Muscle knots and tightness

[thornbreaker]

I am currently doing S&S at 30kg 2x a week and DFW 16kg 2x week. DFW I started with single bell since I couldn't do both at same time, but after about 6 weeks I can do doubles. My goal is GPP, with 3 young kids, I'll be happy to get to Simple and maintain it for life, and get to either 20kg or 24kg DFW then try other programs.

My general issue is that I often get muscle knots, usually in neck (scalenes), traps, upper back areas, e.g. I have a sedetary job, I did goto chiro for 2 months which helped. Professional message really helps if I get it regularly but its hard to get appointments. If its not too bad I'll use a message ball to get it out myself, otherwise I end up begging my wife for deep tissue message.

For warmup I start S&S with goblet squat, bridges and sometimes halos. DFW I don't have a good warm up, I'll do few static stretches of the arm. I have some relief by regularly doing Tom Merreck's 15 mobility routine before going to bed.

Is this part of getting strong or am I mising something? What stretch/mobility routines do you folks use? Thank you in advance.

 

[tythomasjr]

@thornbreaker Yoga on rest days changed everything for me. A proper sequence can unwind a knot much more effectively than just force stretching a tight spot. Softer massage balls (compared to lacrosse balls) really help too.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00CWAAL00?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

 

[jekyll]

@tythomasjr Foam rolling and yoga should solve the majority of problems people have from an MSK perspective.

 

[thornbreaker]

@jekyll I should've mentioned, I will foam roll on upper back. Neck its hard to do so I'lll use a message ball.

 

[thornbreaker]

@tythomasjr I used to do yoga as part of P90x3 years ago, will try this out again. Any recommendation? 1 hour would be too long but 30mins I can keep up.

Yeah I've been using lacrosse ball like message balls, will try out the softer ones.

Thanks!

 

[anon103]

@thornbreaker If you like follow-along yoga videos, there are a bunch of good channels on YouTube. Here are some of the ones I see recommended (I've done a few of Adriene's but otherwise can't personally vouch for these)

Yoga with Adriene

Yoga with Kassandra

Sean Vigue

Breathe and Flow

 

[thornbreaker]

@anon103 Thanks, will try them out.

 

[pyramidhead]

@thornbreaker Down dog has an annual sale right now and has incredible offerings IMO

 

[tythomasjr]

@thornbreaker Glo.com (I know the name...) offers a large library of classes and live classes for 20/month (usd). I suspect the youtube ones could be interrupted by adds; talk about a test of mindfulness.

Alternatively, many local yoga teachers are streaming their classes and accumulating libraries. A teacher I particularly like in my area offers her library and recorded classes for 40/month.

 

[riane87]

@thornbreaker I have and still often have similar feelings to what you describe. After years of trying to stretch and massage it away I found that overhand pull ups on a straight bar (I only had rings previously), along with pulling my shoulders down away from my ear, to constantly and consciously increase the gap between my shoulders and ears using my lats whilst walking and sitting gave me better long term pain relief than any stretch, sauna, or weird massage implement ( which all still have their important places!).

 

[thornbreaker]

@riane87 Pulling shoulders down is exactly what my chiro kept emphasizing, I have to keep concious about that as well. Pull down and a little back. Good to hear it works long term.

I remember one of the counters to setting all day was to hang for 30s a few times a day, I had forgotten about it, I'll start that again as well.

 

[riane87]

@thornbreaker Hanging seems good but for me the shoulders down was the key. If you have 2 bells try holding them in suitcase position by your sides for time, as long as you can to stretch out those traps and really sink the shoulder in the socket and the scaps down. People have so many types of problems from sitting, hunching, anxiety and whatnot, there's no one size fits all but this was a game changer for me!

 

[thornbreaker]

@riane87 Ah good idea, will try it out suit case holds.

 

[baby483113]

@thornbreaker Tom Merreck and the bodyweightwarrior channel is great

 

[truthseekerisabeau]

@thornbreaker Indian clubs and or steel mace/gada. In conjunction with kettlebells these sort out thoracic spine, shoulder and neck mobility issues like nothing else does

 

[thornbreaker]

@truthseekerisabeau I've seen many folks here expand with mace and clubs, plus its recommended by Mark Wildman as well. I wanted to actually finish my current programs before starting those but maybe its worth adding to warm up to existing workout. Do you think that'll be as useful?

 

[truthseekerisabeau]

@thornbreaker Understood on not adding too many things to the mix. As a warm up or a cool down or as a standalone when you feel all knotted.

I love the bells, but those (clubs/mace) add different planes of strength and mobility.

I slipped a disc in my neck, which was my impetus (and only cure) to finally take the plunge into the world of clubs and mace.

Edit for clarity

 

[thornbreaker]

@truthseekerisabeau Oh shit, ok, I've heard on slip disk in back but neck sounds very severe. Glad it worked for you.

I've ordered a 5lb club just to add as warm up, thanks for suggestion.

 

[truthseekerisabeau]

@thornbreaker Yeah, it wasn't fun, but the clubs worked wonders. Hence, I tend to say to anyone who has any kind of upper body issues to definitely try them.

You may be surprised at how "heavy" 5lbs is for club swinging (initially). You can take some of the momentum out of it by holding it further away from the pommel up the handle.

I started on 2 x 1kg clubs and fatigued quickly, much like when I started with kettlebells, but one builds resilience fast.

You'd probably want to look at more of a closed style of swinging as per this video

based on the weight and that you're starting out. Keep the club closer to your body and don't cast too high.

Good luck, have fun and I hope it helps you like it helped me.

 

[rextor432]

@thornbreaker Id look into your posture/sitting habits at work and your sleeping habits, which would generally be the root cause of pain in your neck and traps.

At work, is your monitor head level when youre sitting up straight or do you have to look down? Consider using something to prop up your monitor to head level.

For sleeping, do you sleep on your side? Maybe that is causing pain in your traps and neck. Look into how to properly sleep on your side or learn to sleep on your back. I had to go without a pillow and fold up a shirt to support my neck to start sleeping on my back. Sometimes I use a pillow, sometimes I dont, but Ive learned to sleep on my back and its helped with a persistant pain in my left trap. Sitting on a wobble cushion actually helped me the most with sleeping on my back as it corrected my lower back which was preventing me from back sleeping, not sure if that would help you but the thing is, you have to find out what works best for you but Im sure itll be one of the two, sitting/sleeping. Working out may be aggravating it but I doubt its the cause, and massages for this is just a temp fix bc this is pain caused by bad habits over several years. Stop it from the source and the pain will subside.

Also, if you round your shoulders forward that could cause some problems. Try out this simple exercise to fix it.

Tom Merricks shoulder mobility routine is awesome as well.