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Other/Mixed Tips for hard-living type to be?

Other strength modalities (e.g., Clubs), mixed strength modalities (e.g., combined kettlebell and barbell), other goals (flexibility)
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jozko

Level 6 Valued Member
Not that hard-living type you probably expect - let me provide some background.

I live in a rural area, so there is a lot of manual work to do during late spring, summer and early autumn, even without my ambitious quest.
Moreover, I am going to build a house for me and my growing family. In order to cut the expenses, I am going to build it on my own. I know skilled craftsmen who will help me with more specialized work, but I will do the most of "dull" works - carrying bricks, cement bags, digging, and any kind of work where heavy stuff is being lifted and carried for prolonged period of time.
Moreover, I have great life-sucking, soul-wrenching, time-consuming job . If customer from Spain complains, we work. If regulator from Saudi Arabia wants something, we work. If someone from moon threatens us with 100M+ contractual penalty, we work... Frequent evening calls with my colleagues from US are, well, frequent (I am based in Central Europe) - 8 time zones.
As a consequence of this sedentary job, my back sometimes hurts. It's not chronic or big pain, but sometimes it just happens.

So I am seeking for advice in several areas.

Training
I already decided to switch to predominantly bodyweight with swing only. Currently I plan to continue with GTG-like style of training. Main candidate is one arm pushup, naturally. The main objective here is not to compress the spine unnecessarily (good bye, overhead pressing...). But...
Does it make sense to pursue strength, if I know I will be destroyed for larger part of the week?
I considered also the option when I will focus on stuff requiring rather skill than strength, like to finally learn one arm handstand, or to improve my wobbly tuck planche... what do you think about this? Especially tuck planche is still quite difficult for me, so I am not sure. Same hold to improving my front lever. Pavel somewhere wrote that if something does not compress the spine, then it does not put that much stress on CNS, so it is easier to recover from. What are your recommendations on effective exercises which are relatively easy to recover from? I think it holds for most bodyweight exercises - am I right?

As for the other part of training, do you know some easy&effective rehab/mobility/flexibility movements? I have implemented Pavel's Super Joints stuff into my routine and it's just great. Especially targeted for spine. My fav is cossack squat and dead hang.

Nutrition/supplementation/recovery
I am supplementing with the regular stuff like Zinc (most of the year) and vit. D (october-april). I have also good experience with resveratrol, curcumin and NAC. Do anybody here know other supplements which can improve my recovery? Or any other procedures (sauna, massages)? Needless to say, I am prioritizing sleep over anything else.
Adam Raw recommends sea mineral plasma. However esoteric it may seem, this dude is real pro doing one arm chin ups with additional weight and strict weighted HSPUs... do anybody here have experience with this? It's quite popular in biohacker's community in Prague now I guess...

What about breathing exercises/meditation?

Many thanks in advance for all answers!
 
Hello,

Stu McGill's Big 3 is often advised for [lower] back issues. These exercises create the natural belt you need to create core and spine stiffness while lifting or sitting.

There are tons of core work but usually it comes to: anti extension, flexion, anti rotation and anti lateral flexion. You can pick up a few exercises for each and create your own routine.

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
Stu McGill's Big 3 is often advised for [lower] back issues. These exercises create the natural belt you need to create core and spine stiffness while lifting or sitting.
Interestingly, my back pain is usually located in mid-back or between my shoulder blades. But I swear I do my best not to hunch over like an empty sack :)
Anyway, now it's time to seriously listen to this man's wisdom. Thanks!
 
I cannot recommend enough the use of overcoming isometrics in cases like yours. It plays well with a lot of manual work and existing aches and pains. Recovery demands are relatively low and risk of self induced injury is (almost) non existent. It also requires very little equipment and a challenging full body session can be done in under 30 minutes.

Combine it with a couple of 12 minute HIIT sessions per week or some easy LISS.
 
I'll give my thoughts on individual points below, but the gist of my advice is reduce stresss, and spread your training load out. I am in a heavy load of schooling, and also spend a large portion of each day sitting and being stressed out about deadlines. What helps, when I actually stick to it, is chunking things up into smaller periods throughout the day. Instead of doing one harder training session each day, for however many training sessions per week, I do little "mini sessions" throughout the day. I try to do them every 45-90 minutes at most. By getting 15-20 minutes of movement at those kind of intervals, it keeps me more alert and feeling better than if I just try and power through all my school work in one go. The mini sessions help to make my body and mind feel better and thus improve my concentration. It also helps to prevent me from feeling like I have no time to train. At the end of the day on some days I'll end with a 20-30 minute easy strength style session with my barbell ((5)x2 of Squat, deadlift, weighted pullup, and a press).

The main objective here is not to compress the spine unnecessarily (good bye, overhead pressing...). But...
Does it make sense to pursue strength, if I know I will be destroyed for larger part of the week?
I considered also the option when I will focus on stuff requiring rather skill than strength, like to finally learn one arm handstand, or to improve my wobbly tuck planche... what do you think about this? Especially tuck planche is still quite difficult for me, so I am not sure. Same hold to improving my front lever. Pavel somewhere wrote that if something does not compress the spine, then it does not put that much stress on CNS, so it is easier to recover from. What are your recommendations on effective exercises which are relatively easy to recover from? I think it holds for most bodyweight exercises - am I right?
Some ideas: if you want the OAPU, just scale it so it's not frying you. Keep the elevation at a GtG level (50% of max). I am assuming if you want to learn a one arm handstand, that you can balance a two arm for a good minute or so? If not, that's another good GtG style option. As for all the calisthenics stuff, you might try doing a handful of mini sessions (as I outlined above) with those holds. Do something like 1-2 rounds of FL, tuck Planche, handstand or something, but keep the hold times/hold variations at a level that leaves you feeling fresh and energized.
As for the other part of training, do you know some easy&effective rehab/mobility/flexibility movements? I have implemented Pavel's Super Joints stuff into my routine and it's just great. Especially targeted for spine. My fav is cossack squat and dead hang.
Add some of what you like to the mini sessions. Now you have 1-2 rounds of 3-5 moves that should take you 10-15 minutes, plus 5 minutes of stretches you like.
Do anybody here know other supplements which can improve my recovery? Or any other procedures (sauna, massages)? Needless to say, I am prioritizing sleep over anything else.
REDUCE STRESS. Sleep will only help so much if you're going at it from dawn till dusk. Once again, reducing "work marathons" during the day to smaller fragments might help.

To wrap up, you can either do the same mini session throughout the day, or you can create several different sessions and cycle through them to get a wider variety of moves in. Hope it helps.
 
I cannot recommend enough the use of overcoming isometrics in cases like yours.
Actually this plays well with my intention of improving my handstand, or even advancing to strict handstand pushups. Looks like I will just do handstand holds with bent arms most of the time and one arm pushup when really fresh.

I did this in the past almost daily and I was able to cut few handstand pushups, although not very strict.
 
I do little "mini sessions" throughout the day. I try to do them every 45-90 minutes at most.
I have developed this strategy during pandemic WHO too. One big workout was not optimal for me, because I'd spend the rest of the day sitting anyway. GTG style was not optimal too, because only one set did not provide enough rest for my mind. But when I do 2-5 short mini workouts, I can easily do the volume of work I want to do, and my brain feel refreshed after it as well.

But your post inspired me to take short pauses for stretching when I will actually be working on house construction. Such a simple idea and somebody else needs to put it to my head anyway :) I am just curious how I will explain my cossack squats to fellow bricklayers :D
 
do you know some easy&effective rehab/mobility/flexibility movements
Since the new year I have trained original strength resets with swings - nothing else and honestly feel better than I have in a long time. All manner or rep schemes and numbers for the swings but usually around 60 - 80 although this month I like to do 62 swings as I am 62 next week. Just a thing I do each year since I was 60.
What about breathing exercises/meditation?
I also do Tai Chi and qigong so definitely approve of that idea.

Good luck.
 
First
I live in a rural area, so there is a lot of manual work to do during late spring, summer and early autumn, even without my ambitious quest.
Moreover, I am going to build a house for me and my growing family. In order to cut the expenses, I am going to build it on my own. I know skilled craftsmen who will help me with more specialized work, but I will do the most of "dull" works - carrying bricks, cement bags, digging, and any kind of work where heavy stuff is being lifted and carried for prolonged period of time.
Moreover, I have great life-sucking, soul-wrenching, time-consuming job . If customer from Spain complains, we work. If regulator from Saudi Arabia wants something, we work. If someone from moon threatens us with 100M+ contractual penalty, we work... Frequent evening calls with my colleagues from US are, well, frequent (I am based in Central Europe) - 8 time zones.
Wow. And you commit to training too! Awesome.

As a consequence of this sedentary job, my back sometimes hurts. It's not chronic or big pain, but sometimes it just happens.
This is not so great.
I haven't experience serious back pain in the past, only deep soreness and muscle tightness in the back side. I also help a friend of mine with herniated disk (mildly) train. So take my advice with a grain of salt.

Training
- Your training currently includes: swing, bodyweight exercise (I don't know which one is it, but seems like handstand push up), some advance gymnastic - calisthenics move with round upper back (planche, front lever). Also you have some kind of flexibility/stretching training.
- Your 1s question is
Does it make sense to pursue strength, if I know I will be destroyed for larger part of the week?
- My answer: yes, but based on my experience you need to control the volume, and barbell/double kettlebell training is very suitable for low volume training. Consider something like moderate deadlift, 20 reps total per week (Easy strength). Or double kettlebell squat. I know you consider about your back but IMO, the strength and muscle mass that barbell lift bring is outweight the risk.
- Also, I wonder do have any exercise that stretch the leg muscles (hamstring, quads, hip flexor, glutes)? I'm thinking about various kind of split squat, straight leg deadlift, full squat. When my back was tight, I always find that doing that help alot.
- Your 2nd question:
, do you know some easy&effective rehab/mobility/flexibility movements?
1648176135751.png
this has been super helpful for me. Consider doing it with one leg when it's easier. Or hinge/shift the weight to one side to get some extra stretch in calf/hamstring/glute.
 
I cannot recommend enough the use of overcoming isometrics in cases like yours. It plays well with a lot of manual work and existing aches and pains. Recovery demands are relatively low and risk of self induced injury is (almost) non existent. It also requires very little equipment and a challenging full body session can be done in under 30 minutes.

Combine it with a couple of 12 minute HIIT sessions per week or some easy LISS.
Have you got an easy to read article or book to recommend on isometrics?
 
I haven't experience serious back pain in the past, only deep soreness and muscle tightness in the back side. I also help a friend of mine with herniated disk (mildly) train. So take my advice with a grain of salt.
Unfortunately the pain/soreness occurs in place where I have had herniated disc in the past. That's why I am cautious.
- Also, I wonder do have any exercise that stretch the leg muscles (hamstring, quads, hip flexor, glutes)? I'm thinking about various kind of split squat, straight leg deadlift, full squat. When my back was tight, I always find that doing that help alot.
I am definitely considering this kind of single leg work. If I do it regularly, my knees, hips and lower back just work like swiss watch.
- Your 2nd question:

View attachment 16707
this has been super helpful for me. Consider doing it with one leg when it's easier. Or hinge/shift the weight to one side to get some extra stretch in calf/hamstring/glute.
Going to try this today :)

Thanks!
 
Have you got an easy to read article or book to recommend on isometrics?
Most of the stand alone info you find online is either for-sale programs, basic guidelines, or recommendations from guys like Thib who use it mixed in with other resistance work. Ross has some content on his site as well.


The thread I started last year has a good basic write-up:

 
Hello,

For reducing stress or even just as a meditative activity, I recently discovered that drawing is fairly good. For a few minutes, you draw anything in front of you. You can do it with a pencil, a ballpoint pen, etc... The idea is to be accurate with what you draw (shadows, lights, volumes, etc...)

Here, the goal could be to sketches a la Leonardo Da Vinci.

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
can you please recommend some easy to read introductory material?
Tim Anderson's "Press Reset" available on Kindle also the "Original Strength" website is good plus of course YouTube which is great as you can see Tim doing the actual movements.
 
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