<p>Yeah. I don’t have any specific neck exercises. Most of the trainer/strength coaches stay away from the neck and turn people over to physical therapists for that.</p>
<p>However, the current theory is that the thoracic spine (from about the belly button up to the shoulders) is the part of the spine that should be doing the moving and that a lack of flexibilty in this part of the spine puts undue force on the lower lumbar spine and the upper cervical neck spine. The idea is that you can get multiple joints between vertebrae turning just a little each and have it add up to good total range of motion without calling on any one vertebrae joint to turn a whole lot.</p>
<p>To that end, I have been doing a couple of thoracic spine mobility drills as part of my standard dynamic warmup before every workout. I think of them as my “aha, I can turn around and look behind me when backing out of the driveway again” exercises! These have slowly made a difference.</p>
<p>I haven’t been able to find YouTubes of either of the two drills I do (and both would be hard to describe). So, when I find something, I’ll post them. In general, the message I get from Stuart McGill’s interviews is that back exercises should be done gently, without load, and not forcing anything to the end of range of motion.</p>
<p>There are so many different kinds of pain associated with a ‘stiff neck’ that you’ll almost have to explore things by trial and error. As I understand it, a lot of the pain we often feel is actually from muscle spasms tightening to limit motion and protect us against a tender point in the vertebrae – usually a flattened or bulging disk hitting a nerve. But, I know from first hand experience that you can get muscle inflamation pinching nerves in the C5/C6 vertebrae region causing shooting pain down the chest and arms.</p>
<p>First time out with New Rules of Lifting for Abs Phase II today. This phase lower reps (8 per set) with the idea of lifting heavier. I dragged out my notebook from the first time around last winter and started with the weights I ended Phase II with, or higher. I kicked up the DB deadlifts from 2 x 45 pounds to 2 x 60 pounds and the DB row from 5 pounds to 60 pounds. Stayed with 2 x 30 pounds for the split squats and 2 x 35 pounds for the alternating chest press with shoulders and neck on the stability ball.</p>
<p>This was a really exciting workout, because it was quite stark how much stronger I am now than I was six months ago. Don’t get me wrong; these are still hard exercises, but, relatively speaking, I am much more in control of these weights now. I’ve probably gotta swing by Dick’s Sporting Goods and pick up a few more weight plates for these deadlifts.</p>
<p>Even more exciting was the core section with two brutal excercises: the ValSlide Painful Pushaways and the Stablity ball mountain climbers. I could only do six at a time before (just barely hanging on for dear life), now I did the full set of 12 on each side non-stop today. Still got a nice ab burn going in the second set, but it was night and day – as were the half-kneeling resistance band chops. It’s amazing to me that there is always another layer of core strength to be had. The cumulative effect of NROL4A and iPod nazi’s Amazing Abs programs all year is really starting to play off with some real gains.</p>
<p>I think I’ll probably be sore.</p>
<p>idad…I was wondering if you were still doing the val slides!</p>
<p>I am a little sore in the glutes from my back-to-back walks. Think it is time for the back yard hot tub!</p>
<p>I hadn’t done ValSlides in a few months because I was getting more core stuff than I could handle with iPod nazi. I had been doing ValSlide reverse lunges as one of the my strength exercises, but I had to lay off them because I was feeling twinges of a pulled quad muscle. Based on the split squats today, I think that’s all better now.</p>
<p>BTW, I was right. I’m already feeling a little sore, just getting up from dinner. Awesome leftovers from last night. Flank steak seasoned southwest style with ancho chili powder and cumin. Then a variation on a Bobby Flay veggie side/sauce: grilled vidalia onions, red bell peppers, anaheim peppers, and yellow squash. Tossed in a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar, fresh parsley, and the secret ingredient: thin slices of fresh garlic, sauteed in a TBS of olive oil until they are golden brown and crispy like a potato chip, then cooled and chopped. OMG, the flavor. Pretty low cal/low carb: just lean beef and a huge mound of veggies piled on top. So good. This watching my weight stuff is hell, huh? :)</p>
<p>Exactly! I made a roasted spaghetti squash with roasted onions, asparagus and sweet potato. Seasoned with some fresh herbs from the garden and a little EVOO. Served with grilled tiliapia dipped in egg whites and pressed in crushed Special K with Parmesan Reggiano cheese. H loved it! I have to admit I did have a glass of a nice New Zealand Savignon Blanc with it too! ;)</p>
<p>got a sneak peak for tomorrow’s work out: medicine ball hell raisers :eek:</p>
<p>Legs and glutes very sore from yesterday’s squats.</p>
<p>Made a big batch of eggplant bartha and Indian okra. Had to go look up carbs/glycemic load out of curiosity, both look fine in that department, but was surprised, I’m not sure why, that onions rank pretty high on the glycemic load index for non-starchy vegetables.</p>
<p>My friend sent me this link:</p>
<p>[Oh</a> baby! Woman runs Chicago Marathon, gives birth - ESPN Chicago](<a href=“http://espn.go.com/chicago/story/_/id/7084374/oh-baby-woman-runs-chicago-marathon-gives-birth]Oh”>Oh baby! Woman runs Chicago Marathon, gives birth - ESPN)</p>
<p>My oh my. It was not her first “pregnant marathon”.</p>
<p>Ran 3 uphill miles last night, then did some stretching and squats. My butt is S-O-R-E!</p>
<p>Today’s 5k: run/walk: run 5 min, walk 2 min, total time 33:07 minutes.</p>
<p>I signed up for my turkey trot today, and this year you have to give a time estimate so they can separate the runners into waves. I like this because now I don’t have to figure out how far back I should start. I decided to estimate my finish at 29 min (you can only put minutes, no seconds). I think I can do 29 something by Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>blankmind, I think you will be able to run *under *29 by then!</p>
<p>Dynamic stretches</p>
<p>3 or 4 rounds, can’t even remember
20 seconds air squats
20 seconds “around the worlds” with 25 lb. plate</p>
<p>4 rounds
2 minutes Overhead squats with 15lb. bar
2 minutes 14# Medicine ball Hellraises
2 minutes Body weight rows</p>
<p>Yeah, so as expected today’s workout was brutal. Dubbed “Conan”, as in “the Destroyer”. did.not. enjoy.</p>
<p>Bunsen, I’m actually going to try for 28-ish, but I’m allowing for the probability of life getting in the way :)</p>
<p>Bought a pair of 32 inch waist Dockers today. I’m stunned, to be perfectly honest. I wore 32’s when I graduated from college.</p>
<hr>
<p>Also found a nice deal on a couple of winter workout shirts. HEAD brand, red mock turtleneck tight stretchy 85% polyester/15% spandex long sleeve (UnderArmour style) with silver reflective logos front and back. Good for baselayer or walk/jog or working out when it’s chilly. Priced right, $9.99 at Marshalls.</p>
<p>Snuck out and did my standard 5K+ hilly walk/jog before the rain comes. 60 degrees, overcast, a little breezy. I pushed the pace the whole way, walking and jogging. Took 2 minutes off my fastest time ever by walking hard, doing all five jogging intervals at 6.1 mph to 6.3 mph and throwing in a bonus (uphill) jogging interval at the end. Also saw my highest heart rate ever: 104% of my “max”.</p>
<p>That completes the daily double: a strong core/weight-lifting workout yesterday and a strong interval cardio workout today.</p>
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<p>Good lord, I can’t imagine doing overhead squats for 2 minutes. 12 reps is my limit on those things. I’m having trouble picturing it as a “metabolic conditioning” exercise! It’s more like the classic “movement pattern” exercise trying to really perfect the form.</p>
<p>Good workout idad, and congrats on the pants! </p>
<p>Sluggish 4 mile run today. Had some knee problems yesterday at the beginning of my 7 mile run, which I think were from something I did in yoga Monday. I thought I would have to stop at a mile- I was really hurting, but I kept going and it resolved with just a few little twinges later on. </p>
<p>Here is the posture. iDad, is this a really bad thing to do?<br>
[Stevin</a> Hoover’s Blog: Bikram Yoga Posture #19 Fixed Firm Pose](<a href=“http://www.stevin-hoover.com/2008/05/bikram-yoga-posture-19-fixed-firm-pose.html]Stevin”>http://www.stevin-hoover.com/2008/05/bikram-yoga-posture-19-fixed-firm-pose.html)</p>
<p>I can’t go back. If your butt isn’t touching the floor, you aren’t supposed to try to go back all the way, but I do go back a little more than is comfortable for my knees. I think it is a bad posture for me. I think I’ll just stay upright from now on.</p>
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<p>Wow. That hurt my knees just LOOKING at the picture. Ouch. </p>
<p>That looks just like the position NFL running backs get put into when they get bent back with a leg caught under them, just a nano second before they rip their ACL to shreds!</p>
<p>I guess if you are flexible enough to do that, great. I know I’m not and I can’t really think of any benefit to trying to get into that position. That’s for young limber folks. I stop at just a bit below parallel in a squat, which is a knee angle of somewhere between 45 and 90 degrees. I feel like it’s a miracle to be able to do that with no knee pain.</p>
<p>Yikes, MOWC, that looks like it would be one heck of a quad stretch, in addition to putting pressure on the knee. There is no way I could do anything that even resembled that pose!</p>
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<p>Well, the bar was only 15lb., I imagine when you do your 12 reps you load up the bar quite a bit more. </p>
<p>My biggest issue, as always, is flexibility. We go down quite low on the squats (butt touches medicine ball) and my hip flexors are in a perpetually tight state, despite stretching, so that’s my biggest challenge. My right knee wants to turn in a bit while doing the squat, so I am always super focused on form, because I have to actively fight that tendency.</p>
<p>Congrats i-dad on the run. I think it is safe to say, with all the interval runs you have been incorporating into your workouts and the successful 5k, you are now a runner!</p>