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Quote from: Rix on October 15, 2021, 07:23:17 pm

I just started the KOTG program. How are you liking it?

saw some improvement for a little, and then not much else. been too lazy to keep up with it.

i need to start back up again. my main gripe about the program is that there is barely ANYTHING to target glute med weakness in there. lots of knee problems stem from a weak glute med.

im planning on finding a decent physical therapist in my area for a full assessment. it's just hard finding one who is very competent and isnt working at a money machine mill full of old people doing cookie cutter exercises

likewise i didnt notice a single TFL stretch in the program. tight/overactive TFLs is another cause of knee pain. i feel knee pain relief immediately after doing a decent TFL stretch, but only by about 50%. still great though

It's cool that this came up in your log, I just today realized that my glute medius wasn't activating on my sprints in my left leg. I have had some injuries on that leg for years prior - a groin strain that may have been a labrum tear that i never quite recovered from as well as a pretty severe PCL tear that all may have to do with bad motor patterns.
I've been figuring out all this stuff over time in my log but my squatting pattern had some kind of dysfunction between knee and ankle where they were moving in different planes: ankles collapsing outwards and weight not distributed across my entire foot (but only on the anterior ball), also causing some arch dysfunction in my foot.The glute med when squatting I'm pretty sure pulls the tibia (*femur) so its moving in one plane of motion (and groin flexibility is required to maintain that movement into a deep squat), so all these years when i was squatting i built up bad patterns where for part of the movement the glute med was inactive, and that carried over to sprinting.
Hmm on further consideration I have also historically been unable to get full dorsiflexion in my ankle on that leg, that probably has something to do with it as well. Sorry this was kind of ranty and personal to me but felt on topic

Edit: i just figured it out ! Apparently i have more dorsiflexion ROM in the ankle when i evert the foot, and i thought i needed this extra ROM to deep squat. But doing that throws it out of alignment with the rest of the leg and might be what is disconnecting the glute med and causing it not to fire.

Yo and that also could be why louie simmons teaches wide stance box squat, because its impossible for your foot to evert and glute med/min have to fire to maintain wide stance throughout

Nvm glute med and min pull the femur mostly up not to the side  might change as you move deeper into a squat or whatever movement though

Hey yall

Been mostly doing light cardio and occasional lifting nothing serious. Keto is going strong but only recently has it gotten consistent so we will see how it will affect mental health. Posture stuff has fallen off a bit lately but hoping to clean it up a bit as well

Did 300m jog, 100m 80-90% sprint *10 today

Had some cool sprint insights, maybe particular to me
-collapse at ankle puts my legs in a position to use interior quads as main sprint drivers more, longer GCT's as well
-fixing this collapse sets me up to use hams and upper glutes, neither of which are actually very powerful for me (probably cause most of my training back in the day was squatting).
- in order for me to get clean deep belly + nose breathing throughout run, i have to have some PPT to act as a stable core foundation for diaphragm to operate well. Otherwise my core is loose and dynamic, stretched abs compress my interior organs weirdly and diaphragm cannot function easily
-(t0ddday has made a comment about all sprinters having some amount of APT and this makes sense, for me personally the quad contribution is much more significant with some APT. + stable deep breathing might be less necessary for shorter sprints)
-more PPT = shorter strides, less quad contribution.
-when sitting, collapse at lowish/mid back has been pretty constant my whole life. Never understood why that area had to be stable, sitting with upright low back counter-intuitively puts the hip flexors in an even more shortened position and compresses the stomach cavity making it more difficult to deep breathe. Now i  believe its necessary just for stable core pattern, tight hip flexors can be addressed separately, and deep breathing can still be done if the other core muscles are released and stretched
-while my hip flexors might be flexible enough for loose APT running, a lot more flexibility is needed for PPT running
-limiting factor for 80-90% sprint repeat endurance was hip flexors. Core stability was wearing out pretty fast too. As far as speed i just need my hams tendons and muscles to be like 2-3x more powerful lol.

Sunday 12th September 2021

Quads and posterior chain pretty sore.

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bodyweight - without shoes = 85.8kg

BBall practise + jumps @ WLC Outdoor courts - 55 mins

1) 15 mins dribble and ball control drills
2) low to medium intensity Euro step practice against 8 feet netball rim - LR and RL
3) 10 or so 90% effort jumps/dunks against 8 feet netball rim
3) a few series of low intensity march skips, lateral skips with arm swing, backwards walking, and snake sliding foot dance move practise

Went to my usual outdoor court.
Busy so I just mostly did dribbling drills, and moves up to a fairly high intensity.

Then some jumps and dunks against 8 feet netball rim
Rusty, so didn't jump too hard
Some 4/10 left quad tendon pain on single leg jumps, off the left leg, but fine for everything else. Much less than before though, so rehab is working, it shouldn't flare up as I feel ok now walking downstairs.

Considering that I'm rusty, sore, fatigued, heavier and weaker, to be only jumping 3 inches lower than my current bests when i weighed 79kg makes me happy!
My feet, ankles and calves felt really strong and stable today, despite the soreness from yesterday.
Just felt light on my feet.

Standing vertical - got elbow to 8 feet rim, that's also where the top of my head is. About 1.5+ feet from elbow to my finger tips, so about a 9.5+ feet touch, around 26-27 inches.
Single leg jump, an inch lower
RL plant approaach jump off a few steps, about 3 inches higher, so 29-30 inches? Elbow reached about 3 inches higher than 8 feet netball rim

So I'm hoping to jump at least 8 inches higher across the board by the end of summer in 6 months time - where I plan to be ripped, 12+ kg lighter, healthy, fresh and much stronger.

Lower back felt achey after the jumps - probably due to fatigue from yesterday combined with absorbing the jump forces.
Felt better after some hamstring floor touch stretch "walks"

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stretch

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6 hours later

Wall sit at 60 degree knee angle - 2 legs 2x 45 secs
single leg 45 secs x 3

Calf raise - 2 legs ISO ISO at top, straight leg x45 secs
single leg - ISO at top, straight leg, actively pushing up-  4x45 secs

These numbers are cool to see. What were your jumps like when you were younger? Its gonna be so great finally getting back athleticism after such a long time rehabbing. What training do you think you will see the most jump improvements from for you personally? Any particular injury risks you are worried about?

Saturday 4th September 2021

Posterior chain pretty sore when I woke up, but ok in the afternoon

Changing up my Achilles insertion rehab approach.
According to recent research, the inner lower part is what gets damaged here, but that area gets the lowest stress when the calf is stretched.
It gets the most stress at max flexion, so that area actually gets stress shielded and gets weaker over time in everyday life and movements...
So I need to stress the calf work right up at the very top

https://www.podiumrunner.com/training/injury-prevention/how-to-beat-an-insertional-achilles-injury/

Quote

By placing strain gauges inside different sections of the Achilles tendons and then loading the tendons with the ankle positioned in a variety of angles, researchers from the University of North Carolina discovered that the back portion of the Achilles tendon is exposed to far greater amounts of strain (particularly when the ankle was moved upward) while the forward section of the tendon, which is the section most frequently damaged with insertional tendinitis, was exposed to very low loads. The authors of the study suggest that the lack of stress on the forward aspect of the Achilles tendon (which they referred to as a tension shielding effect) may cause that section to weaken and eventually fail.
Eccentric Treatment

The treatment of an Achilles insertional tendinitis should thus be to strengthen the forward-most aspect of the tendon (after rest has reduced swelling in the sheath around the tendon). This can be accomplished by performing a series of eccentric load exercises through a partial range of motion. It is particularly important to exercise the Achilles tendon with the ankle pointing down as far as possible (i.e., standing way up on tiptoes), because this position places greater amounts of load on the more frequently damaged forward portion of the tendon.

Also doing a reset on my left quad tendon rehab, and starting back up from the bottom.
Been going too hard, too heavy, too soon...

I was worried I would be weaker on press and pullups today due to doing them everyday so far, albeit at low intensity for sets of 20, but I actually felt much stronger today, and on a calorie deficit.

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Morning mobility work and upper body stretches

Soft tissue work for whole body

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Tendon health+rehab -  fasted

broom handle behind the neck press, pushing backwards into shoulder dislocate stretch position x20 + stretch and then each lat by leaning to each side for 10 secs each till 1min
split squat ISO, rear leg straight, at 90 degrees - x 1 min - 30 secs actively pulling legs inwards, 30 secs pushing legs outwards
Side plank with leg abduction - against wall at 45 degrees - x 30secs each side

Spanish squat ISO - at 60 degree knee angle - 3x 35 secs

High to low band pull apart - palms facing up - Jumpstretch light band x 20
band pull a part - Diagonals - Rogue light band x10 each axis

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rotating sets - 1 mins rest

A) SSB single leg, bent knee soleus calf raise - arm supported - 1 inch elevated, in oly shoes -  top third only, controlled up, 3 sec down - BW x20, 30kg x 30 sec ISO, x 20
50kg x 45 sec ISO, x12


B) Tib raise - SSB + oly shoes - BW x8, 30kg x10, 40kg x10, 50kg x10, 60kg 2x10 @ RPE8

C) SSB single leg calf raise - arm supported - 1 inch elevated in oly shoes - top third only, controlled up, 3 sec down - BW x20, 30kg x 30 sec ISO, x 20
50kg x 45 sec ISO, x12

D) Pullups - Hang and 10/10 scap shrugs with regular/parallel grip to warmup, semi inverted row on SSB x 6
Dead hang/paused - regular grip. wider - BW x1,  2x5 @ RPE 8 (+1 rep)
parallel grip, shoulder width - BW x1,  2x5 @ REP 8

E1) SSB Good morning - 30kg x5, 40kg x20
E2) Split Leg RDL - 20kg x5, 30kg x5
E3) Glute bridge, slider leg curl - BW x6 eccentrics + 3 reps, BW x10 @ RPE 8
E4) Jefferson curl - hold at bottom of each rep - 20kg barbell x 8, 25kg x10 + 30 sec hold on last set @ RPE 7

F) Dumbbell palms facing overheard press, arms in line with ears - 10lb x10, 20lbs x8, 30lbs 2x11 @ RPE 8  (+2.5lbs, -1 rep)


stretch

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6 hours later

Calf raise - 2legged - top third only - straight x25, bent x 25
single leg - straight at top x 1.5min ISO, bent at top x 1.5 min ISO
straight, top third, slow reps for 1+ min
bent, top third, slow reps for 1+ min

hmmm even with straight legs, when held at the top, pushed up hard, I mostly felt it in my soleus...

Wall sit at 60 degree knee angle - 2 legs x 45 secs
single leg 3 x 35 secs

Damn I miss stuff like this. Just finding an article or a podcast, video or something that has some new ex sci info and you just read it and go "this changes everything ! .. I need to rethink my whole approach to training." Never has anything given me such an amount of aha moments as ex sci. To think.. its still an incomplete discipline. Theres still discoveries to be made ! This golden age we live in of scientific advancement cant last, it will at least taper (imo.) Im so grateful to have even took part in it, in my own small, incomplete way

Oh dude i have been stretching hams and psoas in different ways (different static variations hitting different angles, frequent dynamics, sometimes ballistics) and i feel like its been a game changer for my top speed combined with track work. I believe most people underestimate how mobile those 2 muscle groups in particular have to be to get good top speed form

5/31
Squats 185*8, 14

6/1
Pause Rev lunge 185 *5/side, 135 *5/side, 160 *5/side, *8/side
Pause Bench 115*8, 125*8
Hang power clean 125*5, 145 *5

6/2
30 min jog

6/3
DB row 60 *20/side
Pause pushup with modified form *20

6/4
90 mins throws (quality around 6.75/10 - but all the important stuff looks decently clean)

6/5
400m 2*3 (3 min rests/rep, 15 min rest/set)
set 1: 1:30, 1:24, 1:12
set 2: 1:24, 1:18, 1:21

6/6
jog 2 miles with 92.5% sprint  50m/ every 400m

5/24

Carb day 

2*4 400m (2-3 min rests/rep, 15 min rest/set)

Working on keeping my ankles stiff and using them to absorb and transfer force - apparently normally i use my ankles very little. Mid back dying towards end, ankle stiffness dying towards end, pecs not strong enough for big arm swings towards end. But those ankle rebound reps feel pretty stiff and strong. Compensatory breathing mechanics towards end: in order to take big breaths i am relaxing other muscles that should be tight to stabilize torso - abdominals, obliques. May be why my mid back is collapsing, it has to work extra hard to make up for other core muscles being lax

5/25
30 min jog, untimed. Focusing on ankle stiffness, powerful rebounds. I noticed some decreased stability and looseness in my right shoulder (probably from throwing). Jog felt pretty decent

5/29
30 min jog

5/30
2 hours soccer
4*200m
2×200m jog

Whats your take on all the tendon work? Ive never done iso's in that style. I watched a vid that i think you linked to regarding plyos vs isos and how isos build up tendon strength/mass and are good for rehab and plyos are more for dynamic functionality but also build up tendons. Are you recovering from some serious stuff (i remember you mentioned an achilles thing and i think a quad tweak) or is your tendon work kind of like a preparatory block for transferring all the mass you built in the tendons into power with a plyo block? Also i suppose a difficulty of the iso style of training is progressive overload. For rehab purposes similar intensities are probably ok but do you overload your iso's? And have you noticed a carryover into other things from the tendon work?

Also your clean/squat numbers look pretty good considering the pretty low frequency you train those lifts. Do you think the tendon work contributed significantly to them?