A very good Friday and Saturday for the back! Did swings yesterday, 44lb for 10 minutes, felt good – about the last 2 minutes I finally “got” how to use a superfast hip “bump” to move the bell. My RKC had told me to do this, but this was the first time I really felt it. It’s like the carnival contest where you hit the weight with the hammer and it goes up to ring the bell – you blast your hips forward and then the arms just guide the bell up. I think it was my doing some “static stomps” during the set that helped – it teaches you how to not “bleed” energy as force comes from the ground up through the feet, legs and finally to the hips.Going to move up to 12 minutes on Tuesday.
Interesting perspective on this exercise: in 10 minutes I estimate I did 120 or so repetitions, and each rep the bell moves around 3 feet (from groin area to in front of chest), then I:
- Moved approx. 5280 lbs pounds of iron (44lb*120 reps)
- Moved the bell 360 vertical feet
- And as the movement is very similar to a standing long jump (without the jump, the power goes into moving the bell), it was like doing 120 full power long jumps in a row
And I could barely pick up a 26lb bell off the floor once two months ago!
Of course, as a back guy, I am always suspicious that I am somehow hurting myself doing this stuff, but there is no evidence of that yet 
Also had a great meditation period, 30 minutes with no back pain; in fact I was finally so stable and balanced that I had a great “dropping off body and mind” experience, which hasn’t happened for a while. Suspect that my new daily QiGong routine is playing a part in this improvement, energy is circulating much better…
Did Janda situps today also, found an online suggestion to use the top of a stair to hook my heels, it worked great! This was my first time doing these, and I felt an immediate improvement to my posture and abdominal tone that has lasted for hours.
Went to help with kid BMXing – lifted bikes in and out of the car, helped launch the kids from the ramp, ran up and down the hill, no back pain. Right hamstring starting to tighten up, but that is the norm after doing swings – I think it is a relic of the bad pull I suffered from a few years back.
At kid dance class, did have some back pain, which I always do, when sitting on the flat benches there. The low back muscles are trying to arch too much to “protect” the back. Need to get them to relax, without slumping. Oh well, some sitting situations are still a challenge…
But overall, feeling very good!
A very good Friday and Saturday for the back! Did swings yesterday, 44lb for 10 minutes, felt good – about the last 2 minutes I finally “got” how to use a superfast hip “bump” to move the bell. My RKC had told me to do this, but this was the first time I really felt it. It’s like the carnival contest where you hit the weight with the hammer and it goes up to ring the bell – you blast your hips forward and then the arms just guide the bell up. I think it was my doing some “static stomps” during the set that helped – it teaches you how to not “bleed” energy as force comes from the ground up through the feet, legs and finally to the hips.Going to move up to 12 minutes on Tuesday.
Interesting perspective on this exercise: in 10 minutes I estimate I did 120 or so repetitions, and each rep the bell moves around 3 feet (from groin area to in front of chest), then I:
And I could barely pick up a 26lb bell off the floor once two months ago!
Of course, as a back guy, I am always suspicious that I am somehow hurting myself doing this stuff, but there is no evidence of that yet
Also had a great meditation period, 30 minutes with no back pain; in fact I was finally so stable and balanced that I had a great “dropping off body and mind” experience, which hasn’t happened for a while. Suspect that my new daily QiGong routine is playing a part in this improvement, energy is circulating much better…
Did Janda situps today also, found an online suggestion to use the top of a stair to hook my heels, it worked great! This was my first time doing these, and I felt an immediate improvement to my posture and abdominal tone that has lasted for hours.
Went to help with kid BMXing – lifted bikes in and out of the car, helped launch the kids from the ramp, ran up and down the hill, no back pain. Right hamstring starting to tighten up, but that is the norm after doing swings – I think it is a relic of the bad pull I suffered from a few years back.
At kid dance class, did have some back pain, which I always do, when sitting on the flat benches there. The low back muscles are trying to arch too much to “protect” the back. Need to get them to relax, without slumping. Oh well, some sitting situations are still a challenge…
But overall, feeling very good!