Crow Pose Program Session 21

Today I did a morning-afternoon split, because I slept in a bit late in the morning, yet wanted to do some yardwork and grocery shopping.

Morning session was GMB Vitamin focusing on Cartwheel.  While I lack the upper body strength and lower body mobility to do the full Cartwheel in all its beauty, I was pleasantly surprised how much I could do.  I aspire to start handstand training after I nail the Crow Pose, and part of the training is regular practice of the Cartwheel for bailing out of handstand attempts gone awry.  From that context, it shouldn't be necessary to work on getting the feet high into the air for Cartwheel, as the feet are going to get higher and higher from handstand training anyway, and I'd mainly be using the Cartwheel to bail out of handstand.

Afternoon session was a repeat of the last GMB Mobility session on Rotation and Sidebending because I woke up this morning with soreness/tightness in my right hip/glute/low back region and wanted to keep working on my rolling anyway.  It's funny how my 180 Monkey was easier going to the right at the start of GMB Mobility and now it's easier going the left.  Anyway, I immediately played with the reverse shoulder roll after the GMB Mobility session, and was able to roll on both sides, without falling to the side.  So that's a big improvement.  I also played with the Shin Box Inversion Roll.  Pretty happy with the improvement in mobility for these rolls, though there's still some room for improvement in executing the reverse roll from the GMB perspective.

What I like about the GMB approach to forward and backward rolls is that they can be done at a slow speed, under control - unlike how rolls are taught in Judo and Aikido where you end up relying and momentum and nobody seems to be able to explain how to reduce the discomfort you experience because you can't roll as smoothly as the high-ranking black belts.  The GMB approach is of course influenced by RMax, but the RMax materials also don't give detailed step by step instructions on how to roll with a great degree of motor control and mobility.