Random Fitness Questions

chrissb8

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121961465#Comment_121961465

That's exactly why I really gravitated towards it, the idea of going to a gym on my own and chasing my fitness goals at the time wasn't appealing at all. I found the group dynamic kept me accountable to push myself in workouts and complete them. Crossfit adds a level of friendly competition which is something that motivates me in general.

Mostly I've learned how to confidently workout out with a number of exercises/lifts with good form because of the coaching in my gym. Which I feel was a big barrier to me starting a consistent workout routine. The idea of doing something and not having an idea of if I am progressing or not is demotivating.

So you have real measurable progress in Crossfit from informed coaches but now I am at the point where I'm happy with the overall weight loss (give or take probably another 2 kg I could lose but not looking for perfection) and fitness. I feel the next step is to slap some muscle on and build some strength. While I'm in my early 30s now I do see weight lifting as a lifetime endeavour and want to get that habit nailed down now.

Congratulations on meeting your wife at Crossfit too, there's a few in my gym who have had the same thing happen to them. Must be the shared trauma of doing many wods together haha.

redzerredzer

Does anyone happen to remember Transform who used to post here had a few flexibility tests he did with clients to see what they needed to work on and strengthen?

I have searched his posts but can’t find the videos.
It would be great if someone could find them or suggest some mobility tests I could do to pin point where I’m most in need of work.
Thanks

Mellor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121974981#Comment_121974981

aka Dominic Munnelly. His old still is still on youtube if you search

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69A8p4TCLg0

His channel appears to still be active.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmUNW3lDsGvlbkw1XkSdf5g

Black Sheep

He was a specimen, back in the day, when I met him - I've no doubt he still is.

redzerredzer

thanks so much. I’ll fail these tonight and start working on them

Luxembourgo

So my right leg has been destroyed over the years, ACL, Sciatica, Achilles Tendon, Hamstring tear, which means it is way way under developed compared to the left leg. This is going to get worse as I have torn my ACL again and scheduled for surgery in July.

Home gym, so was thinking alot of unilateral , and do one extra on the right side.

Calf Raises

Bulgarian Split Squat

Lunges

Banded Hamstring Curls

Box Single Leg Squat

Any others I should include?

Black Sheep

I think if I were really going to lean into the unilateral stuff I would pick 2-3 good ones, mix of quad dominant and ham glute dominant, and then after that is a question of overall programming.

For a lower day, with a unilateral emphasis, you could do something like go heavy on the Bulgarian Split squats, just follow a strength progression for them as if they were a main barbell lift. 3 or 4 sets and just progressively overload week to week. Reps 6-10 a leg. Do your bad leg first. Then next movement single leg glute bridges or single leg deadlift, same thing. Then maybe terminal knee extensions with a band, higher reps to failure, and calf raises.

Single leg box squats are great but to me they are a regression for someone who is more debilitated. If you can do the stuff above do that instead imo.

I do like split squats in place of Bulgarian version for greater stability sometimes. Some people will do them much better and progress better.

Lunges, I feel people turn them into split squats a lot. By that I mean, whether forward or reverse, they step … settle … then split squat. There needs to be more dynamism present in a lunge whether forwards or reverse. So I like to do walking lunges with bodyweight or very light weight for quite high reps, at the end of a workout, one all out set, really driving up off the front leg. After you've done your other sets with progressive overload and very log book driven, that one set is just a finisher, could be 50-100 reps.

Step ups are good, but hard to do well, hard to resist pushing off that leg on the ground to assist yourself up. Lifting the toes off the ground helps, as does just making it more an eccentric movement and focusing on controlling the descent.

Banded single leg extensions and curls are OK but not really as useful as machine versions of those movements, you don't have the same stability and ability to progress load.

Overall, for your goal I would do plenty of unilateral work but personally I think a few movements is enough, and you could still keep in a bilateral main lift and/or machine work without losing anything.

Suit of Wolves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121781739#Comment_121781739

Unrelated to that comment but I would like to ask you something else which you may or may not have the time to respond to…

After having patella maltracking in one knee (more than the other) and eventually getting pain in this knee, I saw my physiotherapist. I was told that I likely have a shallow grove in that knee, and that I need to strengthen my glutes, vastus medialis, and loosen my IT band with foam rolling; and that all this will change my biomechanics resulting in bigger gap between my knees when running. After this visit I didn't seem to get the satisfied results and after 3/4 weeks of rehab and I went back to the physio again. It was only this time that he said that it could take up to 12 weeks to change my biomechanics so not to be disappointed, and that after that time period that I could then reduce the amount of the prescribed exercises to half that "forever more" to keep it at bay. I'm back running now and the knee feels fine like before, but I was a bit disappointed to hear the "forever more" part, as I now have to do my general exercises as well as the scaled rehab exercises forever more. I'm just wondering (once my biomechanics are corrected) would it mean they'd relapse to my old running style if I stopped these exercises? Any other time I went for physio it was pretty much a case of doing the rehab for a set period of time and then 'kind of' forgetting about it!

One of the specifics with my condition was that when I did a forward lunge (with the good knee going forward) I'd get the pain in my bad (left) knee at the very end of the lunge when I'd be stepping back into the stance of the starting position stance. Some of the 'more important' exercises I've been given were wall squats (while squeezing ball) and knee extensions (done with ankle weights on bad knee while squeezing a ball). I was wondering what's the difference between these two exercises? For some reason I was instructed to do two sets of 20 with the wall squats, but only 2 sets of 10 with the knee extensions. I assume this is tailored to my condition.

Thanks for reading

Cill94

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122237617#Comment_122237617

We're not permitted to give medical advice on here by the mods, and to be honest I would need to do a consultation with someone to have the requisite details to give a proper opinion. Unfortunately your physio doesn't sound very evidence based.

What I will say is whenever I manage injuries with myself or clients, the first port of call is always load management. This means temporarily reducing the demands of your current training (e.g. running a shorter distance and/or a slower pace) and gradually building back up. That alone works more than 9 times out of 10 in my experience.

EmilyDavis223

I'm going to include jumping rope exercises in my regular training regimen. What are the advantages and disadvantages of rope jumping?

Mellor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122248582#Comment_122248582

Advantages: It's a highly portable solution. It adds in agility and lightness on your feet (good for many sports)

Disadvantages: It's a a skill based movement. If you can't skip well, you simply won't use much energy or burn many calories (if that is the goal)