My training is going really well - better than expected! In the post below, I’d like to go over the details of what I’ve been doing. In the video, I continue the discussion on proper shoulder mechanics that I began last week. This week, I realized that the conclusion I drew last week wasn’t right. In the video, I explain why I think that is.
Success (!) in My First Two Formal Training Weeks
While I had been working to find my starting points in the first few weeks of my joyful return to training after years of lying down, in these last two weeks, I started with more focused and directed training based on a program I wrote for myself.
In the first week, I started with 5 isometric bodyweight exercises. Isometric means holding in one position rather than moving through a range of motion. My reason for starting with isometric strength was that when I was experimenting over the previous few weeks, my body responded well to this type of training, as though it was nourished by it.
My experience gave me insight that we can determine our starting points by tuning into how our body responds to training. The statement for further exploration is: Training that is right for where we are will feel nourishing, even if it’s challenging.
Developmental Roots of Isometric Strength
Interestingly, isometric strength is something babies do when they’re first learning to move. A great example is when they push up with their arms to raise their torso.
It makes sense that they would start with isometric strength because, in doing so, they build neuromuscular connections. Certainly, a baby who has not yet learned how to move around in its environment would need to establish a connection between mind and body to set itself up for moving.
It made sense to me that, because I had been lying down for most of the last few years, I would need to start by restoring these connections. I also felt, intuitively, that isometric strength was a safe place to start, minimizing the possibility of injury, so it made sense to start there on that front, too.
My Plan
My original plan was to do isometric work for the first eight weeks, 3x/week, building up my hold time. I started with 3 x 30 seconds for each exercise in the first week and then 3 x 45 seconds in the second week. My plan was to keep building up until, by the end of eight weeks, I was able to hold each exercise for at least 90 seconds. My longer term goal was and continues to be 1 x 3-5 minute holds.
My reason for this plan was and is that giving myself a solid neuromuscular foundation through isometric work would and will set me up for continued success in my training. Interestingly, midway through the second week, I could feel my body wanting another stimulus. I had just learned about superslow strength training and that seemed to be the trigger for the shift.
Learning about the superslow method, I got the sense that I needed to do that next. The feeling I got was that superslow strength work would “feed” my body. Since that was the feeling I had initially when doing isometric strength work, it made sense to take that feeling seriously.
Now, is that what actually happened? I have no clue. But that’s the best I can explain what felt like happened. It is worth noting that, so far, when I think and have thought about doing regular-speed repetition strength training, I feel and have felt aversion, the sense being that it will deplete me. Certainly, that has been true in past efforts during this illness.
Getting the inner green light, in the final day of week 2, I decided to mix things up. I still did isometric work because I continued to feel that there was more to do in terms of establishing a solid isometric foundation, but I replaced one isometric set with a superslow set.
It occurred to me that adding in superslow strength work might help me increase my isometric hold times and how strong I feel during the holds. While I think those benefits are reasonable to assume and anticipate, I won’t know for sure if they prove true until this coming week when I do more isometric holds.
What the Heck Is SuperSlow Strength Training?
Superslow strength training is just what it says. You do repetitions of an exercise at a super slow speed. You also make sure to move through the full range of motion so that you develop strength in all ranges of the motion.
Superslow strength is effective because it addresses an issue that crops up when we move at faster speeds, even if that faster speed is just normal speed: when we move at regular or faster speeds, we rely on momentum to carry us through some parts of the movement.
When we rely on momentum, we pass through a range without really engaging our muscles or only partially engaging them. By slowing the movement down, our body can no longer rely on bypassing weak areas. Instead, it has to enlist muscle fibers in those areas to do what momentum was doing before. Superslow strength training is thus a really effective way to build strength through all ranges of an exercise.
Why does building strength through all ranges of movement even matter? There is a saying that goes like this: slow equals smooth and smooth equals fast. Here’s how I understand that:
When we slow down movement, we may find that our movement at slow speeds is shaky or jagged. Or we might notice that we bypass some parts of a movement altogether. This rough or bypassing movement tells us that our body is not used to enlisting muscle fibers in that range.
By keeping our movement slow, we can give our muscles a chance to enlist those fibers and thus help them build themselves, and us, up stronger through the full range of the movement. As our strength increases, we are more and more able to move gracefully through the movement. This graceful, or smooth, movement is more efficient and this efficiency makes us faster.
It is interesting to consider here that graceful movement is strong movement. Thus, if we want to be graceful, it will benefit us to build full-range strength.
The Compensation Trap
Whenever our body is weak in some area, it must rely on another body part to pick up the slack. When another body part picks up the slack, that is called compensation. Compensation means that some part of our body must step in to perform or shore up a movement it is not designed to do. It steps in because the part of our body that is supposed to do the movement can’t.
Our body compensates because it is amazing. It will take an incredible amount of abuse and neglect, doing everything in its power to adapt so it, and we, can keep going. But, at some point, compensations won’t be able to carry us further. The body will break down, or we will, or both. At least that is how I have come to understand my experience.
Compensation and Stress
Extrapolating from my experience, I would also argue that when we rely on compensations, we live with a higher base level of stress than we otherwise might. That makes sense because body parts are doing things on the regular that they’re not designed to do.
When we live with a higher level of baseline stress, we don’t feel as good as we could. We might realize we don’t feel really great, but we might think that is just the way things are. If we consider that most of us live with below-the-radar compensations from spending a whole lot of time sitting from a very young age, we can speculate that many, if not all of us in the modern world, are living with and compensating for a higher baseline level of stress than we might be designed for.
To the extent that this assumption is true, it means that a whole lot of us are not feeling as good as we could simply because we are not moving the way our bodies are designed to move. It also means that every day our bodies are heroically keeping us going. Consider that they will continue to do so until they collapse.
No better friend could be conjured.
An Argument for SuperSlow Strength Training
If the above speculation about compensation and stress is right, I would argue that building full range strength is one way we can lower our baseline stress levels and improve our health and sense of well-being, both on a daily basis and throughout our lives. Superslow training is one way we can do that. I would also argue that building this strength is a simple and straightforward way for us to hold up our end of the body-being partnership.
Astrological Interlude
For those of you interested in astrology, in the chart for the October 2nd Libra solar eclipse, Mercury, which symbolizes the body and mind, was conjunct the solar eclipse in Libra. Libra is the sign of partnership. This eclipse reminds us that our most important friend on this incarnation path is our body-mind.
Mercury also represents the health of our body-mind. This eclipse may be reminding us that our body-mind is hurting and not only needs, but deserves, our loving attention to its needs. It stands to reason that when we can reliably show up for the health and well-being of our bodies and minds, we can reliably show up in relationship with others, tending to the health and well-being of the relationship rather than undermining it.
The Nitty Gritty
Below are the strength exercises I did in week 1. The body parts in parentheses are what I was specifically intending to target with each exercise.
Knee side planks (medial glutes)
L-Sit lean backs (shoulders)
Tall kneeling good mornings (glute max)
Sit up lean backs (upper abdominals)
Dead bug leg extensions (lower abdominals)
I chose these five strength exercises to build up my core strength, address a shoulder issue, and address a hip issue. On the second day of Week 2, I added in two more exercises because I realized that the five I had been doing didn’t adequately address my back. The exercises I added were:
Prone leg raises (lower back)
Prone torso raises (upper back)
There is one final area that I’m not addressing that I feel needs to be and that is my hip adductors. For now, it would be too much to add in more, so I will address this area as my training progresses.
Below, I describe the exercises and how it went doing them.
Exercise Debrief
Knee Side Planks
The knee side planks work my medial glutes, thus strengthening my hips, which have been very weak. Weak medial glutes are one of the reasons elderly people fall. Since I’m 60, I want to address this issue right from the start. Strong hips are also key to running strong, so it makes a ton of sense to build up this strength now.
I was aware that my (L) hip was especially weak so wanted to build that back up. Doing the exercise, I realized that, while my (L) hip was indeed weak, my (R) hip was outright turned off! I realized that because when doing the side plank on my (R) side, my quadratus lumborum was doing all the work, not my medial glutes. I needed to make a change, find something that was easy enough that I could engage my medial glutes rather than compensate, but still challenging enough that my glutes could build up.
Considering my options, I decided to try sticking with the knee version of the side plank but explore possible adjustments. I had started with an advanced version of the knee side plank in which I was extending my upper leg. On my left, I could just touch my toe to the ground without putting much pressure on it.
On my right, I experimented with putting more pressure through my toe. That didn’t do the trick so I bent my upper leg, resting my upper foot on my lower foot. While still super tough, I was able to engage my medial glutes so long as I really focused on making that happen. I’ll take that for now and see if I make progress. If I do, I’m in the right place. If I don’t, I’ll need to scale back further.
While I can’t say for sure that engaging my medial glutes on my (R) are the reason, my (R) quad tightness and the tightness throughout the (R) side of my back has decreased since my last workout on Friday when I finally truly got my (R) knee side plank right.
SuperSlow Variation
For the superslow set I did on Friday, I did standing leg abductions. This exercise is a pregression of the knee side plank. Given that I am working right at my limit in the knee side plank on my (R) side, it made sense to choose a pregression for the superslow set. It might also make sense to do this pregression for the isometric holds. For now, I’m ok with seeing if incorporating them as a superslow set fills the void and improves my strength when doing the (R) knee side plank.
I did 1 x 8 repetitions on each side as slowly as I was able. According to Dagoberto Vila, an expert in superslow strength training and former body builder, the key with superslow training is to go as slow as you can while keeping the movement continuous. Apparently, you can move so slowly that you end up stopping and starting throughout the movement. If that happens, it means you are moving too slowly.
L-Sit Lean Backs
The l-sit lean backs target my (R) shoulder. They involve sitting with my legs straight and placing my hands behind me. I keep my hands facing forward. I then lean back, squeezing my shoulder blades together, pressing my hands into the ground and tucking my tail. When I tuck my tail, I take the strain off my low back and my lower body lifts off the ground a little. I then hold this for the specified time. While not a panacea for my (R) shoulder issue, this exercise does seem to be another step in the right direction, increasing my optimism.
SuperSlow Variation
For the superslow set, I do the same exercise but I move through a full range of motion. Starting from the seated position, I sit back and tuck my tail, then raise my lower body off the ground, raising it as high as I can while keeping my heels on the ground. Turning this exercise into repetitions changes it from a largely upper body, shoulders, and arms exercise to a complete posterior chain exercise, setting me up for full bridges down the road and back bends even further down.
It is super tough. I did 1 x 5 repetitions as slowly as I was able and raising as I high as I was able. I believe I achieved full hip extension in the final few repetitions once I finally got what I should be doing. However, I didn’t confirm in a mirror or by video.
Tall Kneeling Good Mornings
The tall kneeling good mornings target my glute max. Starting in a tall kneeling position, I raise my arms straight overhead. I then hinge my hips, working to keep my arms overhead as my torso lowers. Because my upper back and rotator cuff muscles are weak, keeping my arms straight overhead is the hardest part of the exercise. To ensure that my glute max engages, I make sure to tuck my tail. I also find that the more shallow my hinge, the greater my glute max engagement.
SuperSlow Variation
For the superslow set, I do the same exercise but move through a full range of motion. As I did the reps, I realized that I wasn’t hinging as far as I could so wasn’t getting the full benefit of the exercise. As I experimented, I found that the exercise became more and more challenging the more I lowered my torso. When I do these again, my focus will be on hinging until my torso is parallel to the ground before raising back up. That makes it a really challenging exercise.
I did 1 x 8 imperfect repetitions.
Sit Up Lean Backs
The sit up lean backs target my upper abs. To do them, I get into the top of a standard sit up position and lean back until I reach a challenge point. I then hold that for the set amount of time. Up until my last workout, I was doing these without anchoring my feet under something. For my last workout, I decided to anchor them. While I got a lot out of them without doing that, I felt they were more effective when I did.
Superslow Variation
For the superslow set, I did the same exercise but moved through the full range of movement. Ideally, when doing superslow training, you only move through the full tension-producing range of the movement. These sit ups were so challenging for me that I let myself go all the way up, out of the tension, and all the way down, also out of the tension. A goal I have is to do these only within the range of tension. But, given my starting point, I feel good about what I was able to do.
I did 1 x 8 superslow repetitions. Had I not given myself some breaks at the top and the bottom of the movement by going beyond the tension points, I would not have been able to do that many.
Dead Bug Leg Extensions
The dead bug leg extensions target my lower abs. To do these, I lay on my back with legs straight, extend my arms overhead and hold onto an anchor. I then bend my knees and raise my legs so that my knees are at a 90-degree angle from my hips. Finally, I gradually extend my legs until I reach a challenge point. I then hold there for the designated amount of time.
Superslow Variation
For the superslow set, I did the same exercise, extending my legs from the starting position and then returning to the start to complete the repetition. These were less challenging than the sit ups, but challenging enough to be beneficial.
I did 1 x 8 repetitions.
Prone Leg Raises
The prone leg raises target my low back. To do them, I lie prone with my forehead on the ground, arms folded beyond my head. I then raise my legs off the ground, focusing on extending them away from me so my back doesn’t experience pressure. I then hold these for the designated amount of time.
In the video portion of this post, I wasn’t sure if I started the prone leg and torso raises on the final training day of week 1 or this past week. I looked at my log and found that I began them on Wednesday this week. On Wednesday, I held the position for 1 x 15 seconds. On Friday, the next day I did them, I held them for 3 x 45 seconds. alternating with the prone torso raises. I was confused in the video because I had planned to progress to 3 x 30 seconds before catapaulting to 3 x 45 seconds. Turns out I skipped over the 3 x 30 and just catapaulted.
All the more reason to hold off on superslow repetitions. I want to be sure I have more isometric time done before adding those in. That will ensure that I’ve really got the form down before adding in movement complexity. I want to make sure the strength work is helping me build strength in my low back, not injure it.
Prone Torso Raises
The prone torso raises target my upper back. While I already target this by raising my arms overhead in the tall kneeling good mornings, doing so is so challenging it makes sense to tackle it from another angle. For the prone torso raises, I change things up by extending my arms out to the side rather than overhead. I make this choice in part because, while I can do the prone torso raises with arms overhead, it is so challenging that I’m not convinced I benefit from doing so. What I am convinced of is that I’ll need to add in other work to build foundations for raising my arms overhead in the prone torso raise.
As with the prone leg raises, I did 1 x 15 seconds on Wednesday to test things out. I then went up to 3 x 45 seconds on Friday. I will progress to superslow repetitions when it feels like I’ve done enough isometric work and feel confident in the movement.
Looking Forward
Next week, I plan to go back to all isometric work for Monday and Wednesday, shooting for 3 x 60 seconds for each exercise and then add in superslow work again on Friday. That applies to everything but the prone leg and torso raises. I’ll stick with isometrics for them and probably stick with 45 second holds for this week so I can focus on form.
It is so precious to be able to train and make progress. I’m excited for the week ahead!
Previous Video on the Shoulder
This video is the one where I share what I believed to be the correct synthesis of information about the shoulder. The post itself also includes embeds and links to images that provide helpful information about the shoulder.
Updates
October 13, 2024
I made some minor edits to fix grammatical mistakes and address unnecessary repetition (more could be done :). )
I wrote that I did the prone torso and leg raises 3 x 15 seconds the first day. That was a mistake. I did them 1 x 15 seconds. I corrected that.
October 14, 2024
I tweaked things a little further, mostly by removing some unnecessary sentence fragments and breaking up a long sentence or two.
October 15, 2024
I edited the original article, taking out unnecessary phrases, breaking paragraphs up into two paragraphs, and changing or adding text to improve the article to better convey (and hopefully make it more enjoyable and easier to read) what I had originally written.
Shoulder Movement GIF’s
Below are the GIF’s I showed in the video. They are the same ones I showed in my previous video on the shoulder.
A Gentle Reminder: On the Nature of this Content
While I am certified as a personal trainer (certified in 2011), I have never worked in the field and, other than attending a weekend workshop learning about the foundations of the Z-Health system, I have not pursued formal continuing education due to illness. Therefore, what I share in my videos and other posts about my personal journey, choices, and insights is not meant to constitute professional advice or training guidance. I am sharing my experiences purely as an individual on a personal journey.
While I will do my best to explain what I’m doing, each person is unique, and what is right for you will depend on your specific situation, so please use your best judgment if you decide to try anything I share. As needed, consult with qualified professionals - such as doctors, physical therapists, certified personal trainers currently working in the field, running coaches, nutritionists, etc. - who can work with you directly to help you reach your goals given your specific circumstances.
I Was Wrong!