If you regularly push up, L sit and practice handstands the chances are you could end up in intermediate hand and wrist pain.
After too many years of coaching, I’d suggest you seriously consider mixing your hand position up by including the use of parallettes. You can now pick up cheap ones any where, although if you intend to handstand with them, you ought to look at what they are suitable for. That said, Ive bought the cheapie set (pictured) about 10 years ago and Im still alive!
There isn’t a decent home or gym routine that doesn’t have push ups in. Many strong men of old insisted on them daily, getting clients to progress from floor pushups to between chairs to get that extra range of motion.
In my “Andrew Stemler Fit at Home” regime, I say, Do them everyday . Make them a daily habit.
If you grind your teeth, you are probably pretty screwed.
Once you work through people trying to sell you shit stuff and quacks offering naturalistic potions, blessed by saints, you probably need to read “ current treatments of Bruxism” by Guaitia and Hogl. Read it here https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4761372/
Here is the conclusion
“In the absence of a causal treatment, the management of bruxism focuses to prevent progression of dental wear, reduce teeth grinding sounds, and improve muscle discomfort and mandibular dysfunction in the most severe cases.
Counselling and behavioral strategies, splint therapy, medications, and contingent electrical stimulation have shown heterogeneous results in resolving the EMG events associated with sleep bruxism, and most of the RCT did not evaluate the effects on other symptoms such as pain or tooth wear progression. Long-term studies with a wide severity spectrum of sleep bruxism patients, and comparing the effect of different treatments should be performed to elucidate the importance of each intervention in the resolution of the signs and symptoms commonly referred by the patients. The choice of not treating bruxism must also be further explored, at least in asymptomatic patients with only mild dental wear. Even more must be done to successfully treat awake bruxism, in which RCTs are still lacking”
Or read my executive summary.
Fuck
However, as it says , its “still reasonable to recommend good sleep hygiene in clinical practice, especially considering that alcohol, tobacco, and coffee consumption are risk factors for sleep bruxism and that sensitivity to stress is commonly reported by the patients”
The good news is there is a Bruxism Association. They basically, want to shove stuff in your mouth
http://www.bruxism.org.uk/how-can-i-stop-grinding-my-teeth.php
I think it exists more to support dentists, but it could be rallying support to promote further research
More good news could be that the Bruxism association supports feel good happy solutions. “ General relaxation techniques including meditation are supposed to produce a sense of self-esteem and control over one’s body”. The draw back , however, for anyone with even the vaguest grip on reality is “there is no current literature regarding the efficacy of this holistic approach to the management of bruxism”
That said I suspect I have to join in and say, cut down the drugs, try and de-stress and meditate a bit . And yes, I can taste sick in my mouth for saying that.
BTW: my name is Andrew Stemler and I’m an East London personal trainer and massage therapist. You can book me by emailing me Andrew@crossfitlondonuk.com
There are lots of things you can do in fitness . One interesting target is to fall in love with a concept 2 rowing machine . Getting a fast 2k is the ideal , but disgusting, mix of aerobic and anaerobic capacity . People who row fast and well look like people who row fast and well .
Keep an eye on this blog as we discuss proper rowing technique and interesting capacity building workouts .
Btw my name is Andrew Stemler and I’m a personal trainer based in Bethnal Green E2
Once you have a few pull ups, its ‘easy’ to keep adding to them. The real hard one is getting that 1st pull up. I’ve struggled for 3 months to post a genuine article about getting your first pull up. This is my first public draft.
I hope it helps.
If you have no pull ups, here are some essential things you must do:
Read More“The race has always been on to firstly predict, then inoculate against, back pain. A test known as the “Sorensen test” based on the work of Hansen in 1964, has been popular since 1984.
According to Demoulin et al 2006 ”The test consists in measuring the amount of time a person can hold the unsupported upper body in a horizontal prone position with the lower body fixed to the examining table”
The test is accepted in its discriminative validity, reproducibility, and safety. However debate continues to surround its ability to predict low back pain. No firm explanation, beyond “women rock” , has been offered as to why “chicks” can hold it longer than guys.
Naturally motivation and discomfort tolerance are confounding factors.
A interesting review is available in PDF form at Isometric back Extension tests: a Review of Literature Maureau et al Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics Volume 24 • Number 2001, But in essence,this report says this….(yawn….)
“For men, the mean endurance time is 84 to 195 seconds; for women, it is 142 to 220.4 seconds. For subjects with LBP, the mean endurance time range is 39.55 to 54.5 seconds in mixed-sex groups 80 to 194 seconds for men, and 146 to 227 seconds for women” whether thats remotely useful lm not sure, but if you suffer or are prone to lower back pain, (you tend to know by your appalling posture), im going to suggest you move this figure up.
References
Demoulin C, Vanderthommen M, Duysens C, Crielaard JM. 2006. Spinal muscle evaluation using the Sorensen test: a critical appraisal of the literature. Joint Bone Spine. 2006 Jan;73(1):43-50.”
My name is Andrew Stemler. Im a london personal trainer working in Bethnal Green E2 and the City of London
I have no idea if bread is evil. I know that I love it, and that my life without it is a misery. I do know the “vegetable lobby” is dead against bread. I thought it was because of the effect on the Gylceymic Index (oh those happy early fitness instructor days).
As a hypertensive, I’m suspicious of bread because of its excessive salt content: but there is, increasingly, lower salt bread available, and as I discovered in later life, I could always eat a slice a day, rather than the loaf recommended by the state registered dietician ( who knew!)
But apparently, its Lectins, not Carbs are the real evil. Lets get skilled up and learn what lectins are. have a look at this article
http://www.krispin.com/lectin.html
So lectins are wolves in sheeps clothing, they sneak up on (gut ) cells, pretending to be , well sheep presumably, then they stick a dust buster into the cell wall, meaning it wants to hoover up every bit of sugar going ( so, a wolf, with a vaccum cleaner, disguised as a sheep in your intestines…..) .
So, every loaf of bread does that to every intestine cell? ( Its, just that that’s a lot of wolves….)
No!
“Glucosamine is specific for wheat lectin and it is this specificity that may protect the gut and cartilage from cell inflammation and destruction in wheat (or gluten) responsive arthritis”
Doesn’t that mean that if you have Glucosamine, you are ok, and can eat bread?
But certainly many people tolerate these foods — why?
The answer lies in the balance of gut flora and a person’s immune system. When you have adequate “beneficial flora” ( oooh, I sense a TV Advert) , it serves as a protective barrier against substances that travel through the intestines, including lectins.
But importantly, beneficial flora are needed to keep the production going in the intestines of two lectin-protective substances, mucin and secretory IgA.3,4.
Mucin, like lectin, is a “glycoprotein” ( use this word at parties) in the mucus lining of the intestines. When lectins travel through the intestines, they should have mucin to bind to, rather than intestinal cells. But if mucin is missing, lectins will bind to intestinal cells instead. Secretory IgA also binds to lectins, preventing them from causing damage. (Buts JP, et al. Digestive Disease and Sciences. Feb 1990. 35(2): 251-56.)
According to Cordian et al “the interaction of dietary lectins with enterocytes and lymphocytes facilitates the translocation( this is bad) of both dietary and gut-derived bacterial antigens to peripheral tissues, which in turn causes persistent peripheral antigenic stimulation. In genetically susceptible individuals, this antigenic stimulation may ultimately result in the expression of overt rheumatoid arthritis” (British Journal of Nutrition British Journal of Nutrition (2000), 83: 207-217 Cordain et al)
This is a useful source as it reminds us that there are lots of things in your gut that you don’t want in you, which is why some stuff passes through us, others get “slimed”, and, more importantly, that’s why you have a gut.
But it can break down in 3 circumstances
(1) disruption of ecological equilibrium which allows intestinal bacterial overgrowth,
(2) deficiencies in host immune defences, and
(3) increased permeability of the intestinal barrier (Berg, 1992).
Failure of intestinal barrier function resulting in the systemic spread of gut-associated bacteria has been termed bacterial translocation( I actually like this word and want to use it more at parties).
This is why, apparently, its important to take some nice live yogurt every so often, if you are a pisshead/ fast food eater, every few days would be a good idea. Don’t fall foul of marketing. Food companies are still the deceitful fuckers they always have been, so most probiotic yogurt is just a liquid sweet. An interesting observation comes from another blog writer (http://www.good.is/post/is-yogurt-really-that-good-for-you/)
“The only problem: Some so-called probiotic bacteria don’t contain strains medically recognized as beneficial. As one expert told Tara Pope Parker, “To say a product contains Lactobacillus is like saying you’re bringing George Clooney to a party. It may be the actor, or it may be an 85-year-old guy from Atlanta who just happens to be named George Clooney.”
So just be careful, treat bread with suspicion( there’s still an addictive sugar rush, and you may be one of the unlucky ones), and eat a bit of live yogurt ( the plain boring stuff). Above all, be conscious of the motivations of the diet advisor. I know of diet experts who fess up to being x vegetarians ( presumably fanatically so) and now all they can see is their mums arthritis, and they set out on a misguided mission to “save everyone” even those that don’t need it. Mind you, if I knew someone had auto-immune issues, I’d suggest they knock out bread as a trial (but they need to have the auto-immune disease).
I was also surprised to learn that, allegedly, if you have dairy issues, its worth trying yogurt as its already partially digested and easily available to your body.
Still, I think the real warnings are, “everything in moderation”. Notice patterns , because you could be one of those people who cannot take bread. Act on the info. But also watch the “religious nutters” I’ve read loads of times about lectins. No one ever added the bit about how the body deals with them.
So that’s a bit “spun” isn’t it boys and girls
Any way, My name is Andrew Stemler, I work in London as a personal trainer and can be found in Bethnal Green E2 or the City of London
Here is the grim truth. Apart from my lunge problems, I have a “where my hands go” problem. Green is where my hands should be, blue is where they go.
So 1st port of call when fixing your round off is to draw around your feet and try a round off with your hands covered in chalk.
It gives you grim feedback. If your ego can cope!
You can then take a video clip and watch the disaster in “SLOMO”
This, is surely, partly to do with shoulder flexibility
So here is how to begin to fix it.
1) Position specific work
hold the position against the wall
Try this yoga type exercise
2) generic Shoulder flexibility work
I’ll add a link once Ive finished the video
One of the crucial abilities in gymnastic tumbling is the ability to pull your knees into your chest and make a ball: The Tuck.
If you cannot, or won’t, ‘Tuck” your tumbles will be open, slow and difficult to land.
This means that you must get your calves to stick to your hamstrings and your knees to your chest with a rounded back . The G force of most tumbles will try and rip this shape apart. Make sure you can squeeze the tuck both through body control ( abs, chest and leg compression) and by pulling your knees in by grabbing your upper shin’s. As much time as you spend dish and arching, allocate to the tuck, especially if you are open and lazy in your front and back tuck. On the whole, get this shape with the head sort of neutral, not massively strained back ( you are preparing for both a front and back tuck).
If you were taught the basics properly, you will be used to this position in your forward rolls. As an adult, most gymnastic teachers will shy off demanding that you properly tuck in your rolls, and thus leave you unconditioned. The forward roll will put you into a tuck by the nature of the move, but its more a “flop into place tuck” than one you have worked for. I’ll post more later, but hold that tuck in a variety of positions.
O