Sharla's Log

[pikey dave]

Sharla thank you for your kind words,if you need help with any thing give me a call, no strings no cost' Dave from the Cove Boxing Club.

[Sharla]

Thanks Dave! I attempted - big emphasis on attempted since I didn't really mange - to keep up with the program Scrap was posting of your training and it damn near killed me!

The dedication, hard work, brains and balls required to keep up with all that and what Scrap has you learning (i won't say teach since i think he likes to encourage people to work things out for themselves a bit and he doesn't strike me as a babysitting coach) really justifies respect.

I'll take you up on your offer of advice when I've worked out what Qs are important for me and I'll consider it a privelidge!

[wesrman]

Dont worry about being nosey, i dont mind.

A wrist roller is a thick bar (or pipe in my case) with a rope attached to it and you roll it up and down using your wrists. A couple of these links have a demonstration (the best i could find, although they arent great imo), but i prefer to do it one way and then turn the roller around and do it the other way too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxN-AemiW4k

Wrist Roller Forearm Exercise

Wrist roller - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hopefully that helps.

[Sharla]

Interesting thanks Wes.

Have you noticed an improvement in something(s) in your training since starting the exercise?

I'm trying to picture how it might improve boxing function and I'm sure it would since rolling up and down does both directions evenly plus it sounds like a compound exercise according to the Wiki link.

Also wondering what these kinds of exercises mean for people prone to carpel tunnel syndrome - would it be overworking those muscles or preventing the problem?

[wesrman]

I love the wrist roller, but ive also done lots of palms up and palms down wrist curls, behind back wrist curls, leverage bar curls and twists etc. I have weak wrists so i have to work extra hard to strengthen them.

Forearm Training

Bodybuilding.com - Forearms Articles!

Im sure a strong forearm would help a boxer greatly by reducing the amout of injuries to the wrist.

If you're prone to carpal tunnel you will have to be cautious, but id image that it could help if you dont over do it. Im not a doctor though so this is only speculation.

If you are going to train your forearms, use high reps (15-100 per set), use a variety of exercises to make sure you dont cause an imbalance and make sure you use a full range of motion and never cheat. You dont want to injure your wrist (this is especially true for a boxer).

Bruce Lee trained his forearms all the time and used all kinds of equipment and exercises includingthe wrist roller, and he had the best forearms ever imo.

[Sharla]

Thanks Wes I hadn't thought about forearm training but I guess I'll have to look into it. There's always something activity or diet wise I haven't included in my training yet which I should - one day I'll catch up!

I don't think I'm prone to Carpel tunnel but i had noticed odd stiffness in my wrists occasionally so i think i might want to look into prevention just to be on the safe side.

Ok to update my log:

My training plan has changed yet again! Basically because of my uni workload over the next few months meaning I won't finish my days in time for night trainings. Also my membership for the aquatic centre expired and while I'm not sure of whether or not I got the job i was going for yet i don't want to fork out the money to update it.

They do have some casual positions coming up for work over summer at the pool which might be my solution since hopefully I'll be able to work hours which won't interfere too much with my uni work and I'll get free membership. I think i'll be absolutely stuffed at the end of every day but i'll manage especially since it's so close to my house.

Another thing I've noticed I have to be strict with is my stretching time. It's the first thing I do so if I have to do some other exercise afterwards I'll run out of time to do it if I stretch too long. However my 1 hr stretch sessions have turned into 1 hr 30 or 1 hr 40 min sessions. It just seems there's always another spot to stretch. I think ultimately I'll never finish a session feeling one hundred percent loose and stretched - at least not for a few more months anyway.

I've also discovered I have a fobia of doing weights without a cardio warm up so doing them from home means I need to run first. This week I haven't done any resistance training because after my stretching and run i run out of time. I have been cycling to and fron uni 5 days too so I guess that maybe counts as something (but not really).

I could get hold of my mums' windtrainer and start cycling as part of my warm ups again. I also have an idea or two of Scrap's I'll put into practice once I have the equipment sussed. I need to think about the best way to do that and keep my eye out for the right stuff at a reasonable price though so that could be a few weeks.

I'm still nutting it out but I plan to allow 3 hours to workout in the mornings - 1 hour stretch, 1 hour cardio, 1 hour resistance, ab work and skill and balance stuff.

Aims for the next few months:

• Improve hip stability and balance (I always feel my hips tilt too far forewards)
• Reduce all my flexibility limitations
• Strengthen my weakest links - i think my lower ab & hip muscles involved with balance mainly to begin with
• All that will hopefully help me build a base which will make it easier for my body to tolerate long distance running because I want to get back into that again and if when my PhD hell is over with I'll look into club activities like boxing and judo again and make some decisions.

The reason i think my lower abs might be weak is when being shown how to do a proper dolphin kick the other week I found i wanted to do a sit up in the water and I found it impossible to bend at my hips to kick my legs.

While sorting out papers stacked up in my room I found something I had printed out from a website Donny recommended. One of those things I fully intended to get to but didn't - now I think he was really onto something.

It is an ab exercises which also gently stretches the iliopsoas and does not allow you to bend the wring way called an "assisted heel slide" so I'm going to look into doing that and see if I can get it working correctly.

The other thing i've resolved to do before but will be more serious about now is to drink more water! I have now found things on the web which link lower back pain to dehydration since the iliopsoas will contract in response to dehydration!

In a way it's not unlikely for me since I'm a coffee addict and brought up on a farm with bore water never drank a lot of it. Plus before hurting my knee when i thought i was unbreakable I relied a bit too much on dehydration to make weight for fights sometimes.

I might not have known a few extra aches and pains could really be related to that which is scary because while everyone tells you to drink water no one ever teaches you to recognize the symptoms of dehydration other than feeling thirsty which can be misinterpreted as other cravings sometimes - like food in my case.

So I think i'd give myself maybe 6/10 for this last week - a bit crap - need to get my arse into gear and keep on track. I think my organization skills are developing though so hopefully it will get easier after a while. I'll be getting up at about 4:15 am to allow me 3 hours exercise before uni (leave at 8 am to get there at 9) so that will be the biggest challenge this week.

I might need to impose a weekend curfew on myself which sucks but I'm a daylight person and prefer to go out during the day than at night anyway.

[Sharla]

It's Tuesday and while the week started off well (got up ar 4:30 Monday and Tuesday without pressing the snooze button) it looks as though tonight will be a late one which means my early start tomorrow will be extra difficult as will fitting in any training.

I'm at uni late finishing off some work so I can say it's done in a meeting with my supervisor tomorrow. There's never any sort of explanation accepted for something taking longer than expected so it's just more appealing to kill myself finishing it than to listen to him chuck a hissy fit over it.

I will say that I am beginning to feel the difference with the stretching and with different stretches. After a good stretch my back just feels good and I'm beginning to feel like my hips are not always tilted forwards. Probably nothing to most people but it's a great victory for me.

I'm also getting an idea of what does and does not put pressure on and tighten up my lower back. I'm becoming pro stretches where my back is fully supported and against ones where it is encouraged to arch.

I have realized that Scrap whilst modestly showing me a couple of stretches in September had taken all this into account fairly well. Plus his ball hamstring stretch seems to - if i understand the theory - stretch the ilipsoas and work the correct abdominal muscles mre effectively than the heel slide exercise I found on the web!

I am nutting out ways to incorporate safe strength training now since when my hip muscles do start to release my midsection feels strangely weak. Perhaps I am paranoid - i have not pushed it yet - but I feel if i was to do real challenging resistance work straight after stretching I might reverse the effect of the stretches.

Perhaps I should have one week of stretching and very limited resistance work + cardio and gradually bring the resistance stuff back in once the stretches have had time to work.