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You know about my shoulder problems already. Well, on Day 9, my other major trouble spot surfaced… my neck.

July 12, 2007

Day 9: Plyometrics

Although that area under my right shoulder blade felt fine when I woke up this morning, my neck was quite stiff.

My neck is my other major trouble spot. During a football game in my junior year of high school, I tackled a guy with my head down… improper form and always a bad idea because… you can do things like cause one of your neck vertebrae to tear a hole in another one of your neck vertebrae! This one hurt big time! Nevertheless, I recovered much faster than anyone would have thought. However, the year after I graduated high school, I was in the gym maxing out on tricep pull-downs when I heard a loud click and it suddenly felt like I had been shot in the neck. This time it was way way worse than the first time.

I was working as a cabbie at the time (actually, it was a little more sophisticated than that… we called it a “livery service”) driving people to and from Logan Airport in Boston. If you’ve driven in Boston before, you know that it is not the friendliest city in which to drive, although there are worse (Houston and New York come to mind). Anyway, as you can imagine, driving around Boston all day with a pain in my neck was, well, a pain in the neck!

I’m joking a bit about it now, but I can assure you that I did not find it humorous at all at the time. I was truly concerned that I might never be able to turn my head again. I was in some serious pain and my neck was seriously stiff… and I mean serious pain and seriously stiff… I couldn’t open my mouth much wider than was necessary to eat and breath. During this time, I picked up a few skills that have actually come in handy since. Such as preventing myself from sneezing (people talk about how dangerous sneezing is for NASCAR drivers and the like and say it is a reflex that can’t be controlled… well I can tell you that this is just not true… I know) and yawning through my nose without opening my mouth (as you can imagine this has come in handy on a number of occasions). I should also mention that the looks of horror from folks whom I was driving to and from the airport when they saw my neck-brace didn’t help my psyche… or my tips for that matter.

I went to the doctor and got an MRI and, sure enough, it was the same vertebrae with the hole in it as in high school. After the hole had healed up, which took a couple months of agonizing worry about whether I would ever be able to move my head again, my neck was still totally stiff. My neck muscles had totally freaked out trying to prevent further injury and they just would not budge. Plus, although an MRI indicated that the hole in my vertebrae had healed (for the most part), it, along with my neck muscles reaction to the injury, messed things up so badly that I now had a pinched nerve. Pain, pain and more pain. My physician suggested that I go to a chiropractor.

This was my blessed introduction to the wonderful world of chiropractic medicine. I walked into the chiropractor’s office in pain and agony with a neck that would not move. A few minutes later, after some prodding and poking and slapping and pushing, the good doctor took my head in both his hands, told me to completely relax, and… jerked my head around further than it went before my neck injury!… The relief was immediate! Talk about instant gratification!

Now able to turn my head again, I started going to a physical therapist, who was every bit as wonderful as the chiropractor. In fact, she taught me how to do what the chiropractor did, all be it more slowly, to myself. All I had to do was tilt my head back and, with the support of my shoulders, twist my head from one side to the other.

Obviously, I still have some neck issues, or else my neck would not be stiff right now and I would not be making this journal entry. However, I have learned to be careful with it and, much like with my cramping calves, notice the early warning signs when I have pushed it too far, and take appropriate action.

Even though my neck was quite stiff this morning, I didn’t think it was so bad that I couldn’t do the plyometrics even though they are high impact. I just lessened the impact as much as I could. I remained with at least one foot on the ground throughout the workout and, although I did hear a few quiet clicking noises on occasion, I made it through just fine.

I think that it may have been the Ab Ripper X from yesterday that did it. So, I think I’ll just skip that part of the program until my neck feels back to normal.

I do hope my neck feels better tomorrow.

I’m happy to report that, less than eight weeks into P90X, my neck feels better than it has since high school! Amazing!!!

After receiving Coach McD’s response I was pumped to pump out some pull-ups.

July 11, 2007

Day 8: Chest & Back, Ab Ripper X

Well, I took Coach McD’s advice and used the chair during the pull-ups today. It was actually easier than I thought it was going to be. It worked out quite well and I felt like I got a much better burn going during the pull-ups this week than last week.

Here’s my Chest & Back Stats:

• Standard Push-Ups: 12, 8; 15, 10
• Wide Front Pull-Ups: 5, 3; 12, 14
• Military Push-Ups: 10, 6; 12, 8
• Reverse Grip Chin-Ups: 5, 3; 12, 10
• Wide Fly Push-Ups: 10, 10; 12, 12
• Closed Grip Overhand Pull-Ups: 3, 2; 12, 12
• Decline Push-Ups: 8, 5; 8, 3
• Heavy Pants: 10, 10 orange; 15, 10 orange
• Diamond Push-Ups: 10, 3; 8, 6
• Lawnmowers: 12, 15 orange; 15, 15 orange
• Dive-Bomber Push-Ups: 10, 5; 8, 8
• Back Flys: 10, 10 orange; 15, 15 orange

Just a short journal entry today, as I want to drop Coach McD another email to tell him the spot under my right shoulder blade feels better today, thank him for his prompt and detailed response, inform him that I am following his advice about the pull-ups, and ask him how his advice regarding free weights applies to doing P90X with the B-lines Bands.

My next letter to my MDB Coach, Coach McD, and his response will be coming shortly…

As I said at the end of my last post, I sure did receive a response from Coach McD.

Here’s my journal entry:

July 11, 2007

Coach McD’s Response

When I woke up this morning the soreness behind my right shoulder blade had significantly lessoned.

When I checked my email, I was happy to see that Coach McD had responded to my letter and I was most impressed with his lengthy response.

Here it is:

Hi James,

Funny you should mention the loose shoulder…

I played on a Jr. Olympic volleyball team in high school, back in the late ’80’s, and then on a serious USVBA club team later in college. I’m 6′04, and my position was strong-side hitter. I actually hit with both arms, depending on the called play, or the quickset (one). We used to warm-up by standing near a wall, and spiking the ball down onto the floor so that it would bounce up, into the wall, and move upward and back, toward the hitter, so that you could continue striking the ball over and over again without having to catch it. We did this thousands of times, over the years, to get loose.

I was also the middle blocker. To block in volleyball, I would take a step or two to the spot where I needed to set the defense. The side blockers would then set up next to me on either side, and we would jump together against the offensive strike. The blocking motion goes from arms down, to arms straight up -while jumping. This occurred every time the other team was in the offensive play. My shoulders got pretty loose as well. One or the other would pop out, just for a moment, as you described, usually when landing. I had many spells with a sling, two or three weeks at a time.

I also played baseball, one year of football, two years of basketball, and golf. There was a while there, when my left shoulder would pop so loudly during my backswing that my buddies would say something like “Oh my god man, doesn’t that hurt when it does that?” I only heard it when I practiced. I was so into the shot when on a course that I never even heard it there. The point is that I know exactly what you are talking about, and here’s what has helped me:

Free weights.

Lifting weights over the years has minimized nearly every sports related injury I’ve ever had to the point that I do not feel at this time that I have any real or impairing sports injuries from my youth that have followed or lingered along with me to the present day. In my non-medical opinion, great athletes play their game loose, and relaxed. Muscular tension slows and restricts the range of motion. You can watch the biggest, most muscle-bound boxer fight, and I guarantee you that he is at his best when his arms are relaxed, and he is loose. I feel that most injuries occur when a guy tenses or tightens up. My earlier experience as a police officer demonstrated the same principle on accident scenes where alcohol was a factor. The people who were really loaded, or even passed out at the time suffered far fewer injuries as a result of being in a serious state of relaxation. The person who saw it coming almost always tensed up, and generally suffered greater physical injuries as a result.

This type of shoulder injury occurs, in my humble, non-professional opinion, when the connective tissues are stretched repeatedly due to the lack of muscular support -when the muscles are relaxed during strenuous activity. It isn’t really an injury per se, as much as it is simply the fact that all of the tendons and ligaments are longer than they should be, which allows the limb to slip out of the socket. Again, this is based completely on personal experience, and some thought.

The good news is, that several doctors have told me that connective tissue does shrink back a bit on its own, over time. That implies that sitting around on your can is the best strategy. I can’t sit still long enough, nor am I willing to suffer the atrophy which would result from that implication.

I have found that weight lifting speeds up the process, in part because lifting automatically strengthens the muscles surrounding the connective tissues which lends support to the joint, and partly because the actual act of lifting weights also works directly on the connectors themselves. When you tax the muscle with free weights, as opposed to nautilus type machines, you must employ all of the stabilizing muscles and ligaments just to keep the movement in good form. Muscle tissue is torn down, and rebuilds itself with more fibers, adding strength, bone density increases, and the joint seems to suck itself back into place. You can’t quote me on this because people would laugh at your unqualified source. You can take this for what it’s worth, from one separating-shoulder(s)-having-guy to the next; it really worked for me. My shoulder hasn’t popped in ages. It hasn’t popped out in years, and thanks to creatine, I have never been stronger in my life.

As the pull-ups go, I would set a chair just below, and just away from the bar. Hang from the bar, bend and cross your legs, and put your lowest tow on the seat of the chair. You can assist your pull-up by simply pushing your toe against the seat of the chair. Use a lot of assist in the beginning, and gradually get yourself to the point that the chair is unnecessary. You may not want to hang all of the way down in the first several weeks. Don’t let your arms straighten completely out, as that would start to pull the arm out of the socket. As your shoulders get stronger, and tighter, you can gradually begin to straighten them out a bit more each week.

At USAIRBORNE school down at Ft. Benning, they made us do pull-ups before every meal. I got to where I could do about 20 or so after three weeks of that. The first week, many of us needed another dirty rotten leg (the instructor’s pet names for the trainees) to hold our feet, in the same crossed and bent form I just mentioned, so that we could push off of their hands while we got used to doing the pull-ups. By the third week, we were all knocking them out pretty easily but without help.

I would think seriously about hitting the weights. Don’t kill yourself in the beginning. Light to medium weight, 10-12 reps, and go from there. It just might work for your shoulders like it did mine.

Hope this gives you something to try. Keep me posted on your progress.

Mark

CoachMcD

Wow! I was hoping for some sort of a response, but I certainly was not anticipating something so lengthy, especially given that he got back to me the next day. These Million Dollar Body Coaches obviously take their coaching seriously… or at least Coach McD does… and a fellow shoulder-dislocator to boot… how about that!

With support like this, I’m sure to make it through the 90 days of P90X!

This was not the last time I would correspond with Coach McD. Click on his name to read more about him and his experience with Million Dollar Body and the Million Dollar Body Coaching Program.

As I said at the end of my last post, I’m actually glad that I experienced that bad soreness beneath my right shoulder blade, because it led to my contacting my MDB Coach, which led to my becoming an MDB Coach, which led to this blog.

Here’s my journal entry about the letter I wrote my MDB Coach, Coach McD:

July 10, 2007

My Letter to Coach McD

When you sign up with Million Dollar Body, you get assigned a coach. Given the bad soreness behind my right shoulder blade, I decided this would be a good time to introduce myself to my coach, Coach McD, and pick his brain a bit.

Here’s what I wrote:

Hi Coach McD,

I just completed my first week of P90X, and I really enjoyed it!

I wanted to write to introduce myself to you and ask a question.

I haven’t been too sore this week and the soreness I have had has been good soreness with one exception. There is an area underneath my right shoulder blade that is feeling quite tight. Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t too bad. (I think it came mostly from punching a bit too hard yesterday with Kenpo X.)

However, this is an area that I need to be careful about as it is always tight because my shoulders are too loose and I am prone to shoulder dislocations. I was a three sport athlete in high school, and my already loose shoulders where further loosened by multiple dislocations playing football, basketball, and, to some extent, baseball… and when I say multiple I’m talking like 25 times each. My shoulder would pop out and pop back in… It would hurt… Numbness would set in… I’d slowly regain feeling… and I was ready to go. I elected to go to a great books college (St. John’s College in Santa Fe, NM) rather than pursue any athletic ambitions and I haven’t flexed my muscles much, other than my brain muscles, over the past 9 years (I’m 27). (Although my nutritional health has improved greatly over this time period, so I’m in decent shape… 5’9”, 153, 11%.) Now, for many reasons, I have decided that it is time for me to start working out again.

Anyway, other than any general advice you may have for taking care of my loose shoulders while doing P90X, I was wondering the following in particular: I’m trying to figure out what to do about pull ups… You see, it’s really not good for me to hang loose from a bar and I think pull ups are my weak spot. In the test I maxed out to failure at 6, and am capable of doing no more than 3-5 per set. I feel like this is not enough reps to really be effective. (I want to be able to do at least 8 right?) So, I was thinking about trying out the bands this week and perhaps trying using a chair with the pull up bar in the third week (although this is kind of difficult as my doorway pull up bar is already fairly close to the ground… it might be better just to do them with my feet on the floor).

Any thoughts?

Much Thanks, James

Hopefully, I will get a response from Coach McD soon. It would be really cool if this turned out to be a helpful/supportive aspect of my P90X experience.

Well, I sure did receive a response from Coach McD! Stay tuned…

I woke up on the last day of my first week with P90X with some bad soreness. Get the details below:

July 10, 2007

Day 7: X Stretch

Today would have been my father’s 56^th birthday. Thus, the reasons why I am doing P90X have been on my mind all day.

For the first time since beginning P90X, I woke up with some bad soreness. It is located underneath my right shoulder blade.

This is an area that I need to be careful about as it is always tight because my shoulders are too loose and I am prone to shoulder dislocations. In high school, my genetically loose shoulders where further loosened by multiple dislocations playing football, basketball, and, to some extent, baseball… and when I say multiple I’m talking like 25 times each. My shoulder would pop out and pop back in… It would hurt… Numbness would set in… I’d slowly regain feeling… and I was ready to go.

I attribute my current shoulder woes to pull-ups. It’s really not good for me to hang loose from a bar and pull ups are my weak spot. In the P90X Fit Test I maxed out to failure at 6, and am capable of doing no more than 3-5 per set. I feel like this is not enough reps to really be effective and I worry that I am putting too much stress on my shoulders, which led to the soreness beneath my right shoulder blade. So, I’m thinking about trying out the bands this week and perhaps trying to use a chair with the pull up bar in the third week (although this is kind of difficult as my doorway pull up bar is already fairly close to the ground… it might be better just to do them with my feet on the floor).

We’ll see…

Anyway, I did the X Stretch today and it felt really good. Stretch by stretch, Tony loosened up my entire body.

That spot beneath my right shoulder blade is still sore though.

That soreness went away pretty quickly and has not returned. I’ve been doing pull-ups with a chair and no longer worry so much about hanging from the bar as my shoulders are now much stronger than when I started P90X.

I’m actually glad that I experienced that bad soreness because it led to my contacting my MDB Coach, which led to my becoming an MDB Coach, which led to this blog. But, I’ll disclose more about this in my next post…

I relate my experience with martial arts and twitching/cramping calves below:

July 9, 2007

Day 6: Kenpo X

I felt pretty good when I awoke this morning. Not too sore.

As I was falling asleep last night I was a little uncomfortable with the way my calves were twitching. Throughout my life, but especially in high school, I have periodically been awakened by intense pain in one of my calves due to it cramping up. The first time it happened, it was downright scary. However, I soon got used to it and learned what to do: breath and stretch.

In high school, my physician and the school trainer both thought it was related to dehydration and, when they found out that I consumed very little salt, they prescribed salt tablets. At the time, these seemed to help. Now, I just make sure I’m taking in some form of electrolytes and I look for the early warning signs of an upcoming cramp and breath and stretch in advance… and that is just what I did last night.

Although I have experimented with martial arts some, similarly to my yoga experience, I’ve never dedicated myself to it. I’ve spent the most time with Tai Chi and Brazilian Ju-Jitsu.

There were certain aspects of Tai Chi that I liked: the philosophy behind it, and the idea of using your opponent’s energy and aggression against them especially. However, it required you to position your hips in a way that, having spent much of my athletic life in the western athletic position, I couldn’t seem to get the hang of (at least not as quickly as I would have liked). Additionally, it wasn’t delivering the workout that I wanted, and when I looked around at my instructors, while they had extremely strong cores, their legs and arms and uppers backs were totally undeveloped. I must admit, I didn’t really want to look like them.

I took more of a liking to Brazilian Ju-Jitsu. I got into it in part because the winners of the Ultimate Fighting type contests always seem to be Brazilian Ju-Jitsu guys and I got the opportunity to train with a former female grappler champion (C.J. McCue, 2004 Grapplers Quest Absolute Champion, among other accomplishments, I believe). However, I soon tired of it. At the time I really wanted to just get outside and go hiking, it felt graceless grappling on the ground all the time (the idea behind Ju-Jitsu is that most fights end up on the ground, so that’s where you need to know how to fight), and, honestly, my nuts were always sore afterwards (I was not born with “balls of steal”) and I was concerned about doing some serious damage if I kept it up.

Anyway, all of this is an introduction to say that I had never tried Kenpo… until today.

I really enjoyed it! Although, I’ve got some work to do with the side and back kicking in particular. Also, I think it may take some time to get the coordination down, especially on the fast combination punching and blocking moves.

I’m still working on the side and back kicks, but my form and height have certainly improved a great deal since Day 6! One thing I find interesting when I do a little self psychoanalysis is that I find myself throwing punches and kicks at random throughout the day. I think, subconsciously, Kenpo X may be my favorite P90X workout.

Even though my legs seem to naturally be the strongest part of my body, legs routines have always been laborious for me. However, as you’ll read below, my first experience with the P90X Legs & Back workout was a good one.

July 8, 2007

Day 5: Legs & Back, Ab Ripper X

I woke up this morning feeling pretty good all over. I was in good spirits and I felt very little soreness throughout my body. I think the Yoga X workout is well timed.

The Legs & Back workout seemed well balanced. It cycles through two sets legs, one set back, eight times. Just as my legs felt like they were going to explode, (and they did feel like they were going to explode on more than one occasion), they got a nice breather while I did the back set. I felt just maxed out at the end of the routine.

As with the Plyometrics routine, it was easy to take this one easy on myself just by not squatting as low or jumping as high as Tony & Co.

I’m still struggling with the pull ups. I’m definitely going to try using the bands or a chair for the pull-ups next week, as I want to be doing at least 8 reps per pull-up set. I also worry about all the strain the switch grip pull-ups put on my shoulders while I am switching my grip.

Also, I should note that I definitely broke the 200 rep mark with Ad Ripper X today. It felt really good to be seeing an improvement in my performance already.

Here’s my Legs & Back stats:

• Reverse Grip Chin-Ups: 5, 6
• Wide Front Pull-Ups: 5, 5
• Closed Grip Overhand Pull-Ups: 5, 5
• Switch Grip Pull-Ups: 6, 6

My first Yoga X workout was intense. As I relate below, I cried during the ohms at the end.

July 7, 2007

Day 4: Yoga X

Although I’ve never really gotten into it, I have done some yoga before. I’ve tried a variety of types of yoga with a variety of instructors at a variety of studios, but was never so inspired that I committed myself to it.

I have a Master’s Degree in Eastern Classics from St. John’s College in Santa Fe, NM, where my favorite texts were Hindu and the tradition I most identified with was Hinduism. One of my favorite texts is Pantanjali’s Yoga Sutra. In fact, the Yoga Sutra was the first Eastern text to which I was exposed, and, in large part, inspired me to enroll in the master’s program. At present, I am working (slowly but surely) on a Master’s Thesis on Bahkti Yoga in the Bhagavad-Gita… but I’ll write more about this in the future.

Getting back to Yoga X… it is intense. In fact, with the exception of a yoga class that I once took from one of my fellow master’s students, it is the most intense yoga I have ever done. I didn’t even attempt a few of the poses, and my form was horrible on a few others. This was a real challenge… and, at 92 minutes and 24 seconds, it is a long routine (the longest in P90X).

I think what is most important to note about Yoga X (and yoga in general), is that it is as much a mental test as it is a physical test. Yoga is done most effectively when you are uncomfortable throughout the routine. Not too uncomfortable, mind you. But, if you are breezing through Yoga X without any discomfort, then you are not doing it properly. In a sense, the point of yoga is to push yourself just outside of your comfort zone and stay there for a while. Holding uncomfortable positions requires as much mental fortitude as physical fortitude.

In all likelihood, especially when you are just beginning to do yoga, you will find yourself delving into areas of mental and emotional discomfort as you are pushing yourself into physical discomfort. No matter how you try to clear your mind and focus on your form, when you are first starting out, you can anticipate your emotional baggage surfacing during the routine.

I’ve been going through a difficult time in my life lately, the most significant event certainly being my father’s recent passing. I cried during the ohms at the end of the routine. I was physically and emotionally exhausted. I have been emotional all day, alternating between feelings of anger and sadness for the most part. However, as I said, this is to be expected.

I am confident that, over the course of the next 90 days, Yoga X will help me to process the recent (and not so recent) events in my life, contribute to my emotional and physical well being, and purify my soul.

I still find Yoga X to be the most mentally challenging of all the P90X workouts. However, my Yoga X performance has been continuously improving… but more on that in future posts.

My first P90X Shoulders & Arms workout was the first time I had ever used resistance bands for a complete workout.

July 6, 2007

Day 3: Shoulders & Arms, Ab Ripper X

When I woke up this morning, my legs where a little sore from yesterday’s work out and my chest & back had recovered, which worked out well since I was doing shoulders & arms today.

This workout was considerably more sophisticated than the Chest & Back workout, which consists mostly of pull-ups and push-ups. This workout had me really using a variety of resistance bands in a variety of ways and it took some getting used to.

The only time I’ve ever worked with resistance bands before, I was using light bands for physical therapy, not as a substitution for heavy dumbbells. At present, it doesn’t make much sense for me to invest in a set of dumbbells, especially considering how cheap the resistance bands are, as I am moving around a lot between Santa Fe, NM and Concord, MA. I got the complete kit of B-lines Bands (10 in all) from Million Dollar Body for $80, which is pretty economical considering in would cost hundreds of dollars to get the dumbbell equivalent.

I don’t want to gripe about them too much at present, as I think I am ultimately going to like them very much. However, I do wonder if they are as effective as dumbbells. It has been suggested to me that, for certain exercises, they are actually more effective than dumbbells, which makes perfect sense. For, with the bands, unlike dumbbells, the level of resistance increases as you stretch them. However, this characteristic obviously renders the bands less effective in certain exercises as well.

I think most of my frustration with them today can be chalked up to inexperience. I had difficulty determining which one to use for which exercise and how big of a loop to use on some of the exercises.

Also, I wish the complete kit came with more sets of handles. It only comes with three. So you need to transfer the handles between exercises if you use more than three bands. For the lighter bands, this isn’t that big of a deal. However, this is rather difficult to do with the heavier bands, at least for someone who is inexperienced (and weak) like me. I didn’t end up transferring any of the handles today, but I did struggle to get the handles on the green band.

Anyway, here’s my Shoulders & Arms stats:

• Alternating Shoulder Presses: 10, 10 orange
• In & Out Bicep Curls: 16, 16 orange
• Two-Arm Tricep Kickbacks: 10, 10 magenta
• Deep Swimmer’s Presses: 10 orange, 6 green
• Full Supination Concentration Curls: 11, 12 green
• Chair Dips: 25, 25 bent legs
• Upright Rows: 15, 15 magenta
• Static Arm Curls: 16 orange, 16 green
• Flip-Grip Twist Tricep Kickbacks: 10, 8 magenta
• Two-Angle Shoulder Flys: 10, 10 orange
• Crouching Cohen Curls: 10, 16 magenta
• Lying-Down Tricep Extensions: 12, 16 magenta
• In & Out Straight-Arm Shoulder Flys: 16, 12 magenta
• Congdon Curls: 10, 10 green
• Side Tri-Rises: 10/10, 8/8

I’ve been using the B-lines Bands for seven weeks now and am much more comfortable with them. Bottom line: They work! I’ll have more to say about this in the future. For now, let me just say that I definitely recommend B-lines Bands as an inexpensive and mobile alternative to dumbbells.

Plyometrics has become one of my favorite P90X workouts over the past seven weeks… and most adventurous… but more on that in a later journal entry.

For now, here’s my first plyo post:

July 5, 2007

Day 2: Plyometrics

When I woke up this morning, my chest and back were quite sore… in a good way. So, I must have done something right yesterday.

I feel like I did a little better today in regard to keeping up with Tony & Co. Although, it was definitely easier to take it easy today and keep up, as I just didn’t squat down quite as deep or jump quite as high as Tony & Co.

To be brief, plyometrics (“plyo” for short) is essentially jumping exercises. So, lots of jumping today.

Tony really emphasizes the importance of landing softly and properly, which I appreciate, as it is easy for me to tweak my neck with too much impact… and plyo is definitely high impact.

Also, I realized today that, while I had anticipated this, the ceiling in the garage (where I am working out) is a little low for plyometrics. While I made some reasonable adjustments, I worry that this may become more of a problem as I progress through the program.