Muscle tension can make you strong to help the weak

In a fight or flight, it can make you swift on your feet

An imbalance can create pain

Though we can set it right using our brain

We have much to learn about our muscle fiber

But with consistent training, our neuromuscular system will become wiser

Intro
Progressive Calisthenics
The Trifecta
Somatics
Simplicity
Wrap Up

Intro

Like most things in health, the problems we’re dealing with today have been increasing over time the more advanced our technology becomes. Yes, I’m aware of the “People are just living longer, Yay Rockefeller Medicine” narrative. But as with all problems, there is a root cause.

In addition to this, there is an increase in those experiencing low back pain across all ages/generations including mine.

Maybe I’m an anomaly. But I have used my body in many ways over the past decade and a half.

Martial Arts (Striking and Grappling)
Weightlifting
Hikes with 75-100+ pounds of gear
Manual Labor/Construction
& now moving around various stuff with TaskRabbit.

I’ve done it all. A Jack of all trades and a master of none.

But my body is still fine compared to others in my age group. At times if you saw my posture as I’m creating these posts you’d be appalled.

I hardly stretch either.

Someone reading this post

What is making the difference?

Progressive Calisthenics

At the root of the issue is that there is no efficiency in the muscular frame of the person who falls down, or the person who experiences all manner of pain around the body. You bend down to pick up a pen and the pain levels in your back go from 0 - 9001.

Due to our lifestyles, our muscular system will adapt(in the wrong ways) finding the least path of resistance. This is an example of a bad input.

If your body isn’t being trained as a unit, it will shift to emphasize the muscle you use.

Because I’ve been training with progressive calisthenics for well over a decade, the muscles around all my joints know how to behave and work with each other. One time I had knee problems when I first started because all I was doing was one-legged squats. But when I threw in some more bridges to strengthen my posterior chain it went away.

The Straight Bridge

Bodyweight exercises that cover as many muscle groups around your body, made progressively harder over time, will create a better balance throughout your entire musculature free of pain and injury.

There were hikes I went on where I miss-stepped and my ankles should have gone bye-bye. However, due to my training and the integrity of my connective tissues, nothing really happened.

The Trifecta

This was from an author that got me into calisthenics back in the day. There are three isometric holds that one could do to create a better balance throughout the entire body. Of course, there were progressions leading up to these with what you see below being the end stage.

The purpose behind these holds was to educate the proper tension relationship throughout your entire body benefiting one’s joints and mobility.

Given that I was doing all manner of calisthenics movements I was already doing this without knowing. But I found this concept interesting and simple as the usual answer to muscle pain or imbalance is to do stretching or a large variety of mobility stuff.

If all your muscles have a proper tension/relaxation relationship there will be little pain.

But there is yet another way to train this more directly.

Somatics

After doing some digging somatics is the use of various holds and contraction/relaxation of muscles to create a better neuromuscular balance. In the following video starting around 2:44, I found a concept similar to the trifecta above but here it’s called, “Pandiculation.” It is something all living creatures do when we get up from the desk, floor, or bed.

Maxick and some of his students

I originally got into training centered around muscle contractions to get stronger and improve my performance. Even though my goal was strength, I was still educating my muscular system. But used less intensely it can fix some of the pains we might be living with day to day.

Having an overactive set of muscles is like trying to get around the store with a shopping cart that has one wheel more immovable than the others. Is it possible? Sure. But your errand run is made more difficult.

Same with our bodies. If we educate our muscles in the proper manner be it with

Progressive Calisthenics
Isometric Holds
Or Tension Based Training

We will be free of many modern issues.

Simplicity

There’s also a call for simplicity. Just do what people in third-world countries do when they go to the bathroom.

The human body should be able to hold the low squat/or resting squat for extended periods of time. It’s how we’ve had to poop for most of human history. If yall ever recall there was a movement guru who called folks to engage in his 30-day squat challenge where you would hold the resting squat for a total of 30 minutes each day.

There are multiple videos about folks gaining benefit from such an approach. They’re not doing anything fancy, they’re just bringing the movement of the body back to a more natural state.

Wrap Up

There are yet more reasons I wrote this post. I’m currently taking a course in corrective exercise and so far the information given seems convoluted.

A trend I see in many of the mobility improvement shorts on YouTube is that most of these folks are weightlifters. I’m not knocking this form of training. Go lift iron!!! But I believe this world we’re in prioritizes moving the weights before mastering our own body weight against gravity.

You isolate your body while at your desk then you go to the gym to isolate your body some more.

But if you know how to move your body, or create tension, you’ll be free.

Thank you for making it to the end and let me know your thoughts below

Until next time…