I promised exercise writeups.

I did! Admittedly it was the 28th of October, but I did promise. Tragically there are no pics, as yet. Shout at me in the comments if you feel like you need 'em.

Hokay, so. I have a *lot* of home exercises. In point of fact, when I started doing the specialist physio exercises, my regular physio told me not to worry about the list of doom as long as I was going to at least one pilates class a week, because I was trying to fit between 15 and 90 repetitions of . . *counts* eight specialist exercises in with the regular twenty-several individual exercises (not counting repetitions).

Yeah. Anyway. Stripping off the me-specific nerve and neck stuff and the needs-theraband stuff, we have:

(standing, sitting, kneeling)
Weights*
Wall or Counter Pushups
Boards
Adductor Stretch (includes lying down)
Calf Stretch

(lying on back)
Cockroaches
Bridge
Tight Abs
Curl-ups
Criss-cross

(lying on side)
Arm Lift
Arm Circle
Leg Lift
Bananas

---

*: Our Weights item has an asterisk because there are a whole host of ways to do weights. Shocking.

The big thing to remember when you're doing weights is that this is not about your extremities flapping in the breeze. This is about hooking your extremities to your core and working the whole connected system of muscles, so that when you go to lift a ten-ream box of paper at work, you naturally engage everything and don't drop it on your toes. Or, assuming you're lifting a fellow monkey, nobody gets dropped on their head. :)

------

Two interesting links:

Strength training: bizarre yet awesome exercises you may not know about, part I (whole-body work)
Strength training: bizarre yet awesome exercises you may not know about, part II (arms, mostly)

Exercises: Standing, Sitting (with a bit of Lying Down), Kneeling

Group the First of the Exercise List of Doom: our standing, sitting and kneeling section.


( Weights: two I was assigned and three I added )

I'm considering adding in some bicep curling, mostly because it's kinda nice to have them. First I have to be able to get my shoulderblades to glide the way they're supposed to, though. It's easy to fall into bad habits and my right shoulder thinks it's funny anyway.

---

( Wall/Counter Pushups )

Slow is harder. Also lets you notice when you're losing form.

---

( Boards )

---

( Adductors )

My specialist physio has me do these three times a day. I might have adductor issues.

---

( Calf Stretch )

Exercises: Lying Down 1

Behold, Group the Second of the Exercise List of Doom, our lying on the back section.


( Cockroaches )

Don't do this until you're comfortable engaging from your core.

---

( Bridge )

I've been trying to do a clean bridge every week since the beginning of June. I'm getting closer--I hardly ever have my sacrum shout abuse at me for trying it these days--but I'm not there yet. Again, this ain't easy.

---

Start with this one if you feel in bad condition. Really. Everything on this entry builds from a strong core, and this works on getting yours to engage.
( Tight Abs )

Once you're comfy with the full sets of these, start sliding one leg down to straight and back up to starting position while maintaining your core, then do the other leg. Once you're comfy with those, try the cockroaches.

---

( Curl-ups suck )

Ideally your lower abs should be the big puller on this, and your belly will actually drop towards your spine as you work. This can take a while.
Go slow. Like with the pushups, you have to control yourself better to do these slowly. Don't let yourself jam your head and neck forward--that just gets your sternocleidomastoids really, really mad at you. (Yes, this is the voice of experience. Why do you ask?)

---

( Criss-crosses also suck )

Trust me when I say this one sucks.  But oh look, obliques!

------

Most of us have old strains and injuries and/or bad habits that encourage us to overuse certain muscles to the exclusion of others; for example the front of my left thigh (the quad) likes to steal work from the left side of my bum, resulting in my bum not getting as much work/development as it should and a profoundly whiny quad. This is about as helpful as it sounds.

ALL of us have asymmetries.  One side of your body will almost invariably be under different tension than the other, and it'll shift around depending on what you've been doing.

Exercises: Lying Down 2

Group the Third and final (unless some poor bastard needs hypermobile neck strengthening stuff or a psoas stretch), the lying on the side!


( Arm Lift )

If your arms/shoulders don't bug you, don't worry about this.

---

( Arm Circle )

If your shoulders don't bug you (or make alarming crackling noises that kind of hurt), don't worry about this.

---

( Leg Lift )

---

( Bananas )

This one makes you look like a hooked fish; if anyone laughs make them join you on the floor.

------

I feel obliged to point out that before doing exercises, you may want to roll out areas that you know tend to be tight. This can be done with a foam roller, assuming you have one, or smaller areas can be tackled with your friend, the Tennis Ball.
Foam rollers or bigger balls (smaller than your head but not by that much) are excellent for getting big muscle groups to let go and do their own damn jobs, not steal other muscles' jobs. Think quads, sides of bum, bum proper, hips, that sort of thing.
Tennis balls, Franklin balls (which are a bit bigger but mostly a bit softer than tennis balls) and related sizes are good for smaller areas like shoulders, calves, the outsides of hips, which will also try to redistribute work orders based on who's on vacation and who's the workaholic in the office.

I also feel obliged to point out that shaking like a leaf, especially if it's your lower belly, is actually a sign that things are going very, very well. A weaker muscle is being worked, and if you keep after it, will get stronger and you'll not only shake less, you'll be able to do more with it. (The trick is finding the stopping point between 'shaking like a leaf' and either pulling something or having a secondary system jump in to be Helpful.)

Personal trainers, pilates instructors, physiotherapists, that housemate with the anatomy colouring books and the gleeful grin, the Internet, and others can be really, really useful in helping you troubleshoot. Make use of 'em.

Most of all, pay attention to your body. What motions bug you? Where do they do it? How does it feel? The more specific you can be when talking to a professional (or the Internet) the better troubleshooting you'll be able to do. Even a 'My shoulder hates me, but it's worse when I do [...]' is helpful.

In other news,

Sorry if your flist is pretty quiet today and now you have Walls of Cut-tags and Text.

Apparently I get talkative about bodywork and exercises. Which isn't shocking, I suppose, but still a bit surprising.