The Giant 1.2: Week 2

I noticed slight improvement in my stamina, in terms of how much rest I needed between sets.

My golfers elbow reappeared since the start of this current block of The Giant. I feel it the most on the first set of chin ups that I do after a session of The Giant, The pain on a scale of 0-10 is a 2 at worst, which is not as bad as it was before I did the tendon stress relaxtion program (Tendon Burn Count) for 11 weeks. The pain subsides with each subsequent set.

KB cleaning technique is a possible cause of elbow pain, so I studied Mark Wildman's most recent KB clean video, tried the preparatory exercises, then tried doing the clean his way. The main difference compared to Geoff Neupert's technique is the thumb pointing back on the down swing. This ensures the elbow is locked straight on the down swing and in theory should help prevent elbow pain for some people, as allowing the elbow to be bent on the down swing is a typical cause for pain. The tradeoff is that the shoulder is pulled into internal rotation, which is an irritation for my left shoulder. This is why Wildman coaches the engagement of the lat to keep the shoulder in its socket. Paying attention to the lat did help my left shoulder remain painless during the practice of Wildman style cleans. However I woke up next morning with left shoulder soreness. Also I did not notice much reduction in elbow soreness compared to Neupert style cleans. The golfers elbow tends to manifest more when the palm is facing to the side - as in the KB rack position - than when the palms are supinated, although even the worst pain is still only a 1 out of 10. So I decided to stick to the Neupert style, because it never cause problems for my shoulder. What I did get out of studying the Wildman style was more awareness of how the KB rotates during the clean. It rotates horizontally when done properly, regardless of whether it's Wildman or Neupert style.

What's more annoying is soreness in the right hip - the hip flexor, psoas, or both - not sure. It appears intermittently and it when it does it's enough to make me limp a bit when I walk.
This was my my supplementary exercise routine on my The Giant days last week.

1. Chin Ups - 2-3 reps to at least partially compensate for pronation, per Geoff's video.
2. Passive hang from pullup bar with pronated hands - at least 40 sec. for lat stretch and spinal decompression
3. Sore Joint Solution Phase 2 exercises if time allows
4. More sets of 2-3 chinups followed by passive hang in the afternoon - not necessarily once an hour but typically 3 times.

This week I still did the passive hang after The Giant then tried these approaches for hamstring flexibility on different days:

• Sore Joint Solution Sitting Level 3 - this is sitting in a straddle, as in the start of a pancake stretch
• Standing hamstring stretch with PNF, as taught in this Tom Morrison video
• GMB Fitness 5-minute locomotion routine for hamstring mobility - they also teach hamstring stretches but in this case they offer this GMB Elements-based routine as a fun alternative to stretching.

I liked the idea of doing a Sore Joint Solution session after The Giant. Then I progressed past Level 2 of the sitting position to Level 3, which is a straddle sit. The guidance is to just sit on a block or some other elevated surface if it's difficult to keep the back from getting rounded. This, I tried practicing Level 3 sitting on my Ableton Push 2 case, which made it easier to keep the back from rounding, but the hamstrings and adductors still felt tight. I could have tried stacking some puzzle mat tiles underneath the Push 2 case to reduce the tightness of muscles that are typically stretched by the straddle, but I figured I'd try another approach for improving hamstring flexibility that would take less time than a full SJS session. The standing PNF stretch should work but it's not as fun as the GMB 5-minute routine.