If It’s Important, Do It Every Day

You’re mid workout, the pump is pulsing, you’re feeling 19 again… then a little twinge catches your attention during a pull up.  Or your knee aches just enough that you can’t ignore it.  You think to yourself, “again!?” Suddenly you go from 19 to 35+ in the blink of an eye.

I see it as a coach, too.  It’s taught me a valuable lesson:

If something is important, do it every (training) day.

For example, recently, a few of my athletes have been struggling with elbow tendonitis.  Growing older + training regularly = issues flaring up.  The nature of being human.

Theirs, like yours, arises from repetitive movements outside the gym.  Typing, reaching, squatting down, texting (if someone slacks me one more damn time), our work lives are a recipe for overuse injuries.

So how do we take care of flare ups and help mitigate them?

Enter: The Bespoke Warm Up TM.  

For these athletes with elbow tendonitis, I’ve added a small exercise to their daily warm ups: wrist rolling.  They come in, do their regular warm up and tack on a set of 30 light barbell wrist rolls (upwards, like you’re revving a motorcycle), one hand at a time.

By doing our Bespoke Warm Up TM like this daily (or at least each training session) we’re slowly but surely rebuilding these tiny structures and alleviating pain by promoting blood flow to our tendons and ligaments - which are notorious for being slow healers.

I do this for shabby shoulders, negative knees, el mal elbows, muddled midbacks, lower back tightness, neck annoyances, angry ankles, hellish hips, funky feet, and wrist wrongness.

Which of those bother you during your training sessions (or even in day to day life)?  Use the list below, pick 1 or 2 from the areas that are bothering you and there you have it!  Your very own Bespoke Warm Up TM.

• Neck Annoyances

  • Barbell Trap Scrub

  • Kneeling Book Openers

  • Neck Isometric Holds

• Shabby Shoulders

  • PVC Pipe Passthroughs

  • Band Pull Aparts

  • Reverse Snow Angels OR Lu Raises

• Negative Knees

  • Couch Stretch

  • Backwards Walking

  • Single Straight Leg Raise

• El Mal Elbows

  • Forearm Extensor Massage

  • Wrist Rolling (extension OR flexion)

  • Flexor Stretch

• Wrist Wrongness

  • Finger Flexor Band Reps

  • Banded Distractions

  • Fat Grip Carries (trust me, it’ll be achy, but build up strength in long run)

• Muddled Midbacks

  • Prayer Stretch

  • Side Lying Book Openers

  • Kickstand Thread The Needles

• Lower Back Tightness

  • Incline Pigeons

  • Prone Glute Kickbacks

  • Sphinx Shoe Looks

• Hellish Hips

  • 90 / 90 Stretch (45/45 is a solid regression)

  • Butterfly Pulses (or just regular stretch for regression)

  • Banded Hip Distractions

• Angry Ankles

  • Soleus (lower calf) stretch

  • Tibia Bar Raises (Toe Raises if no tib bar at your gym)

  • Single Leg Balance (progress to KB slingshots if easy)

• Funky Feet

  • Lacrosse Ball Massage (to loosen knots)

  • Backwards Walking (works the muscles in a different motion)

  • Manual Toe Work (fingers between toes and massage around)

Try it for two weeks and let me know what you think!