Flow
 

Push
→ 3-Point Bridge
→ General Kneeling Lunge
→ Seated Clasped Hands Extension
→ Kneeling Back Flexion to Prone Lying Back Extension
→ Crab Walk F&B
→ Circuit Basic Frogger
→ Circuit Basic Monkey
→ Circuit Basic Bear

[Gemma]

30m version of Elements - Spiderman Knee Float and Monkey 180 🚀
 

I did it! I actually did the Spiderman Knee Float! I definitely could not do this movement the last time I went through Elements. I'm not getting very low yet, but I've got the hang of the weight shift now. 
 

Monkey 180 is still hard. Doing it the way Ryan coaches it in the demo (placing the hand in direct line with feet) is really rough on my wrists - but if I reach back further, as Rose did in one of the E-live sessions, I can do it. It looks rough, but I can do it. 

Prep
→ Walk Into Squat
→ Quadruped Spinal Circles
→ Quadruped Twist
→ Wrists - Palms Down, Fingers Facing Knees
→ Wrist Circles
 

Practice
→ Monkey 180
→ Spiderman With Knee Float
 

Play
→ Monkey Free Flow
→ Bear Free Flow
 

Push
→ 3-Point Bridge
→ General Kneeling Lunge
→ Seated Clasped Hands Extension
→ Kneeling Back Flexion to Prone Lying Back Extension
→ Bent Arm Monkey
→ Bent Arm Bear

[Gemma]

30m version of Resilience - Ankles, Shoulders, and Core 🚀
 

Some of my favorite movements. I feel pretty strong in the Blade Squat - still weaker on the left, and I can pretty regularly feel that 'don't go beyond this, here be dragons' point from where that ankle has been sprained so many times, but I went nice and slow and did no harm and probably some good. 
 

The Cross Body Knee Touch is challenging, but more for my balance than for my core strength. I have to go verrrryy slow in either the A-Frame or the Plank to maintain control and not wobble. 

Shoulder Circles feel great, as always. 
 

Prep
→ Resilience Table Top Arm Thread & Extension
→ Tall Kneeling Arm Raises
→ Supine Ankle Circles
 

Practice
→ Resilience Plank Cross Body Knee Touch
→ Resilience Plank Shoulder Circles
→ Resilience Foot Blade Squat

[Elastigirl]

Are you doing Elements and Resilience on the same day? Is resilience move of recovery or actual workout? I've been using Floor Loco on rest days for some movement and was wondering about doing resilience when I'm finished with Floor Loco.

[Emissary2Ornj]

On 3/17/2022 at 3:36 PM, Gemma said:

I did it! I actually did the Spiderman Knee Float!

Wow! Hooray for you!

[Scaly Freak]

On 3/17/2022 at 1:36 PM, Gemma said:

I did it! I actually did the Spiderman Knee Float! I definitely could not do this movement the last time I went through Elements. I'm not getting very low yet, but I've got the hang of the weight shift now. 

 

I had to google this... and wow. I am officially impressed.

[Gemma]

22 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

Are you doing Elements and Resilience on the same day? Is resilience move of recovery or actual workout? I've been using Floor Loco on rest days for some movement and was wondering about doing resilience when I'm finished with Floor Loco.

 

I'm generally alternating, using Resilience as my 'active recovery' work on elemental rest days.  I used to use the Recovery sessions for that - also great - but what I need most right now is strengthening around my hypermobile injury-prone joints and Resilience meets that need perfectly.  

 

How are you liking Floor Loco? I bought it but haven't used it yet. 

[Elastigirl]

18 minutes ago, Gemma said:

 

I'm generally alternating, using Resilience as my 'active recovery' work on elemental rest days.  I used to use the Recovery sessions for that - also great - but what I need most right now is strengthening around my hypermobile injury-prone joints and Resilience meets that need perfectly.  

 

How are you liking Floor Loco? I bought it but haven't used it yet. 

Thanks, that is helpful. Resilience sounds like what I need in my recovery days too.  

 

Floor Loco is super fun. You learn movements, and then work them into flows. I think it does of good job of keeping me mobile, and like you said strengthening around the joints. I find that when I do GMB work, I am a lot less prone to injury.

[Gemma]

30m version of Elements - Straight Leg Frogger and Frogger to Crab Transition 🚀

Probably took too many days off in the transition back to normal workdays, fatigue seemed a bit more than my usual; need to sort exactly how I am going to fit this in on mornings when I need to shower and get to the office. Really liking this Frogger to Crab, which is really just a partial Around the World, I think I am getting stronger at that. Straight Leg Frogger is still really challenging but socks on a hard floor and having just a slight bend at the knee helped a lot. 

Prep
→ Frog Stretch
→ Quadruped Spinal Circles
→ Quadruped Wag Tail
→ Wrists - Palms Down, Fingers Facing Knees
→ Standing Straight Leg Hip Circles

 

Practice
→ Frogger to Crab Combination
→ Straight Leg Frogger Open and Closed

 

Play
→ Crab Free Flow
→ Frogger Free Flow

 

Push
→ 3-Point Bridge
→ General Kneeling Lunge
→ Pancake
→ Half Pancake
→ Crab Walk R&L
→ Bent Arm Baby Frogger

[Gemma]

15m version of Resilience - Wrists, Back, and Shoulders 🚀

The Floor Pulls have definitely gotten better since the last time I did them. All of this felt really good today, with no shoulder pain at all. R wrist got a bit cranky at one point as I was moving hands and knees further from each other in the Plank on Hand Blades, but I pulled it back an inch and it was fine. 

Prep
→ Quadruped Shoulder Circles
→ Quadruped Spinal Circles
→ Wrist Circles
 

Practice
→ Resilience Single Arm Plank Scap Shrugs
→ Resilience Floor Pulls
→ Resilience Walking Plank On Hand Blades

[Gemma]

15m version of Elements - Monkey 180 and Spiderman Knee Float 🚀

 

Still really enjoying the feeling of being able to do both of these movements. I experimented with my hand placement in the Monkey 180 and found that I can get it closer to being 'in line' with my L wrist than my R, so I'll put a little more focus on strength there. 

Prep
→ Supine Hip Circles
→ Walk Into Squat
→ Quadruped Spinal Circles
→ Quadruped Shoulder Circles
→ Wrists - Palms Down, Fingers Facing Knees

 

Practice
→ Spiderman With Knee Float
→ Monkey 180

 

Play
→ Bear, Monkey, Frogger Free Flow

Push
→ 3-Point Bridge
→ General Kneeling Lunge
→ Seated Clasped Hands Extension
→ Kneeling Back Flexion to Prone Lying Back Extension
→ Crab Walk F&B
→ Circuit Basic Frogger
→ Circuit Basic Monkey
→ Circuit Basic Bear

[Gemma]

15m version of Resilience - Ankles, Legs, and Back 🚀

 

Everything felt good today.  Shrimp Squats still feel utterly impossible, but working on single leg balance and step-back lunges is doable. 

Prep
→ Kneeling Back Flexion to Prone Lying Back Extension
→ General Kneeling Lunge
→ Standing Straight Leg Hip Circles

 

Practice
→ Resilience Plank Hollow Body Shrugs
→ Resilience Shrimp Squat 
→ Resilience Squat Single Leg Knee to Floor
 

[Gemma]

5m version of Elements - High Frogger Prep and Bear to Crab Transition 🚀

 

That was interesting. I don't remember these Frogger movements from my last round of Elements. The High Frogger to Crab Combination was five shades of impossible - I tried several things to bring it down to merely difficult, what I wound up with was going back to the High Frogger Isometric and then adding the Leg Thread in place of the isometric hold at the end. Everything that I tried with any kind of jump turned out to be a terrible idea for either wrist or knees, I just don't have the motor control to land that smoothly yet. 

 

The up side is that I really did enjoy that High Frogger Isometric, that seems like a completely accessible thing to work towards! 

Prep
→ Walk Into Squat
→ Quadruped Spinal Circles
→ Quadruped Twist
→ Wrists - Palms Down, Fingers Facing Knees
→ Wrist Circles

 

Practice
→ Bear to Crab Transition
→ High Frogger Isometric

 

Play
→ High Frogger Thread to Crab Combination

 

Push
→ 3-Point Bridge
→ General Kneeling Lunge
→ Seated Clasped Hands Extension
→ Kneeling Back Flexion to Prone Lying Back Extension
 

[Gemma]

45m version of Floor Loco - Let's Roll This Thing Out 🚀
 

That was hilarious! I really didn't think I was ready for this but I've been dying to give it a shot anyway - now I wish that I had video recorded it, because whenever I get to the point where I can actually do any of these things it would be so much fun to compare to today's blooper reel.
 

I'm really glad I had time today to set this for the 45 minute session. If the Practice and Play times had been any shorter I would not have gotten even close to 'getting' either of these movements and I would have ended up really frustrated instead of laughing at myself. 
 

It took half of the practice time on the Side Roll just to figure out what to do with my feet to get up into a Plow - to get onto my shoulders instead of rolling up onto the top of my head. I finally had to *start* in Plow and go on over and then reverse-engineer it from there, and I spent a lot of the remaining practice time in Plow just walking my feet back and forth from one 'over-center' point to the other to try and get a little bit of muscle memory for the middle of this movement pattern. 
 

The combo was a case study in physical comedy. In my first several attempts I was trying to Scorpion out of the Spiderman with the wrong leg! Started to get frustrated, so I watched a few reps of the demo loop before my light bulb 💡began to glow (dimly) and I switched feet/hand movements at the start. That helped, but ... wow.  This is a good place for that famous Jake the Dog quote: "Dude, suckin' at something is the first step towards bein' sorta good at something." 
 

Also, I'm glad I didn't eat first. I need to take some time to just get used to rolling around on the floor, because I started to get nauseated and had to stop and get a ginger ale part way through the Play segment. 
 

Prep
→ Quadruped Twist
→ Prone Bent Arm Chest Stretch
→ A-Frame
 

Practice
→ Side Roll
→ Basic Spiderman
 

Play
→ Twisted Sister (Rotation) Combo A
 

[Gemma]

15m version of Integral Strength - Prep and Integrated Circuit Practice 🚀

 

That was much better than the first time I tried this. "Beginner's Mind" FTW.   I'm pretty stiff from travel to Warrenton, but this was a good 'ease back into routine' session. 

 

Need considerable work on balance, especially on R leg. The Pulling Prep is not as awful as I remembered it, I think when I went through this the first time I was trying to make that movement way too big. I'm pretty happy with my progress on Twisting Bear and on A-Frame Pulses. 

Prep
→ General Kneeling Lunge
→ Quadruped Sidebend
→ Quadruped Spinal Circles
→ Kneeling Back Flexion to Prone Lying Back Extension
→ Wrists - Palms Down, Fingers Facing Knees
 

Practice
→ Standard Jump
→ Bent Leg Back Scale
→ Standard Plank
→ Hollow Body Plank
→ Step Back Lunge
→ A-Frame Bent Arm Pulses
→ Bar Pulling Prep
→ Twisting Bear
 

Push
→ Half Pancake
→ Modified Pigeon Stretch
→ Frog Stretch
→ Quadruped Shoulder Circles 
→ Prone Bent Arm Chest Stretch
 

[Gemma]

15m version of Integral Strength - Stall Step Back, Chin-Up, and Superset 🚀

 

Negative Chin Ups are the bane of my existence. I still can't jump to the top position, have to use a step stool to get there.  My balance was extra off today in the Step Back Lunge. Bent Arm A-Frame is feeling much better, so is the Mountain Climber. The Seated Leg Lift wasn't too bad but if I squeeze too much trying to keep the working leg locked out I am still prone to some cramping in the quadricep. 

 

Prep
→ General Kneeling Lunge
→ Quadruped Sidebend
→ Quadruped Spinal Circles
→ Kneeling Back Flexion to Prone Lying Back Extension
→ Wrists - Palms Down, Fingers Facing Knees

Practice
→ Bar Jump To Negative Chin-Up
→ Bar Pulling Prep
→ Stall Step Back Lunge

Push
→ Half Pancake
→ Modified Pigeon Stretch
→ Frog Stretch
→ Seated Clasped Hands Extension
→ Prone Bent Arm Chest Stretch
→ Standard Jump
→ Mountain Climber
→ Twisting Bear
→ Seated Leg Lift
→ Bent Arm A-Frame
 

[Gemma]

15m version of Resilience - Wrists, Shoulders, and Core 🚀

 

This all felt good. Only difficult part was remembering to breathe while holding tightness in my core, especially in the Iguana Walk - I still want to hold my breath for that. Wrist felt good today. 

 

Prep
→ Quadruped Spinal Circles
→ Tall Kneeling Arm Raises
→ Hand Clench

 

Practice
→ Resilience Iguana Walk
→ Resilience Plank Shoulder Circles
→ Resilience Seal Walk
 

[Gemma]

15m version of Integral Strength - Twisting Bear, Standing Jump, and Circuit 🚀

Getting better. R leg is still very weak in Step Back Lunge, but the L leg can handle the full ROM. 

Prep
→ General Kneeling Lunge
→ Quadruped Sidebend
→ Quadruped Spinal Circles
→ Kneeling Back Flexion to Prone Lying Back Extension
→ Wrists - Palms Down, Fingers Facing Knees

 

Practice
→ Twisting Bear
→ Standard Jump

 

Push
→ Half Pancake
→ Modified Pigeon Stretch
→ Frog Stretch
→ Seated Clasped Hands Extension
→ Prone Bent Arm Chest Stretch
→ Standard Jump
→ Bent Leg Back Scale
→ Standard Plank
→ Step Back Lunge
→ A-Frame Bent Arm Pulses
→ Bar Pulling Prep
→ Twisting Bear

[Gemma]

15m version of Resilience - Wrists, Ankles, and Core 🚀

This all felt good. 

 

Prep
→ General Kneeling Lunge
→ Quadruped Spinal Circles
→ Hand Clench

 

Practice
→ Swing Set
→ Resilience Toe Walk
→ Resilience Table Top Walk

[Scaly Freak]

This may seem a little random, but I just thought I'd share that I've taken inspiration from your hilarious video on how to do a "dog assisted twisted bear" and have made it a point to get down on the floor and move on all fours for at least a few minutes every evening. I make sure to alternate between bending and extending arms nd legs for variety, and to move in all directions, not just forward. 

 

My Happy Sidekick alternates between thinking this means I've finally lost my mind, and thinking this is an awesome fun game to play, but she leans towards the latter most evenings, so we have fun crab-bear-monkey-frog crawling across the floor together. 

 

And since I started doing this, my tendonitis wrist is stronger and hurts less, and my ankles have much better range of motion, so I'm going to keep doing it. Thank you for bringing fun floor animals into my life  

[Gemma]

19 hours ago, Scaly Freak said:

This may seem a little random, but I just thought I'd share that I've taken inspiration from your hilarious video on how to do a "dog assisted twisted bear" and have made it a point to get down on the floor and move on all fours for at least a few minutes every evening. I make sure to alternate between bending and extending arms nd legs for variety, and to move in all directions, not just forward. 

 

My Happy Sidekick alternates between thinking this means I've finally lost my mind, and thinking this is an awesome fun game to play, but she leans towards the latter most evenings, so we have fun crab-bear-monkey-frog crawling across the floor together. 

 

Not random ... awesome! 

 

And working out is always better with a partner.  

 

  

 

#notendorsingburpees

 

 

I was going to attempt another session of Floor Loco today, but the weather is just too nice for that. Instead, I spent 15 minutes in my "outside gym" alternating between hitting a tractor tire with an 8# sledgehammer and playing with my new rings - randomly swinging, pulling prep, and German hang.

[Gemma]

15m version of Resilience - Legs, Shoulders, and Back 🚀

 

These felt good. The Sumo Walk was a little smoother than it used to be, and I could feel my lats more in the Swimmers. 

 

Prep
→ Resilience Kneeling Back Flexion to Prone Lying Back Extension
→ Single Arm Swing Side To Side
→ Seiza to Sumo Squat

 

Practice
→ Resilience Prone Swimmers
→ Resilience Crab Shoulder Shrugs
→ Resilience Sumo Walk

[Gemma]

Yesterday had very poor sleep night prior and couldn’t coerce myself into an IS session, so I did some Prep movements and then spent about 10 minutes alternating pushups (on parallettes), pulling prep, reverse rows, and a beginner version of the reverse row sitback.

 

Today - 

15m version of Integral Strength - Bent Arm A-Frame, Mt. Climbers, and Circuit 🚀

 

That was a really good session. I did much better with the loaded Bent Arm A-Frame than I have before, and my balance is definitely improved in the Bent Leg Back Scale and in the Step Back Lunge.  I didn't use a stepladder this time for the Bar Jump - I still can't jump all the way to having my chin above the bar, but it is at least halfway. I paid a lot of attention to my elbow position and didn't put any painful strain on them. Negative Chin Ups are still fast but feel like I have at least a little bit of control. 

Prep
→ General Kneeling Lunge
→ Quadruped Sidebendha
→ Quadruped Spinal Circles
→ Kneeling Back Flexion to Prone Lying Back Extension
→ Wrists - Palms Down, Fingers Facing Knees

 

Practice
→ Mountain Climber
→ Front Loaded Bent-Arm A-Frame

 

Push
→ Half Pancake
→ Modified Pigeon Stretch
→ Frog Stretch
→ Seated Clasped Hands Extension
→ Prone Bent Arm Chest Stretch
→ Standard Jump
→ Bent Leg Back Scale
→ Hollow Body Plank
→ Step Back Lunge
→ A-Frame Bent Arm Pulses
→ Bar Jump To Negative Chin-Up
→ Twisting Bear
 

[Elastigirl]

Woot for all the improvements! Reverse row sit backs are hard!