If you have an interest in human movement, or have interest to learn just how quickly pain can change then this blog instalment is for you. Today I’m writing about my training and my rapidly evolving symptoms.
Observations of my symptoms thus far:
PRE-PROGRAM: No pain, but severe, frequent & painful locking of my left knee. Worsening over the course of the last 6 months. A humbling injury, making me ‘feel old’ for the first time in my life as it often had me randomly crying out “DON’T TOUCH ME! PLEASE!” to the kids in a loud and deadly serious tone, before it then took me a good 30secs to figure out how to unlock it. It really was not good.
POST SUPER SESSION: Provocation of left Hamstring/Adductor tightening, reminiscent of my earlier Cross Fit days. There was a time when I thought I might ‘strain my Hammy’ it felt so taut….. And now that I think about it, back in my days as a gymnast at the AIS, I did tear my Hamstring!! I’d completely forgotten about it but can recollect (whatever the opposite of fond is) memories of many an Acupuncture session in the treatment of it. I had a love/hate relationship with those appointments, “love” cos they got me out of training for part of the afternoon (we used to train 30+hrs a week) but “hate” because …. urghhh, needles.
Anyhoo, back in my Cross Fit days I’d often experience a severe tightening on the inside of my left Hamstring. Initially I was concerned and limited my training around it, but I soon discovered it’s lack of sinisterness and promptly chose to mostly ignore it. Left it up to my brilliant Chiro: Dr. Bojan Peric: to sort out whenever it arose, which he seemed to easily do upon my monthly visits. Then, just like my beloved Cross Fit training regime, it was long gone and forgotten until a day or two after my massive Super Session of testing when it almost instantly reappeared.
POST FIRST TRAINING SESSION: Surprisingly significant improvement in locking of the knee. After just one session, a mere 3 sets of 3 different exercises and less than 30 minutes!! I went from my knee locking 10-20 times/day, down to about 10 times/day. Still torturously frequent but at least half as often!
I can tell you, I’ve a lot of confidence in what I’m doing in the gym with my clients these days but even I was surprised by this result.
TRACEY’S FIRST (UGLY) SESSION IN THE GYM
After analysing my results, (rest assured I’ll be sharing more UGLY results in future instalments) I decided I’d focus this block of training on my left lower limb. Choosing movements that would help to improve the mobility, strength & control of my left side hip, knee, foot & ankle. With a slight focus toward anterior core control. (I’ll talk more of this in future instalments)
As per The 10 week (Movement) Plan for Action, I commenced training two times per week. Each session I programmed myself a set of 3 exercises to perform 3 rounds of, usually completed in 20-30 minutes. Every session different, with a varying degree of difficulty within each session, usually by an incremental increase in load, sometimes by altering a movement pattern.
Since undertaking Wayne Rodgers- Kinetic Link Training courses in 2018 (Level 1) & 2019 (Level 2) I predominantly teach & train KLT movements in the gym. Kinetic Link Training (KLT) movements encompass the whole body rather than individual muscles. They are functionally performed whilst standing on your feet, rather than with use of seats & benches, requiring and simultaneously challenging, stability. The body is challenged by performing a wide variety of integrated upper and lower body movements through a smooth, coordinated and controlled trunk. Akin to the human body’s natural movement patterns; pushing, pulling, squatting, lunging. And thus conditioning us to better move, safely & more efficiently in our everyday lives.
Given my desire to focus on my left leg and the degree to which it crumbled under the pressure of single leg movement, I chose to move only with a split stance, eg: split squats & lunges. Forcing my “team playing”, heavily reliant on the right side, left limb to get better at flying solo.
I also worked the left leg 50% harder, not in physical load, I always skew to the weaker limb/side, never moving weight nor resistance heavier than the weaker side can manage without losing form. Nor do I program a movement the weaker side isn’t able to manage. I worked the left leg 50% more in volume only, often performing 50-100% more repetitions on my left compared to right side.
Up top, because I wanted a bit of an anterior trunk/core focus, I predominantly chose pushing motions: forwards, downwards, upwards, inwards. And in this very first training session, I also changed up one of the movements, recognising upon completion of the first set that the lower limb focus wasn’t as strong as I’d wanted.
Many of you will be familiar with this basic (harder than it looks) introductory KLT movement: the double arm “push” with the split squat.
On a personal note, it felt good to move again. It had been almost 5 months since I’d last been in the gym! Aside from some poolside Noosa family holiday workouts with my husband, I’d managed just one gym session in that time, succumbing to illness and the business of life & end of year/Christmas crazy. I felt excited that my journey had commenced, that I was sharing it with you and was rewarded with a reduction in my symptoms almost immediately.
HOMEWORK:
So I ask you, how do you feel after a workout? Endorphin release aside, what do you feel in your body?
Is it your muscles or your joints that complain after a workout?
If you feel pump or fatigue in your muscles, where? Does it match the intent of exercises performed? eg: pain or fatigue in your neck instead of your shoulders, in your groin or back instead of your abs or glutes.
In the clinic, oftentimes I find folk are quite disconnected with their bodies. Bundling all symptoms of discomfort into one big ‘no pain, no gain’ point of view. Next time you’re in the gym, listen to yours, are you missing any messages it’s trying to share with you?
Follow me on Facebook and Instagram for regular updates on “Tracey’s personal movement plan for action’. Where I’ll continue sharing the ugly results from my MASSIVE 2.5hr long Super Session, video analysed images of MY poor movement patterns, musings on my training experiences and more!
And if you’re interested in learning more about your body and how it moves, you can book an appointment below.