It’s almost cruel, the timing of the writing of this blog entry. Comparing the life of now to a couple of months ago, when my 3yo was sleeping better, everyone was healthy and well and Josh and I had had opportunity to work out together. Some might call it sad or crazy but it’s what we like to do when we’re able to make the stars align. We don’t do date nights, we’re still far too sleep deprived for that, we do date ‘days’ often choosing to workout together before a lazy brunch, preferably outside and in the sunshine.
The content of Blog #9 is anecdotal in nature, delving into analysis of one of my workouts. Exploring preferred and perhaps undesirable movement patterns and, how learning how to tame them can make any workout ‘rehabilitative’ if you’ve the desire to change the cause, not just the symptoms of a given pain or injury. It dates back to a Sunday in early March, not long after I’d gifted my husband a return to Cross Fit for his birthday. A ten pass at a local Cross Fit box and a little management of our schedule to help make it happen once a week.
My husband had supported me in the finding of some “me time” in our hectic schedule about a year ago, when the stress of juggling family life with young kids and work had reached it’s peak. With some encouragement from my sister, I’d made a return to Dance and have taken a weekly Contemporary Dance class since. The reward is extraordinary and the barriers surprisingly minimal once I’d made the decision to prioritise myself. I remember returning home from a class a couple months after I’d started, reporting to Josh that it “felt like an entirely new day!“, when in reality I’d been dancing for just 45mins, gone from the house little over an hour!
Now it was his turn, I wanted those same feels for him and I knew Cross Fit was what he needed to find it. It was a well timed return too, with the worldwide Cross Fit competition, the Cross Fit Open just about to start. The competition was now three workouts, over the course of three weeks. The workouts put together by someone across the other side of the world, released to everyone in the world at exactly the same day & time. It’s designed in a way that folks of almost any ability can participate and it enhances the community feel that comes with Cross Fit (One of the many reasons people fall in love with the sport) more than it is competitive. Many affiliate gyms organise events both in and out of the gym in celebration, it’s a fun time. So, I took a day off my regular programming to join my husband in the Cross Fit Open workout 24.1.
Tracey’s 10wk (movement) plan for action session 11/20:
CrossFit style: Open workout 24.1
For those in the know, this was:
21-15-9: DB snatches (arm 1)-Lateral burpees over DB-DB snatches (arm 2)-Lateral burpees over DB
In layman’s terms, this workout was: With one arm, lift a heavy weight (for Josh a 20kg kettlebell) from the floor to over head a heap of times (90 total), then do a truck load of burpees (90 total) with a jump over a dumbbell (90 total) before lifting the heavy weight floor to overhead with the other arm and doing a heap more burpees on a bit of rep completing cycle, as fast as you can.
For little ol’ unconditioned and very out of Cross Fit practice me, it was a rather comical return to a Cross Fit style workout. Firstly, I hit my head with the dumbbell on one of my first few snatches. It had been a while since my last snatch of any sort, let alone a dumbbell snatch, a movement I’ve always found awkward! Plus, I’m a bit of a clutz. Fortunately, I was only using a 4kg dumbbell at this point, but still… ouch!
Then, I somehow got confused with the number cycle on the burpees, meaning I did heaps more of them than I needed to! This mistake was a very welcome revelation, as my husband had raced ahead in the workout far quicker than I expected, completing the workout before I’d even begun my last round. Historically a common occurrence, I just wasn’t expecting to be left so far behind on this occasion when I’d chosen such a comparatively light load.
More ‘clinically notable’ observations from my Cross Fit style workout:
1. I noticed how hard I had to work to control my hips from thrusting forward with the overhead movement, a cruel cue my clients are all too familiar with. Once taken away, one is well aware of how much of a crutch to movement it is.
2. I was proud of how well I managed to control my shoulder shrug with the overhead movement. Admittedly I chose my load specifically with this in mind, and then incrementally increased the load throughout the workout as my ability increased. It felt good to be honest with my workout, honest with my ability. In the past I would’ve chosen to lift the prescribed heavier weight. I would’ve managed to complete the workout but with much compensatory movement (shoulder shrug, back arch, forward head thrust to name a few) and also, at the sacrifice of my body.
3. I recognised I had a weird right foot first landing with my jump to the left side, versus landing with equal feet on my jumps to the right. It also felt like I was hiking my left hip when I jumped to the left side. Weird movement patterns I could only attribute to my funky left leg.
4. I decided to force myself to perform what I’ll call an anti-extension burpee, a way in which was the absolute opposite of how I liked to burpee in the past. In this workout, I forced myself to complete a neutral spine push up from my knees into a squat to stand burpee, vs the salute to the sun/arch the back action I used to execute with speed and ease. This made the workout more difficult for me, I moved (even) slower and experienced fatigue quicker but moving this way was a challenge for my weakness’ rather than an exploitation of my strengths. Which in my case would have only perpetuated my asymmetries and therefore my symptoms. I let go of my ego and the speed at which I could perform the workout and simply used the movements for the betterment of my body. Which admittedly was far less exhilarating than my Cross Fit workouts used to be, but in recognition of the need to earn the ability to move with speed I decided partaking in a Cross Fit workout with some modifications was better than no Cross Fit workout at all.
In conclusion, it was great to get back to a Cross Fit style work out, but I was relieved it when it was over and could then relax and have a beer with Josh sin kids.
My (Movement) Plan for action subjective goal #2: “to find & keep the joy I used to experience with exercise & a more balanced life“….. I’ll call it a ‘greylead pencil’ tick.
HOMEWORK:
Next time you’re in the gym, consider slowing down and ‘feeling’ how you move. Can you feel any compensatory actions your body is using to get the job done?
- shoulder shrugging: the loss of space between your ear and shoulder otherwise known as your neck!
- forward head/chin poke
- back arch
- significant left to right discrepancies
If you’re not good at ‘feeling’ consider recording yourself or asking someone else to watch, you could compare visuals. What differences/if any do you observe? If you notice an un-toward movement, how easily can you control it? If you reduce the load, how different does the movement look? Consider making a permanent change to avoid compensatory movement and see if your body benefits.
NB: Choose to analyse a movement you don’t particularly enjoy. It’s often the movements we aren’t good at that need the most work, and where you’re likely to find compensatory action.
Follow me on Facebook and Instagram for regular updates on “Tracey’s personal movement plan for action’. Where I’ll be sharing all 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.