Back on Track

After not training with coach yesterday and allowing my rib to heal I was up at 5am and down at LA Fitness at 6am training. I did three strong kickovers followed by five upslinkies off the one panel mat and then five up the two panel mat. This was actually the second best I had ever done even taking into account the sore rib. What that tells me is I am on the verge of some huge progress. I also did five Front Limber Kickovers effortlessly. The upslinkies make such a difference to opening up the back.

I then went and trained with coach. We started on vault and it took a little while before they were clicking but I did some of my best vaults to date and was consistent which is great. We then went to work on bars and started working on giants. We went to casting and did some of the best and tightest casts close to 45. It is great watching it get stronger and higher because eventually I will be going to handstand as part of Level 7.

Coach and I then sat down and talked about conditioning and strength training. He gave me a long list of things to work on to improve my core strength to reduce the twisting as my back gets more and more open. He told me I have to do that before I do my back training so I have a big incentive to get to my mack work which I love.

We finished on beam and did some ok work on beam and a lot of it is just time on the beam. We did a lot of leaps and turns. There is nothing like being on the apparatus. Overall it was another solid day of training and my rib is doing great meaning that tomorrow I get to push really hard at tumbling and everything else planned.

I finished by going to Doc and she did lots of musclework on my shoulder, and adjustments. My back is feeling strong and straight and I am so looking forward to getting down there and having an amazing day. Go Heroes.

Disappointment and Regret

A couple of days ago I was stretching down at LA Fitness and my body was really twisted as I had not had a chance to visit my chiropractor Doc. I pushed really hard and refractured my lower rib. I had finally got to the point where I was healthy, my knee was strong and suddenly I am back in care again. It is so frustrating and the tears flowed.

Doc adjusted me yesterday and untwisted me but did not realease all the muscles around the rib to protect it. This morning I got up and felt good. I was supposed to be training with coach at 6.30 to 9.30 and went to LA Fitness at 5am to stretch before hand. I was doing great and was releasing all the tightness and gradually the pain of rub resurfaced. I had done a bridge and then three clean kickovers and then did three upslinkies but stopped because I new that if I trained with coach in the cold of the very early morning with the rub I would have problems so I did what I hate doing and that is to cancel my time with coach. Every time I have trained with him and been really frustrated, sad or hurt it just complicated so it was time to head off to bed and cry……

Having just got up and having gone for a walk outside I realized what a beatiful day it is so I am going to rest and can’t wait to play full out with coach tomorrow. Tomorrow is a brand new day. Go Heroes!!!!

Change of Direction

Thanks to rebreaking my rib yesterday due to my body being twisted I had to have a hard look this morning about what I was going to do. Part of me was like go back to bed but I knew there is no way I could face the rest of the day without training so I was down at the gym at 7am. I felt much better after I had showered and got to LA Fitness I started working on my back. Sure enough the familiar pains started coming back after doing three kickovers.

I had to decide what to do. My usual plans were totally derailed as if I kept pushing my back I could do further injury. I therefore started work on handstands. I did some great handstands and then began working on beam handstands and side handstands using my minibeam that coach got for me for Christmas. It took me a while to get a feel for it but one I did it began to work. I only had one sary moment because even though it is a low beam directly below it is concrete. Not good to connect with fae or wrists.

I then did some side handstands and they were OK and I certainly know I will be able to do a lot more going forward to the point I fall totally in love with them and they are like kickovers.

I also did some work on the sidesplits and am back pushing my edge again. It is going to be a gradual process and a lot more than I would like, so I need to be patient and keep doing it every day.

Overall it was a  solid mornings performance. I had five breakthroughs mainly in using the new minibeam coach gave me. I can now see dramatic improvements in this area going forward which will be great to allow me to work on back walkovers on the beam with a real beam. The good thing about gymnastics is there is always something to work on.

I will breathe….let my body do some healing…see Doc tomorrow and keep working around the injury until it heals again. Oh well. Go Heroes!!

Off to a Rocky Start

I was so excited to go to the gym this morning and work out. I took my minibeam with me and was there when it was opened. I got to work I can tell my body is not in alignment and I was not able to see Doc for the last week after all the intensive training with coach I am putting a lot of pressure on my body with all the giants on bars and tumbling on the floor and stretching down at LA Fitness. I had lots of sleep so strength was not an issue but with my body so twisted I finally kicked over on the fourth attempt. Hmm that means I am very twisted. I know my back is flexible right now it is a case of my body fighting against my body when it is not in alignment.

I then went and started working on slinkes. I did a quad slinky, a pentaslinky and an octoslinky which is a great start to the new year. I then began work on Kickovers off my weak leg and this is where I had a challenge My body was so twisted that when I went to bridge my body felt very contorted as a result it put a lot of strain on the spine and ribs and On the 9th Kickover I think I either pulled a muscle or refractured on of my ribs. I can feel that familiar stabbing feeling I have not had for months and it scares me a little.

I kept training and did 5/5 Front Limber Kickovers which were fantastic and then did work on handstands. I did lots of awesome handstands even with the rib and then did jumps on my beam. This is going a great area for me to focus on. Then after Straight Jumps and Tuck Jumps I then worked on sidesplits and forward splits both ways. I need to get these for my jumps and leaps in higher levels.

Just frustrating to be hurting so early into the new year. I am going to pushing hard this year and at 21 with age against me and all the new skills I need to aquire I need to make sure I can train injury free as muh as possible but know that it is a possibility. I am off to ice, rest and cry and then mentally prepare to go down and train again tomorrow.

Every day is an adventure and as long as I can keep my eye on the prize then I can remember the adage…This took will pass…….Go Heroes!!!