Thursday, December 31, 2009

My experience with Biofeedback

So for the past 2-3 weeks I've been using biofeedback with my training. I'm still following the Op Radiant Dawn program to get me pressing the 32kg bell. This is based on video posts started by Adam T. Glass. Be sure to check out his site for full details but here's the quick and dirty - test a range of motion, perform and exercise, retest. If it got better then that move is beneficial to your nervous system. If you only perform exercises that are best for you, then you will get the most efficient results with your training.
So I've learned a few things. Weights that are too heavy for me to complete a rep still tested well. This doesn't mean I stuck with that weight, just interested that it was still "good" for me. When a particular weight tested poorly I did not continue to bang out sloppy reps, I lowered the weight, retested and continued if it tested well. Sometimes, but not that often I had to veer off course and mix up exercises to find one that worked for me, that day. Some days I was actually able to add a few fun exercises such as gripbell curls or leverage block curls or some Iso's on horseshoes.
This past week I've even taken it to the point of testing my movement prep. Surprisingly more than a few times even the basic Z health R phase drills tested poorly. Now I'm no expert, just following some high payoff areas from the the DVD. On the other hand the FMS corrective stuff tests well 95% of the time. This is not intended to reflect badly on Z health, and as I said, I have had very little instruction with a certified Z trainer. Just stating what worked for me.
This week I also attempted to test maxing out my sets and the few times I tried it actually ended up not even getting to numbers that tested well in previous weeks. To clarify, I would stop sets before if they tested poorly, but if the day called for 5 sets I would stop there. Now I'm trying to see if I can perform 6-7 sets and still test well.
I trained strength on monday and tues. this week. Yesterday wanted to do a little bit of a cardio type session. Swings tested poorly, rope jumping tested poorly, box steps tested poorly. At that point I settled for testing some corrective drills. Naked get-ups tested well. Don't get too excited, naked meaning bodyweight. Did several of the Kalos Sthenos varieties. Half kneeling lift, leg lock bridging, prone bow stretch. Pretty much everything focused in hip flexor/ hip extension issues. My left side is lacking. So just a little moving was all I needed yesterday.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Over half way done

Two weeks of Op Radiant Dawn are completed. And half way through the 3rd week. Feeling pretty good, my muscles are tired the next day but not sore and I'm able to perform well each day. This week I've gone up in weight on stacked pressing and LPP.
Also got my VFF, it's a very interesting experience. I've been wearing them with the Injinji socks and they are ok but much more comfortable without socks but that's just too cold this time of year. I've been wearing Sanuk shoes for over 2 years now and they have very flexible sole and not much padding or support but they don't even compare to how my feet feel in the VFF. It's like barefoot but better. In the Sanuk's I still have a tendency to heel strike but not in the VFF. Just this week I added a pair of SoleMates to them, these are adhesive pads that correct for Rothsbart foot which is what the PCI's do. Instead of attaching them to the ball of my foot I stuck them to the inside of my VFF and hopefully will get a lot of use out of them.