This week I decided to switch from Rings One to Elements. The Elements program has been updated quite a bit in the 2 years that have passed since I worked through the entire program. The warmups look different, and the main exercise routine on a given day also looks different. For example, I tried the Day 2 routine, and instead of just doing Bear for 1 minute, it's now 5 minutes of practicing A-Frame (the base posture for Bear), followed by 5 minutes of playing with Bear itself.
I've made some strength gains with the Rings but a month or two ago, I may have had my previously-injured shoulder tweaked during open-mat grappling. The Lounge Chair position, which appears in several GMB programs and exercises, is problematic for this shoulder, especially when the fingers are facing forward. The German Hang position on the rings is also risky. Dead hang at the start of pullups/chinups has been a bit painful for a year now and hasn't been getting better.
The 3 basic animal movements of Elements seem to be kinder to my shoulders. The straight-arm variations should be fine. I'll monitor what happens if the updated program calls for any bent-arm variations, and substitute straight-arm variations if there are any problems. I'd already started playing with the Frogger and Monkey movements from Elements anyway because the folks at GMB said those two movements will help me with my hand balancing skills - at least the pursuit of the Crow Pose, and the basic handstand.
Another recent issue is soreness/tightness in my knee - particularly the MCL, which has also been previously injured. It could have been caused by my less-than-perfect execution of the forms I've been learning from Chen Taijiquan, but not consistently working on my hip mobility could be doing it too. Reviewing GMB's knee health article confirms that neglecting this mobility work for the hips could indeed be a cause.. In addition, the GMB support site recommends exercises called front and back scales for strengthening the knees. So my new plan will include the practice of these scale exercises
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