Updates On Sciatica

 It has been a rocky road to recovery from my sciatica injury that started nearly a month ago and although the pain comes and goes, it still pretty damn shitty that I can't do what I love to do at my best. Got no one to blame but myself for having it happen and it hasn't been easy trying to do even basic things like walking and standing. There were times where it took me longer to put my clothes on than I normally would. What injury is ever easy? 

Trying different things at a lower pace and even doing beginning stages of certain exercises to help heal. Some things do ok, others not so much and the pain levels sometimes reach excruciating heights that it hurts to put on my socks and shoes. With all the things that I've tried, the two things that seem to bring any comfort training wise is Isometrics and Joint Loosening exercises. Even the most basic animal moves hurt except maybe the Bear Crawl which I only do a minute each day. While we were at the Hot Springs in Montana earlier this month, I did mainly go in the hot and cold pools which temporally helped ease the pain and do Isometrics in the room. 

The Chiropractor is helping to an extent but it's so damn hard to not want to push myself. When I go a little further, that's when it really acts up. I have pushed myself to the point where even climbing stairs feels like an eternity and I really need to listen to my body and stop being so damn stubborn and full of pride. I really don't like it when people have to help me even for the easiest things and sleeping has been a nightmare. 

My sciatica is about as inflamed as you can get and the pain in my nerves shoot all the way down my right leg that ranges from a 3-9 on the pain scale. I haven't felt pain this bad since my leg injuries back in '05. I'm not giving up on myself, I'm still training just in a much smaller capacity and I'm just so damn ready for this thing to be over with. Sometimes I want to see what I can still do but get in my own head and push myself beyond what my own ability is right now and end up suffering for it which maybe is a lesson I need to learn in order to understand how I can find a way to keep doing things but not at full capacity or even half. By my own observation, pain tolerance and the way I can move, my best capacity level of what I know I can do is right now at best 20-25% of what I normally can do and that's stretching it. For me that's just downright horrible but I need to just let my body do its thing and give it time. 

When injuries happen, the biggest fight is with ourselves and at times we'll just barely do anything because we either give up or don't know how to deal with it, other times we fight so damn hard to come back that we overestimate our abilities and can make things worse. We do need to find that balance but the one thing that should always be there is the ability to keep going but work on the progression and doing our best to know our limits but go above them little by little even if it's microscopic. I know damn well that there are people out there who have it far worse than me and they hold their pain in better than I ever could but that's why I also fight to come back because I know this is not going to last forever and it'll give me a better appreciation that I can beat this and that it's important to be thankful I'm still able to do things even in a smaller setting. It's hard but it's not forever. I will be back hitting hammers on a tire again, I will have my agility and strength back doing crazy animal stuff and I will dominate the step ups again because that's one of the exercises that has kept my legs in great condition in the first place. 

If you're injured, don't give up on yourself, fight back and make it your mission to be better again. Strengthen yourself but also listen to your body even when that part of you wants to push beyond, we can only push so much but it doesn't mean we have heart. Keep being amazingly awesome and keep on keeping on. 

Forearms Built For Popeye

 Well, in a sense. No, my forearms are no where near The Sailor Man but over a period of YEARS, I've developed some pretty decent lower arms that have arm wrestled three generation of a logger family, swung heavy sledgehammers as heavy as 75 lbs, bent tough steel (short and shaped long pieces as well), tore through phonebooks with ease and lots of rows and pulls using Fat Gripz. Alas, I'm not done or haven't peaked yet.

The lower arms aren't just merely little muscles in the forearms, there's bone and tendon strength there too that gives you a different outlet of strength over purely weights and bodyweight style. The grip strength that came with these thick puppies wasn't made overnight or just a pump after a workout. Believe it or not, I never really specialized in them, just worked them hard like anything else and focused into the muscles as I trained them. Some of it is genetics but the reality is, I busted my ass to make them strong yet supple, flexible and durable. 

Sure I've trained with wrist rollers and done wrist curls and all that but nothing builds the forearms IMO than working with Sledgehammers, Isometric Training, Thick Handle Work. Working the fingers as well is part of the package deal when you're building grip strength and/or muscle building. Very little Isolated movements are done, like with the whole body, everything should be working together regardless of what you specialize in. When you're training with sledgehammers, it's a feeling you don't get with a lot of other stuff; the swing, the just right amount of grip strength to tighten up on the handle to move the hammer effectively (can't grip it too tight but you can't have a weak and loose grip either). When you've done hundreds or over 1000 reps in training, it's not just a pump you feel, it's that surge of power coursing through your veins and feeling like a warrior who was victorious in battle. 

Having a powerful grip is also one of two things; a life saving entity and a make or break formality in sports. For the life saving aspect, the ability to grab somebody to save them from a burning building or pulling them out of a rapid riverbend puts a whole new meaning to the term "real life strength." In sports, hitting the ball far, throwing it down the field, working a submission in MMA or the strength to toss your opponent like a rag doll in Amateur Wrestling all have ties to a strong grip. Granted not all who have a strong grip have huge muscles, some 165 lb stick figure of a man can have incredible grip strength either from farming, labor work or other things. One of the greatest figures in wrestling history had a grip that to this day still baffles people; the legendary Danny Hodge was able to crush apples, break pliers and make men fall to their knees with his handshake. 

If you were to specialize in building incredible gripping power, focus mainly on the tendons and ligaments...This could go with high rep work, isometrics, thick bars or attaching Fat Gripz to your barbells and dumbbells, fingertip push-ups and plenty of pulling and pushing while focusing on the grip itself. There are far better experts out there than me that make my grip strength seem like I have the strength of Twiggy; guys like Dennis Rogers, Brooks Kubik, Edward Aston, Mac Batchelor and others are some of the true masters of grip strength. As you work exercises that flex or squeeze the muscles, be sure to work the opposite doing extensor work as well. A great book to look into is Molding A Mighty Grip by George Jowett. 

Don't just go for strength either, condition the lower arms as much as you can because having strong, durable and conditioned hands goes a long way than just maxing out for a short period of time. Moving furniture is a hell of a way to find out what your grip is or some good old fashioned arm wrestling or tug of war. Having strong and conditioned hands can also indicate how healthy you are as well. Be strong, build some mighty mitts and keep being amazingly awesome. 

60 Seconds Of Crawling Leads To Many Health Benefits

 Animal Movement is by far one of the very best methods of exercise anyone can do. Granted in times like these where information is overwhelming and the plethora of beginner to advanced movements tends to get awkward and confusing (depending on whom you learn the movements from), it's still important to understand that even the most simple movements can have a major impact on health and well-being. Fitness in and of itself isn't glamorous, glistening bodies or going so damn hard you pass out; it's about developing skills and strengths that play a major role in how we keep living to our fullest.

One of the most basic forms of Animal Movement is the Bear Crawl. It has been used throughout the ages and comes in different ways to perform it along with using it to condition the body in various ways as well. It can be done slow or it can be done fast but either way, it'll challenge your brain and muscular function despite its simplicity. 

I saw this picture of the Bear Crawl on Facebook in a post by Wong Yuen-Ming that went like this....

“Bear Walking” is popular these days but probably not many realize it was popular in old China as well, so I have taken the liberty to translate a short intro to the practice from a Ming era manual (circa 1500). Enjoy!

‘Tiger emerging from the cave’

First, assume the posture of a quadrupedal animal.

Extend the front and bend the back to move with strength.

Then, bend the front and extend the back, following the previous method.

Do this gongfu thirty-eight times, pausing at each one.

Zhi Gang said:

Use your hands as feet, hence the saying, "Assume the posture of a quadrupedal animal, extending the front and bending the back", means to position your body firmly and place your hands on the ground. "Extend the back and bend the front" means extend your legs and move forward. Doing so back and forth, your body will look like a tiger emerging from the cave, your muscles and bones will be relaxed, your organs will be at ease, and your blood flow will be smooth. 

This is one of the coolest depictions of the classic exercise in ancient text. A qi gong style format that not only shows what this exercise does but what it does for the body as you perform it. We all have heard of this exercise being used to torture athletes in sports like Football & Wrestling which for all intents and purposes is one of the many reasons why it has lasted so long as a conditioning exercise and fat burner. When we see it from a different point of view, it changes the stereotype that it's meant only for conditioning when in fact, it can be used to enhance one's brain and motor functions as we get older and we can't move as fast as Speedy Gonzales (Not that we last that going that fast anyway). Doing this exercise slower hits the muscles differently, it focuses not just the awareness of the movement but also the control and the amount of focus it takes. Yes it's very simple to do but it's not so easy to control especially when you go so slow that it's almost like time stood still. 

 

Now, if we were to practice this exercise each day to wake up our Brain Fog, imagine what the possibilities would be if we felt more alive in the morning and the things we can accomplish with a mind and body that's ready to go. The way it said to do this exercise 38 times and pausing after each one (who knows how long to do it) can be revitalizing to the organs and harness the neurons needed to wake the body up better than a cup of coffee. You can count if you wish and practice it that way, you can also do it for just 60 seconds. Just crawl for one full minute till the timer hits and you're done. That may not sound like much but if you were to do this everyday for a year, the body changes, your mind highly likely will be sharper and clearer, you have more energy and possibly have better days starting off with a smile or an endorphin high. 365 minutes is just over 6 hours, all that time crawling. Those 6 hours can be life changing, hell just a week can be life changing. Try it for 7 days and see how you feel in that time, that's 7 minutes all together, 7 minutes of just moving like a beast in the wild. 

If you really want to amp up the ante and want to push yourself, a couple times a week you can do a Tabata style workout that takes no more than 5 minutes to complete that will have you gasping and breathing hard like a madman. Crawl for 10 seconds fast, rest for 20 seconds and repeat for a total of 10 rounds. Although you're resting the majority of the time and the amount of work is really only 1:40 seconds long, it can turn you into a fitness machine and rev up the metabolism like crazy. Not to mention it creates spikes in HGH and Testosterone.

Have fun with this exercise whether you do it fast or slow, just don't go so hard you fall on your face and hurt yourself. It's meant to be an experience, a personal form of growth and physical activity. It'll feel like being a kid again just playing. It's not an exercise that's meant to be boring or a chore, it's meant to enhance those neurons and fire up the excitement in your system. Keep being amazingly awesome.