Dufisthenics

So ever since last Thursday when I did 30 minutes of ass to grass static holds (the day after doing squats and deadlifts at the gym) I have been in more or less a solid cocoon of pain, soreness and discomfort.  I was walking around like my hamstrings were 6 inches too short for most of the weekend.

Well today at the gym it felt like most of the soreness had finally left my lower body.  I had mentioned today in my regular blog that I was going to try to shift my squat/DL day around to earlier in the week so the soreness has a chance to dissipate by the weekend where I can hopefully get some endurance (running) training in.

Well just for the heck of it today in between squat and DL sets I dropped down into 1 minute ass to grass holds.  I couldn’t believe how comfortable I felt.  It felt like I was as deep if not deeper than any of my holds last week and the tension/pressure across my right knee was significantly diminished.    I almost felt comfortable.  In total I held 5 or 6 minutes of A2G without significant difficulty.

Not only was I low, I was able to push myself out of the squat without any hand assist off the floor, something I required every single time last Thursday.  Instead I just rocked my weight a little up onto my toes and brought myself up via leg power only.  Sure there were still the usual cracks and creaks from my knees but I was amazed I got up sans assist.

In addition to the good times in A2G position, my squatting felt decent as well, I did more squat reps today than I probably have done in the last 5-6 months.  Of course that knocks down my deadlift endurance somewhat but I think it is a fair trade off.

Now I have no plans to try to jump back into 30 minutes of A2G hold a day.  I think that is just asking for trouble, at least with someone with poor flexibility like myself.  But I am going to definitely try to use it as my “rest” position at the gym in between other exercises.  My goal is to  maintain that edge where I am pushing my flexibility envelope without tearing it open.

Today’s Workout

5 minutes cardio/stretching

21 pull ups

15 prisoner squats

Barbell squats – 135×12, 185×8, 205×5, 215×3

Deadlifts – 225×10, 275×5, 325×5 (at 275 and 325 reps were non-momentum reps. Came to full stop in between each)

6 minutes of A2G holds