1 October 2009 - Active Rest and Stretching

Lower Arm Active Rest
My hands and forearms are sore from my first gripper workout in a few weeks. I woke up yesterday feeling good...I've gotten progressively more sore, but that's to be expected. No major aches and pains, so I'm happy as hell! I decided to keep on it and do some active rest with hand/forearm massage, contrast baths, and stretches last night. I used the roller-ball massager on my forearms; I used a lacrosse ball against the wall to try and target my elbow tendons; really stretched out my wrists, triceps, and biceps; hit some easy stress ball work; some finger dexterity work; and some nice contrast baths. My lower arms felt like a million bucks last night.

Stretches
After the hand/forearm active rest I toned it way down for some relaxed stretches for my hips, groin, lower back, hams, and quads. I started the stretching with some ankle mobility work (no resistance - just some concentrated stretching and rotations). I remembered I have a perfect purple rehab band for ankle work after I finished up. Sweet. Next time I guess. I haven't done any ankle mobility work since high school and it felt great! After the ankle mobility work I went into deep stretching for the quads, hamstrings, and glutes. My quads and glutes feel great, but my hamstrings are still super tight. I then moved into some hip and lower back movements - I can tell already, this is going to be a slow process for me. My hips are so dang locked up, it's crazy. I feel them loosen up a bit, but nothing really noticeable yet. I'm not expecting miracles overnight here, but it's going to take longer than expected.

Once my hips had all they were going to take, I decided to finish up with some back bridges. I've been thinking about these since I read one of Jedd's last workout posts in his log Fire Walk With Me. My wrists, hips, glutes, and lower back were loose so I figured what the heck. I got in position and WHOOP...I pushed right up. It felt pretty good! It might have looked absolutely hideous, but it felt like a nice bridge! HAHA! I did several bridges, working harder each time to push through with my hips and squeeze my glutes to really arch out on top - and then hold. After a few nice bridges, I decided to try to get a few neck bridges. I was on a few blankets on my hardwood floor so it wasn't really pleasant. I was able to bridge up on my head, but I couldn't hold it for long. More padding and more neck work and this will come back too.

Deadlifts and KBs tonight. It should be fun.

Goody