Anyone into Calisthenics here?

[fridjonk]

@Waves Awesome! I've also been dealing with minor shoulder injuries, so I'm taking my stretching and mobility extremely seriously. Working on protraction of the shoulder while hanging for example, and scapular position. I feel like most people skip good form because they get too excited to work on more advanced moves. 

Check out Saturno Movement on youtube, they combine calisthenics and yoga. 

[Waves]

@fridjonk Yeah it's so important to control scapular movement and keep the whole joint well balanced. Sometimes the only way to realize it is to get injured.

Thanks for the resource, I'll check it out! If you haven't heard of him, there is also Tom Merrick that makes videos on calisthenics and flexibility.

[fridjonk]

31 minutes ago, Waves said:

If you haven't heard of him, there is also Tom Merrick that makes videos on calisthenics and flexibility.

I've been binging his videos the last few days, really like him. 

It was actually one of his vids that made me think more about flexibility and mobility since he got golfers elbow and tore his upper back from not practicing the basics enough. I'm actually one of those people that rushes the progress, so I'm treading carefully now since I don't want to get injured and lose months of progress. 

[peanutspathtotruth]

4 hours ago, fridjonk said:

Check out Saturno Movement on youtube, they combine calisthenics and yoga. 

I have a morning flexibility routine (just short dynamic stretches and then 10 seconds holding for each stretch before doing yoga) that I do first thing in the morning since 2 or so years from him! I like his material, but I heard he pulled a greedy one when he opened his online courses  

[fridjonk]

3 hours ago, peanutspathtotruth said:

I have a morning flexibility routine (just short dynamic stretches and then 10 seconds holding for each stretch before doing yoga) that I do first thing in the morning since 2 or so years from him!

Nice! 

3 hours ago, peanutspathtotruth said:

but I heard he pulled a greedy one when he opened his online courses  

That's unfortunate, seems like a nice guy. A little too new-age-y for my taste personally but he has some good free content on YT. 

[peanutspathtotruth]

1 hour ago, fridjonk said:

A little too new-age-y for my taste personally but he has some good free content on YT. 

Yes, definitely! I also like his journey, how he chose sports over partying and made a bold decision.

By the way, there is something I'm observing lately regarding calisthenics: Training really makes my body stiff and tense, although I relax my body at least 1-2 hours during meditation. With stretching and some massaging work it's better, but still I feel how this makes all the habitual tension even worse. I also take magnesium which is important for me to sleep when training, but doesn't help much. My little brother has the exact same problem.

I did a break, not exercising for about 2-3 weeks until a few days ago, because it was too straining energetically. My body relaxed sooooo much!! It's sad to see the tension coming back, but I want the exercise, it's good for me. 

Do you have similar experiences? I honestly thought about getting into something less strength-related to not have that tension.

[Michal__]

25 minutes ago, peanutspathtotruth said:

Yes, definitely! I also like his journey, how he chose sports over partying and made a bold decision.

By the way, there is something I'm observing lately regarding calisthenics: Training really makes my body stiff and tense, although I relax my body at least 1-2 hours during meditation. With stretching and some massaging work it's better, but still I feel how this makes all the habitual tension even worse. I also take magnesium which is important for me to sleep when training, but doesn't help much. My little brother has the exact same problem.

I did a break, not exercising for about 2-3 weeks until a few days ago, because it was too straining energetically. My body relaxed sooooo much!! It's sad to see the tension coming back, but I want the exercise, it's good for me. 

Do you have similar experiences? I honestly thought about getting into something less strength-related to not have that tension.

It's probably not enough stretching and maybe some structural imbalance (for example too strong front of the body, not enough pulling strength / rear delts).

As a general rule for stretching try to do 1 - 3 stretches for every body part that you trained that day (even indirectly) and hold the stretch for ~30 seconds.

Also contrast showers after workouts.

Static stretching ONLY post workout (but you probably already know that)

This is definitely a bad sign. My body is actually getting more loose the longer I train because I take stretching very seriously.

.

Edited January 19, 2021 by Michal__

[fridjonk]

1 hour ago, peanutspathtotruth said:

Yes, definitely! I also like his journey, how he chose sports over partying and made a bold decision.

By the way, there is something I'm observing lately regarding calisthenics: Training really makes my body stiff and tense, although I relax my body at least 1-2 hours during meditation. With stretching and some massaging work it's better, but still I feel how this makes all the habitual tension even worse. I also take magnesium which is important for me to sleep when training, but doesn't help much. My little brother has the exact same problem.

I did a break, not exercising for about 2-3 weeks until a few days ago, because it was too straining energetically. My body relaxed sooooo much!! It's sad to see the tension coming back, but I want the exercise, it's good for me. 

Do you have similar experiences? I honestly thought about getting into something less strength-related to not have that tension.

I've been getting more loose actually, but I'm also taking stretching very seriously since I'm trying to reach a full split. Currently been on creatine for 4 months which might be aiding in faster recovery. Also getting a massage gun was a miracle investment, I just massage any tight spots out and feel better instantly. 

I'd definitely recommend creatine, and start chugging water throughout the day, it might help. 

Are you eating cleanly as well? giving your muscles enough protein to rebuild? Are you eating at a calorie surplus, deficit, or just baseline? 

Also, try to hang for 4 minutes each day to give your spine a relief, 30 sec at a time. 

 

Edited January 19, 2021 by fridjonk

[peanutspathtotruth]

@Michal__ @fridjonk These are great suggestions, thank you! Quite honestly, I haven't been taking stretching too seriously, although I know how good it is for me, even mentally. No I didn't know static stretches only after the workout, I just thought I should warm up a bit.
I usually stretched before bed, sometimes even for 30-60 minutes, I did a few sun salutations to warm up, and after the stretching I would use massaging balls and the black roll. Maybe I should try moving that whole routine into the post-workout time frame? I think I'll start doing so tomorrow!

And yeah, I'm also taking creatine at the moment. My eating is not so good at the moment, I'm circling back to a very clean diet from a longer backlash. That might help. Also gonna drink more.

Thank you both