Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Learning

Well, I got my Z-health manual a few days ago. Been practicing the moves. I got hooked when just a few moves seemed to help my elbows. I went from pressing very little weight (16kg) and snatching hardly ever to pressing the 32kg and snatching quite a bit. It feels good mentally, but maybe a little too aggressive physically. So I may tone it down a bit but I can't say I would have done these things if it weren't for the Z-health drills. Maybe I could have, but the reduction in elbow pain since I started the Z-health drills is very noticable.

SO, I got a manual and a dvd. The moves seem real simple, only I can't really do them with any sense of grace or accuracy. So i'm trying to learn the moves to teach my nerves to make my muscles do what they're supposed to do. The funny thing about Z-health is that I am still clueless as to how it works or how it helps get rid of pain. But one phrase keeps running through my head that I heard over and over again at the RKC certs: Do you want to understand hydrodynamics, or do you want to be able to swim? I want to swim (or snatch...).

Well, time to go do some ankle circles.

5 comments:

Franklin said...

Hi Tim,

Good bless Rif, his incredible Blog led me to yours. I went all the way back to when your elbow pain started as this is exactly what I'm also dealing with ... yes, it may be politically incorrect to say but misery does love company :P

At the age of 53 and 185lbs, I started KB training 3 months ago with a bad lower back and a bad left shoulder. Lotsa swings rehabbed my back to the best its been in 15 years. Lotsa TGUs has gotten me to where I was able to press the 24kg on my left in sets of 1 rep. Considering I couldn't press the 16kg once this is massive achievement in a very short time.
On Tue I did 12 minutes of alternating TGU's with the 24kg with no problem. Your 32kg TGUs are incredible and I look forward to tackling them in the future.

But I digress. Crappy snatch form and too many pullups to soon did my left elbow in. Its actually so bad that I can't grip anything without discomfort. I further exacerbated it with a number of house moves over the last month. As a result, I am forced to layoff the KBs for at least a few weeks. Instead I'll work on BW stuff (burpess, mountain climbs, deck squats, prep-pistol exercises) which can be pretty challenging by themselves if done aggressively.

What specifically tweaked my interest was your mention of a rehabilitation program that includes a thumper and forearm extensions. I just googled for a demo of the forearm extensions and they are out of question at this point. However I when googled for thumper and trigger point I did find an electric massager called a Thumper mini-pro 2 for around $190. Is this the device you are using.

Also I started applying DMSO to my elbow and unfortunately it has not helped at all. Considering the number of positive results as postsed on dragondoor, I was very disappointed.

Finally, I have been doing the Z-Health R-Phase program every morning ... incredibly powerful stuff ... the rest of me would be a wreck without it. Are doing in Z stuff in addition to the R-phase exercises for the elbow?

Regards,
Franklin

Unknown said...

Franklin, Hey thanks for stopping by. You're right Rif is awesome. Awesome job with the TGU's. Very solid...

I understand about not being able to grip anything w/o discomfort. Been there and trying to stay away from there while still exercising. Not an easy challenge for me. Hopefully, i'm going in the right direction.

I got my thumper from homedics.com. It was only $19.95 plus shipping. It had good reviews and it is worth $190.00, but $19.95 is much better.

I tried DMSO too, no luck there either.

I'm only using the R-phase exercises from Z-health. I do all the ankle drills and hip circle drills about 5-6 times a day.

Hope this helps, if i can help furher let me know. Good luck and let me know how it's going.

Franklin said...

Hi Tim,

Thanks for all the encouragement!

I did find a Palm Percussive Personal Massager on the Homedic.com site for 19.95 but no thumpers ... is this the right product?

Regards,
Franklin

Unknown said...

Franklin, That's the one! hope you enjoy it.

Franz Snideman said...

Good stuff! Keep it rocking and keep learning!