On Tuesday Josh and I were pulled aside by Kristi so we could do some mobility work. Which in essence means we are inflexible as hell. I blame years of lifting without stretching. Damn you Muscle and Fitness magazine.
So instead of doing our strength workout we were subjected to torture so vile it should be used to question prisoners at Guantanamo. Okay, maybe it wasn't that bad but it was somewhat painful and weird. But I got a good stretch. I'll try to explain what we had to do but it's difficult without pictures. (Kristi email me those pics at antonerod@live.com, pretty please!)
SO . . . actually I don't even know where to begin. First she wraped a giant rubber band around my arm and told me to pull against it until I seperated my shoulder blade from my back muscles. This sounded bad and felt worse. Plus it made me contort my face until I knew I looked like some mental health patient, mainly because Kristi's daughter was watching and laughing at me. Then Josh did it and I saw him make faces that looked angry and confused at the same time. Sort of like a constipated Incredible Hulk or something. At least I understood why people were laughing at me, because that face is funny.
Then she gave us tennis balls, placed them on my traps muscle, then pulled my arm and pushed the tennis ball in with her foot using her leg muscles, which for Kristi is a lot of muscle. She's a pretty girl but she'll throw up some weight on those snatches and squats and cleans and . . . you get the picture. She's strong. And actually the pressure felt sort of good when I let myself relax but good God she had my arm in a vise. She has what I call the "GI Joe Kung Fu Grip". Must be from grabbing heavy weightlifting bars every day. I have marks on my arm like a little boy who gets abused at home.
Oh yes, and in the middle of all this stretching Kristi tells me, "Rod, you're fuzzy." At first I'm thinking, "Do I really have that much body hair? Is she telling me I should start shaving my arms? What, just cause she goes out with a hairless hapa Japanese guy that doesn't mean she can pass judgements on the other men in the gym."
Ah but it seems I got it all wrong. Sorry Kristi. Apparently being "fuzzy" means you are inflexible. I went online to find a yoga instructor's blog which will better explain what Kristi meant (thank God for Google):
*******“The fuzz” are strands of cobweb-like connective tissue that develop between the muscles and between muscle groups when we fail to move our bodies around in all the magnificent ways it can move. These strands of connective tissue multiply and bind together during long periods of inactivity (like when we sleep).
As time passes the fascia thickens and hardens between those once juicy, smooth and slippery surfaces rendering them less and less able to slide and glide past one another. As the individual muscles lose their ability to move freely and independently of other muscles our movements become less multidimensional and refined. We call this ’stiff’.************
Thank you to the "Nourish Santa Cruz" blogger for that. Check out the whole blog at http://www.nourishsantacruz.com/blog/tag/muscle-ability/
Oh yes, did I mention after all that we still had the damn workout of the day. Run 400 meters, do 21 box jumps, then repeat for a total of 3 rounds. My knee was bothering me for some reason but I do believe my box jumps are getting better. My runs are less painful but I'm not getting faster. Ah well, I think it'll be the last thing to improve for some reason. And yes Bump, I'll post times later.
In the end I'd just like to say that despite the pain, the personal time that our trainers put in to help Josh and I with our mobility is just a testament to the type of gym they run. Josh pointed out that he's had a personal trainer before and they charge $65 or more per hour. I've calculated that RFM only charges people $6 an hour if you go to all 20 classes that they offer each month. They work with you one and one to develop powerlifting technique and stretching and mobility and it's worth every penny and more.
Guess what I'm trying to say is they run a good shop and I'm glad to be working out there. Thanks guys.
So instead of doing our strength workout we were subjected to torture so vile it should be used to question prisoners at Guantanamo. Okay, maybe it wasn't that bad but it was somewhat painful and weird. But I got a good stretch. I'll try to explain what we had to do but it's difficult without pictures. (Kristi email me those pics at antonerod@live.com, pretty please!)
SO . . . actually I don't even know where to begin. First she wraped a giant rubber band around my arm and told me to pull against it until I seperated my shoulder blade from my back muscles. This sounded bad and felt worse. Plus it made me contort my face until I knew I looked like some mental health patient, mainly because Kristi's daughter was watching and laughing at me. Then Josh did it and I saw him make faces that looked angry and confused at the same time. Sort of like a constipated Incredible Hulk or something. At least I understood why people were laughing at me, because that face is funny.
Then she gave us tennis balls, placed them on my traps muscle, then pulled my arm and pushed the tennis ball in with her foot using her leg muscles, which for Kristi is a lot of muscle. She's a pretty girl but she'll throw up some weight on those snatches and squats and cleans and . . . you get the picture. She's strong. And actually the pressure felt sort of good when I let myself relax but good God she had my arm in a vise. She has what I call the "GI Joe Kung Fu Grip". Must be from grabbing heavy weightlifting bars every day. I have marks on my arm like a little boy who gets abused at home.
Oh yes, and in the middle of all this stretching Kristi tells me, "Rod, you're fuzzy." At first I'm thinking, "Do I really have that much body hair? Is she telling me I should start shaving my arms? What, just cause she goes out with a hairless hapa Japanese guy that doesn't mean she can pass judgements on the other men in the gym."
Ah but it seems I got it all wrong. Sorry Kristi. Apparently being "fuzzy" means you are inflexible. I went online to find a yoga instructor's blog which will better explain what Kristi meant (thank God for Google):
*******“The fuzz” are strands of cobweb-like connective tissue that develop between the muscles and between muscle groups when we fail to move our bodies around in all the magnificent ways it can move. These strands of connective tissue multiply and bind together during long periods of inactivity (like when we sleep).
As time passes the fascia thickens and hardens between those once juicy, smooth and slippery surfaces rendering them less and less able to slide and glide past one another. As the individual muscles lose their ability to move freely and independently of other muscles our movements become less multidimensional and refined. We call this ’stiff’.************
Thank you to the "Nourish Santa Cruz" blogger for that. Check out the whole blog at http://www.nourishsantacruz.com/blog/tag/muscle-ability/
Oh yes, did I mention after all that we still had the damn workout of the day. Run 400 meters, do 21 box jumps, then repeat for a total of 3 rounds. My knee was bothering me for some reason but I do believe my box jumps are getting better. My runs are less painful but I'm not getting faster. Ah well, I think it'll be the last thing to improve for some reason. And yes Bump, I'll post times later.
In the end I'd just like to say that despite the pain, the personal time that our trainers put in to help Josh and I with our mobility is just a testament to the type of gym they run. Josh pointed out that he's had a personal trainer before and they charge $65 or more per hour. I've calculated that RFM only charges people $6 an hour if you go to all 20 classes that they offer each month. They work with you one and one to develop powerlifting technique and stretching and mobility and it's worth every penny and more.
Guess what I'm trying to say is they run a good shop and I'm glad to be working out there. Thanks guys.
