How are you building and increasing connective tissue (e.g. wrists and elbow)?

[michaelphemo]

@bibbigo Hey bosbat! I trained with an arm-wrestling champ in New York in the late 80s - he told me that he ALWAYS eats ALL the connective tissue / cartilage /bone ends of chicken - in order to strengthen and nourish his joints/tendons/ligaments - so I started doing the same- now 30 years later I have had no elbow/knee/hip/joint pain ever and still do 6 x OAC on each arm and 100kg chin ups and weighted pistols.

So I am still grinding away on the gristle!

In the wild, a wolf or bear or lion will also eat ALL the connective tissue - everything of the animal - so I just copy them!

Modern consumer luxury-society has spoiled us so we can choose to only eat the light fluffy tender chicken breast - when that is merely one part of the animal.... be a wolf!

 

[goki]

@michaelphemo Like a wolf or a Chinese person. I live in Taiwan and connective tissue costs more than muscle meat here because it's preferred. Tendon soup costs more than soup made with meat. We eat a wider variety of meats with the skin including stuff like frogs and all sorts of fish and shellfish which are not normally eaten in western countries.

 

[jessica719]

@goki Exhibit A: BRUCE LEE!

 

[maymcflurry]

@michaelphemo Slow cooking whole chicken is great. Then you can pull off everything except the bone and eat, including the cartilage etc. Cheap, nutritious, tasty.

 

[michaelphemo]

@maymcflurry Yes - slow cook chook is perfect! ! ! !

 

[tanyagomes]

@bibbigo Currently training to go from adv tuck to straddle planche on floor and press handstand on rings.

Hands/wrist : For my hands I've been warming up and finishing every workout with wrist/first knuckle pushups and its unbelievable how adaptive they are when given direct attention. I don't do anything else besides these.

Elbows :
1.RTO support hold
2.hollowbody planche flys
3.hands backwards planche leans

Shoulders :
1.I do 100s of reps of external rotation exercises through the week with a light resistance band.
2.While holding a plank I sink into retraction then fully protract my scapula about 30 times before every workout.
3. Handstand shrugs against a wall
4. Active hang on a bar in sets of 15 seconds

 

[philip1979]

@bibbigo Neck: Neck curls forwards & backwards
Shoulders: German hang, Trap-3 Raise, Ext Rotation w/ dumbbell
Elbows: German hang (honestly I feel this one so much, it's all I need)
Wrists: wrist pushup, wrist rocks, fingertip pushup, first knuckle pushup
Spine: Back limbers, jefferson curls, side pancake w/ weight
Hips: Weighted side splits (any variation or progression you choose)
Knees: sissy squats, twisting knee squats, inside squats
Ankles: walking on toes, heels, and insides/outsides of feet

I do 1x10 of each thing listed twice a week. When I can hit 10 reps, I move the weight up by 1.25 lbs (hooray fractional plates) or increase the progression. I only increase reps by 1 per week (so I do the same rep scheme twice each week) and I always start over at 5 once I increase load. I'm working well below my capacity in most cases, it fits nicely into my warmup, and I don't have to commit THAT much time to it. I usually do spine and below on lower days and everything else on upper days. In addition, I don't continually push these weights up. I maintain j-curls at 45 lbs, wrist prep at full-lay variations, etc.

 

[philip1979]

JFC my formatting. I swear the content is good.

 

[lectiodivina]

@bibbigo Blood flow.

Every morning in the shower, I do a few sets of wall pushups, the first on with palms flat, the rest on fingertips. It doesn't build more strength or size. It does increase blood flow into my hands and wrists, which makes them healthier.

Look at the ratio of muscle to connective tissue and bone in the wrists and hands. There's a lot of tissue that doesn't get much circulation. 3-4 sets of 12 reps and my hands don't hurt or stiffen up when I sit down at the keyboard to start work.

 

[kirkflowers]

@bibbigo i'd suggest you add in zanetti flys with dumbbells and progressively overload it. it's good for preparing the elbows and biceps for harder ring work.

 

[goki]

@bibbigo Tie a weight to one end of a rope and on the other end tie a stick or pipe. Now roll the weight up. You can use different grips to hit different parts of the forearms.

My uncle is big into kung-fu and he recently brought this to my attention as an old trick that I might benefit from. He likes to do it with his arms raised and pretend he's resisting someone with a knife going at his throat.

 

[thewindsbreath]

@bibbigo Bpc 157.