No Intensity Day

This morning I worked alongside Scott Sonnon and made my way through the Intermediate program of Intu-Flow.  Well, Scott was on the DVD, but it was just like having him in the room with me.

The Intermediate program is going to require some work to get comfortable with.  Wrists and knees will require more practice.  I am very glad that the arm work has not changed!  I see how this is starting to progress and I like.

As for the state of my back.  Woke up this morning feeling no new aches or pains!  Awesome.  Don't get me wrong, there's still some pain back there, but my working back into a physical routine does not seem to be making it worse.  Tonight is my last physical therapy session.  Lunchtime chiropractor appointment is scheduled as well.  Tomorrow is "low intensity" day so I will be working through some of the Kettlebell Foundation Compensatory movements.  Swing 'em high y'all!

Nice and Easy

There's nothing like the tender soreness that arises late in the day following a good workout.

Before going to bed last night, I could feel the effects of the morning's workout in my shoulders and abs.  And a good sign that my back felt fine.  Woke up this morning a little stiff all over.  I could feel that my lower back was a bit tight, but this was in the muscles.  It wasn't the usual ache of the ligaments that I have been feeling.

So today I had the bells on schedule.  With things feeling good, this is what it looked like...

Swing:  8kg - 10R/10L

Windmill:  8kg - 10R/10L

Snatch:  8kg - 4 minutes - 24L/24R

Seated Press:  2x8kg - 4 minutes - 40

IntuFlow as a cooldown

That's it.  Now we wait until tomorrow morning to see how things are holding up.  Tomorrow is now my scheduled "no intensity" day, therefore only IntuFlow is on the card.

And... Action!

Howz Training, Take 2.

OK, so this week starts the new program.  We'll be starting off easy and we'll be starting off light.  We still have back pain, but it's bearable.  Wednesday night is the last session of physical therapy (unless we decide going back will provide any more relief).  We'll continue to see the chiropractor in the meantime.  We are now incorporating the heal lift gradually into the left shoe.  We will be mixing up some body weight exercises with kettlebell exercises along with anything else we feel like along the way.  We will also be experimenting with the 4x7 program (to the best of our ability, early on that might be difficult, but that's the goal).  For the low intensity day, we will be practicing the Compensatory Movements from Scott Sonnon's Kettlebell FoundationDVD set.  Eventually moving into Prasara yoga "A" flows.  Low intensity days will consist of IntuFlow.

Today's moderate intensity day looked like this...

IntuFlow Beginner

A1) Pushup:  15, 15

A2) Ab Wheel Rollout:  5, 5

A3) Dip:  5, 5

A4) Pullup:  5, 5

These were performed in a circuit.

I received Scott Sonnon's Kettlebell Foundation DVD in the mail on Saturday.  There are 3 DVDs included in the set - Kettlebell Movements, Joint Mobility Warmup, and Compensatory Cooldown.  I briefly scanned all three disks.  There is a lot of material included in these DVDs.  I was able to view the entire Compensatory DVD.  There are 22 different movements taught, the majority appear to be yoga based and some appear to be a prelude to the more advanced Prasara poses.  From what I have seen so far, I am very pleased with this product.  It's going to take a bit of time to digest it all, but that's where the fun is.  Baby steps for me with everything these days.

Tomorrow I play with the bells.

Cross Training

I am definitely seeing some improvement to my back with the introduction of my new chiropractor.  My pain-free range of motion has already increased and I am not waking up with the ache in my back.

I had a chiro adjustment yesterday afternoon and a physical therapy session in the evening.  I brought my kettlebells into the PT session so my therapist could view and critique my form as I practiced a few swings and cleans.

Due to the mild scoliosis of my spine (did I mention that earlier?  I also have a very mild form of spinal bifida) it is going to be a while before I can cleanly rack the bell on my left hip.  This is now causing a lot of spinal twist (what got me here in the first place) and until I get myself fully aligned, stretched and strengthened the position will probably continue to aggravate my back.  

My left shoulder which was my recent to separate (a few years back) appears to still be weaker than my right and it appears I compensate for it during my swings by turning the shoulder inward on my downswing.  

So specific recommendations by my physical therapist... integrate some cross training into my workout schedule.  Slowly integrate the bells back in.  Yoga is ok as long as I don't move into any postures that cause pain.  And closely monitor the effects of each of these like I have been doing so far.

This morning's session... I performed 10 minutes on the elliptical machine this morning to start moving my muscles a bit differently.  This was followed by 5 pullups, 5 dips, 5 hanging leg raises and 10 pushups with a forward arm extension at the end of each rep.  Cool down with some stretches.

My thoughts... Maybe incorporate the elliptical trainer back into my routine a bit.  At most 20 minutes of intervals, maybe once or twice a week.  For the bells, focus solely on double jerks, double long cycle, snatches and swings (double rack position will keep me from torquing my spine at this point).  Incorporate some of the body weight movements such as the pushups and pullups, etc.  Re-start working on some Prasara Yoga.  And lastly, something I was going to hold off on, but may introduce sooner, Scott Sonnon's Xtension program using the 5lb clubbells.

So I have a lot to think about in terms of how to structure something that includes all of these activities while at the same time rolling things in slowly so that I can monitor their effects on my back.  At the same time, I need to make sure I have enough downtime to recuperate and recover from my workouts.  This is not how I would have imagined things a few months back, but it is what it is today.  And except for the current back pain, it isn't all that bad.  Not at all!

A Smidgen of Improvement

The last two nights of sleep have given me hope that maybe things are moving forward again (or perhaps backward to the point before pain, life really is a circle you know) as I woke up several times during the night to find myself on my stomach but without any aching in my back. (Maybe that first chiro visit helped??)

I warmed up this morning with IntuFlow Beginner. As soon as I hit the Hips portion I start to become aware of the pain in my back. I try not to go past a "3" on a pain scale of 1 to 10. But even so, by the end of the program I've got some unwelcome warmth pulsing in my back.

Without worrying about numbers of reps, but trying to make sure my form was perfect here is what today's workout looked like...

Swing: 8kg - 10R/10L

1-Arm Clean: 8kg - 2 min Left/2 min Right

Jerk: 2x8kg - 2 min

My back definitely felt tight and I could now sense the tremendous difference between racking the bell on my left side versus my right. Left side feels like I'm waaaaay reaching for my hip, while my right rack is nice, comfortable and close. Amazing how I never noticed this before.

Now the big test will be to see how I feel in the morning. Keep swing y'all!

Monday Training & 1st Chiro Treatment

Woke up at 5:20am this morning still with the ache in my lower back, but intent on doing something close to "real" training.

Warmed up with Intu-Flow Beginner program.

Proceeded to perform the following with the bells...

Seated Press: 2x8kg - 4 minutes (36 reps)

Swing: 8kg - 20R/20L

Cooled down with some of my therapy-specific stretches and other core/low back exercises.


At noon, I made my first visit to the new chiropractor for my first treatment. Spent 45 min in her office and was the recipient of some trigger point massage, adjustments, cracks, pops, stretches and electrical stimulation. When all was said and done, I felt woozy, dizzy, sleepy and totally out of it. After returning to the office, I felt beat up. I'm still recovering as I write this.

I have a feeling I'll be going to sleep early tonight and am interested to see how I'll feel in the morning. Next visit is scheduled for Wed at noon.

X-Ray

I finally decided to get myself to see a chiropractor as it has become more and more apparent that the back and hip issues I am having are very much a result of the condition of my spine.

So yesterday afternoon I met with a chiropractor who performed an initial exam on my back and identified a few areas that are in need of improvement. At least two spots in the cervical spine, one or two in the thoracic spine and at least one in the lumbar spine. Coupled with those and possibly a result of them are a few areas of spasm in the back which have been the same areas we have been working on releasing in physical therapy to date.

Before we start treatment, she also sent me to have x-rays taken of my pelvis. I left her office, walked into the radiology office and within 20 minutes, was walking out with x-rays in hand. Once I got home I held them up to the light to see if my untrained eye could spot anything that looked out of the ordinary.

Well, both my wife and I looked a bit confused as I was forced to tilt the x-ray in order for my pelvis to look level. "That can't be good", was my first reaction.

Wow, not only is it tremendously obvious that my pelvis is tilted in a major way, but you can also see how the lumbar spine then curves off to meet the pelvis. "That should probably be straight", I thought.

The second x-ray was from the side, and although I am nowhere near being an expert, there's a LOT of curvature in that lumbar spine, a LOT.

So I have to be optimistic for the time being that this route will be helpful in getting me back to full strength and health. I'll be having my first treatment on Monday at noon (on my lunch hour) and we will be viewing and discussing these x-rays together. I hope I'm not already too far gone...