Today is recovery for me. Nothing but mobility.
One of the most underrated days in anyone’s training program (not just Clubbell Mass Evolution). The No Intensity Day. Because it’s one of the most underrated days, makes it one of the easiest to overlook and not get around to doing. But this little gem is priceless. And you’ll note it’s a recovery day, not a “rest” day. Yes, sometimes we just need that day where we don’t do anything. And that’s perfectly okay. But it doesn’t come after your harder training days. It comes after you’ve attended to the recovery days which you’ve attended to after the harder training days.
These mobility days don’t take that long, but the seemingly simple act of going through the body as such releases the
residual tension that builds from the harder days. It flushes your joints. It keep the blood flowing. It gets you breathing, thus replenishing oxygen. It gives you energy to stave off a potential “crash” you may feel after a hard training session. Translation? You are not in pain, you feel good and you significantly decrease the risk of injury.
There’s a saying that says big things come in small packages. Well these mobility days are your biggest bang for your buck. They refresh, rejuvenate and reset you, so you are ready to take the fullest advantage of the more challenging training days to come.
And not just the training days. But every day. Of your LIFE. Often times we can fall into the trap where everything revolves around our training. In the beginning it can certainly seem that way. That’s normal. We’re taking big steps to shift certain habits that aren’t working for us and incorporate ones that do. Just like anything new, it will take over for the first little bit as we get into a rhythm and settle into the drivers seat. But we want to guide it in a direction where we are using our fitness to enhance our life. So if we have made these recovery days a priority, they will continue to be as we find our stride. And they will ensure that we remain pain-free and full of energy, so we can continue to function even better in our life, as the program we undertake starts to enhance and support the way we live it.
Dare To Evolve,
Shane.
I did a full level one intu-flow and some foam rolling last night, and from the aches I had I needed it. I will need to take my time and control my RPE better the next moderate and high days.
Nice. The first week or so is always the gauge setter. We get a feel for what’s too much or too little, giving us a solid platform from which to launch from moving forward. So you are doing great. It gets more refined with each passing session, allowing us to more accurately push it with each session.
One of the toughest skills to develop. But if we are diligent and aware about it, man oh man.
My no-impact day contained my favored CBFE Spiderman Mobility routine with some additional hip/leg mobility + some light prasara yoga poses.
Had “good” muscle soreness in the buttocks which seems to tell you two things.
1. Surprisingly, hundreds of Clockwork- and Barbarian squats (from KOC) do not prepare adequately for dragon squats (great exercise BTW). So you got to keep varying!
2. How come that isolated movement of a single muscle, in a single plain was ever considered a good idea for a workout?
Right on!
1. Yes, always need to vary. We can’t attend to everything all the time (although for a time we will go through a massive adaptation response to the shock of trying to keep up with it all) we limit how much progress we can make trying to do so. But staying with the exact same thing program, exact same protocol without a change (although for a time will take us very deep) will have us start to see diminishing results.
So striking the balance between the two gives us the best of both.
Interestingly using the term “variation” tends to bring on this idea that we can’t have focused training cycle periods. That it needs to be different all the time from day to day. When really we need to take that perspective from the more micro view up to a more macro view. Instead of being different from day to day, be different from month to month or even program to program (as you have done). This has us going deeper, while coming in at different angles to address what may not have been tackled in the last program.
Dragon Squats: The first time I saw a variation of this was Steve Cotter with KB’s. I really liked Sonnon’s version in TACFIT Mass Assault and just adapted it to using the Clubbell. I love this one. It develops so much in a single movement. The action of leg screw for greater drive, maintaining structure in relationship to external force acting on it, strong shoulder pack through extension and retraction, cross hemispherical (brain), hip/knee/ankle opener.
While not a huge standout, you’d be surprised how much of what’s kicking your butt (pun intended) is actually the Side Rock-its. ;D
2. I hear you on that one. It was because we started cutting open the body and separating everything in order to learn each “piece”. We then started trying to fix what was broken, by attending to those pieces. That influenced how we viewed the body and what influenced it’s movement. That view and outlook, in an effort to advance itself, was eventually adopted into how we exercise and train (attending to the pieces preventatively). When you think about it, actually a natural part of the process. It’s brought us full circle (out of necessity) to addressing the body and movement as a “whole” again. Only now, we understand to a far greater extent allowing us to manipulate it and tweak it even further.
While we can move quicker as individuals, it will always take us time as a society in making the shift. I imagine we are doing so now though, faster than any other time in history, just with the access to information and the ability to share it in the fashion that technology has allowed us to.