2009/03/14 - Day 9: Forward Pressure

Today I did:

Forward Pressure (6 rounds with 2 minute rest between rounds)

Roll up / Butterfly combos: 3x5

That's it. Short and sweet.

2009/03/13 - Day 8: Moderate intensity

Today's session included some more monkey business and an interesting discovery. I did the following:

Kettlebell joint mobility

Kettlebell compensatory yoga

Some practice of Spider Monkey

The spider monkey flow (or in my case, the pregnant gorilla flow) brought about an interesting discovery. I discovered that my core (specifically lower back and pelvic area) is pretty weak. When doing the starfish posture I find it hard to keep my whole body aligned and I keep wanting to sag at the hips. My arm is clearly strong enough to hold the position but I struggle to generate enough tension in the core part of my body to hold the position with ease. No wonder I get injured so easily in the pelvic and lower back area. Hopefully the flow itself will bring about greater strength in this weak spot (which I'm pretty sure it will). I will monitor the situation closely over the next few weeks and if necessary focus more specifically on this area during my next 4x7.

2009/03/12 - Day 7: No intensity Intuflow session

I again chose today to only do the beginner level of Intuflow. I am really working on maximizing my body awareness at the moment and I find that simple movements (initially) are really invaluable when it comes to this objective. I went slowly and tried to feel the way different movements "connect" with non-local body areas. It is quite amazing to feel an arm movement's impact on the feet for example. Everything (at least when it comes to the body) really is inter-connected. Tomorrow will be some more monkey business.

2009/03/11 - Day 6: High intensity

Today's session went like this:

Flowfit (level 2):

4 rounds / 3 minutes work / 1 minute rest

I rested for 15 minutes and then did:

Kettlebells / 16kg / 4 minutes work / 30 seconds rest:

LC Jerk: 20/20

Half Snatch: 20/20

LC Push Press: 20/20

Flowfit really kicks ass in a big way. Looking at the DVD it seems so easy, but then again, Scott Sonnon makes a lot of stuff look easy. I found myself gasping for breath in the third and fourth rounds. I clearly have a lot of work to do before I can go for a full 14 minutes or longer without rest. The kettlebell sets went remarkably well and didn't feel nearly as hard as I thought they would. The last set was tough though because my forearm muscles wanted to quit. Luckily I managed to make the target reps within the time. I will now probably move up to 5 minute sets on my next high intensity day (this coming Sunday).

2009/03/10 - Day 5: Moderate intensity

Today's session consisted of:

Forward Pressure: 5 rounds with 2 minutes rest between rounds

Roll up / butterfly combinations: 3x5

Prasara Spider Monkey flow

My upper body again feels about as pumped as a gymnast's after a rings routine. Interestingly enough the fifth round of FP felt about as tough as day one's fourth round. Progress really does come fast with the 4x7 schedule. My core also gets a nice working over with FP and the addition of some direct core work via role ups and butterflies is sure to enhance this effect. The Spider Monkey is as this point very much just in the learning phases and I am still using the table pose rather than the full wheel. Although I can do a static wheel the transition to wheel as done in the flow is still a bit too difficult at this point. I'm especially curious to see how the Spider Monkey will evolve over the next 23 days.

2009/03/09 - Day 4: Low intensity monkeying about

My session today consisted of:

Kettlebell specific joint mobility

Kettlebell specific yoga

Prasara Spider Monkey flow

I chose to work on the Spider Monkey flow during this 4x7 because Scott Sonnon mentioned over at RMax that it is a good flow to compensate for Forward Pressure. Whenever I looked at the Prasara A and B flows before this has probably been the flow that I most wanted to avoid. It simply seemed impossible. Now that I've started fooling around with it my opinion is definitely changing pretty fast. I absolutely LOVE the movements. Yes, I am probably looking nothing like a Spider monkey but I am at least beginning the journey that will take me there. The movements work the shoulders and core in a really nice way and I can imagine that it can be pretty beneficial for people with shoulder problems (although the movements should be approached carefully). I feel pretty good about what I did today; in fact, I might just do the Spider Monkey a bit more after tomorrow's Forward Pressure session.

2009/03/08 - Day 3: Intuflow

I decided to drop down to Intuflow beginner level for today's session. I felt like a really simple yet precise session of mobility work rather than the slightly more complex work of the intermediate level.

The session left me feeling alert and relaxed. Maybe I'll do a few more of the beginner sessions before moving up again.