all posts post new thread

Other/Mixed Muscles Stiff After Sitting

Other strength modalities (e.g., Clubs), mixed strength modalities (e.g., combined kettlebell and barbell), other goals (flexibility)
Status
Closed Thread. (Continue Discussion of This Topic by Starting a New Thread.)

Smile-n-Nod

Level 5 Valued Member
I've been doing S&S for about six months, in addition to some martial arts, walking, and light running. My strength and endurance are definitely improved, but I've noticed that I still feel a lot of stiffness through the day after I've been sitting for a while. Even after a 30-minute drive home from work, my legs are stiff when I step out of my car.

I'm 53 years old, so I know that much of my stiffness is due simply to the number of annual calendars I've thrown away, but I'm wondering if there's any thing else I can do to reduce the stiffness? Are there dietary changes I can make? Would more stretching help (I do some, but not a lot)? Supplements? Any ideas? Thanks.
 
I'm 59 and can identify with the stiffness issue. I think for a lot of us it's just part of getting older. When I step out of the car I have to walk slowly for a few steps too but the stiffness goes away once I've been moving about for awhile. It's even more pronounced when I get up in the morning but quickly dissipates after about 5 or 10 minutes.

I also do S&S but I wouldn't attribute it to any of my stiffness issues because I had the same stiffness problems before I started S&S. As far as diet and stretching go I just try to eat clean and keep the stretching to a reasonable amount. Actually my experience has been that excessive daily stretching makes my stiffness worse. Joint mobility has served me better than stretching.

I can't do anything about the drive home but once I get there I make it a habit to get up out of my chair every commercial break and just walk around or do a couple of farmers carries....low intensity gtg.
 
I've noticed that I still feel a lot of stiffness through the day after I've been sitting for a while. Even after a 30-minute drive home from work, my legs are stiff when I step out of my car.

I'm 53 years old

As another 50-something, I think this largely comes under the heading of "Yeah, life's a bitch that way."

Staying physically active and regular movement/mobility practice (such as Original Strength or similar) can help, plus being smart about balancing training and recovery, but I would always expect to feel a little stiff after periods of immobility during the day or first thing in the morning.
 
Older...

Most of what @Steve W. said...
  • Stay active
  • Movement/mobility training daily
  • Smart recovery (it's easy to be hard, it's hard to be smart...)
 
My hunch is that beyond mild dehydration, it's from the stress you incur while you're sitting that stiffens muscles. Nothing to do with age. Learn how to relax.
 
@Smile-n-Nod, all good advice above. I want to second what @aciampa said above - you'd be amazed how simply noticing when you're tense and trying to relax can do good things for you. There's a lot more one could say on this subject, but start with finding the places you're tense and trying to relax them, and notice where your mind is as you do all this.

I also want to add my perspective as someone who couldn't even touch his ankles, let alone his toes, when I started working on my flexibility, and can now do a side split without having done one for months prior: Try lots of stretches and approaches to stretching, and find which things deliver the most bang-for-the-buck for you, meaning which stretches, both posture and approach, give you the most results in the least amount time spent. I'll give you mine:

Shortly after waking, I do a couple of side kicks, more or less as I learned them in TKD. I do them to sort of "snap" my body - all sorts of things go pop and crack, and I feel better instantly. Somehow, they even manage to realign my spine and my neck. Why? I have no clue, but this works for me.

My next go-to thing is stretching my hamstrings, one leg at a time. How to do this - another thing I could write a lot more on but can't right now.

Lastly, I do the qigong/tai_chi/TKD thing where you twist back and forth and let your arms whip and hit you in your kidneys (more or less). This is also self-adjustment of the spine for me.

The kicks take perhaps 15 seconds to do, and the combination of the hamstring stretch and the arm-whippy thing maybe a minute or two. Ah....

Find your own - learn how to stretch. There are many ways to stretch, so learn and see what give you the best results.

-S-
 
Lastly, I do the qigong/tai_chi/TKD thing where you twist back and forth and let your arms whip and hit you in your kidneys (more or less). This is also self-adjustment of the spine for me.

That one works for me too. I bought a tai chi DVD a while ago. The warm up includes that arm whip. In fact the warm up is pretty much a combo of fast and loose and super joints. Or is it that fast and loose and super joints is a combo of tai chi? Haha, the party is always right.....
Great drill, I do it in rests of presses and pull ups and warm ups and I find a spot on my dog walk and whip it up there too. Still stiff as old board though, just less stiff.
 
@ali, if you look under the hood, you'll find things from many disciplines and styles at StrongFirst. I have been, over the years, asked if I practiced Tai Chi, if I practiced yoga, if I was a dancer (which is very funny if you've ever seen me attempt to dance), if I was a runner, and the list goes on. One of the best things about our school is that it's principles based, and you will find those principles expressed in other disciplines. I'd like to think that we take what we feel are the best implementations of our principles that we've found in many disciplines and incorporate them into what we do. And you'll find strength athletes, endurance athletes, dancers, martial artists, and many more kinds of people who put our principles to good use in preparing themselves for their chosen activities.

-S-
 
Absolutely Steve, the reason I was drawn to it. Looking forward to the strongfirst dance workshop.......
 
@ali, if you look under the hood, you'll find things from many disciplines and styles at StrongFirst. I have been, over the years, asked if I practiced Tai Chi, if I practiced yoga, if I was a dancer (which is very funny if you've ever seen me attempt to dance), if I was a runner, and the list goes on. One of the best things about our school is that it's principles based, and you will find those principles expressed in other disciplines. I'd like to think that we take what we feel are the best implementations of our principles that we've found in many disciplines and incorporate them into what we do. And you'll find strength athletes, endurance athletes, dancers, martial artists, and many more kinds of people who put our principles to good use in preparing themselves for their chosen activities.

-S-
Very well said Steve...
 
Status
Closed Thread. (Continue Discussion of This Topic by Starting a New Thread.)
Back
Top Bottom