That’s good… Have you done any sprint/jump testing over the past 6months?
I’ve done zero in the past year almost. It would be great to know if I’ve improved but also kind of dangerous if I blew a hammy doing a 30m sprint. I’ll see if I can do something though. Like at least get a 10m sprint with the Freelap and a vertical jump test on the vertec.
I would have been keeping data - it’s interesting to see how the increase in strength and olympic lifts have on sprinting/jumping…
So I haven’t given up incorporating EMS in my training yet. After speaking with Derek Hansen and Cedric Unholz about how they were able to incorporate EMS max strength on a tight schedule, it convinced me to give it a go still. My plan is to use the EMS 15-20min after my main lifts and recruit any unfired fibers from the training sessions. I know Charlie always said to wait 2hrs minimum after the training session to do EMS max strength and preferrably before bed, but I’m going to give the more convenient approach a try this time.
My training has been poor ever since I competed at the Univesity National meet. I either have nagging hip joint tightness, lack of training facilities, too much school/work stress, or just a sucky training program (trying to be too sport specific). Over the next 4 weeks I’m going to do some base/hypertrophy training (currently on week 1), then I will apply the EMS treatments during the MaxS cycles over the following 8 weeks. As of now, I’m nowhere near as strong as I was this past spring, but I’ll be back soon.
I did purchase a better unit, the Globus Speedcoach Fitness for $560 so I won’t be wasting my time anymore with those cheap units. I plan on using the speedcoach programs 3 days per week, but am not sure if I’ll bother with the active recovery protocols. I’ve already started using the massage and warm-up programs and I’m quite impressed with these modes.
I’m very confident that EMS will complement my training this time around now that I have my life in order. I won’t post my workouts until I get around to the MaxS phase which will be in 3 weeks. When that time comes, I’m going to log in as much info as possible.
Hi,
nagging hip joint tightness
Don’t ignore this would be my advice!
How much stretching do you do? what type of stretching do you do? when do you do it?
Do you put as much effort and time into your recovery as you do your workouts?
What do you do to manage your tissue tension/muscle tone?
Hope these questions help you,
Rob.
How does the “massage” setting differ from active recovery? On my compex, I use it prior to any massage work. I find it helps with the massage. I started this after seeing Waldemar do it. There are a few different pad placements I use depending (site specific vs global) for active recovery.
Hey Rob, thanks for the questions. I’ve been battling this hip joint stiffness for years now. It’s only my left acetabular area and have had x-rays and CT scans that showed no signs of a torn labrum or any major injuries. It may very well be a structural issue as one Ortho said that my femoral neck on my left side is slightly longer than the right. It only hurts when I do an ATG squat with my feet turned out (which I’ve been doing for years). As of yesterday I started squatting pain free by using slightly higher heel height with my OL shoes (1.25") and with my feet pointing straight forwards. With this being said, I believe it is a structural issue for the most part since my right side has never had any issues for my entire life. There isn’t a single stretch that will give it relief. I even took 2 weeks off a month ago doing just stretching/rolling the area and I still couldn’t squat pain free.
As far as stretching goes I always do a 30min dynamic+static warm-up before my training sessions. Then throughout the day I lightly stretch my quads, tfl, psoas, hamstrings, glute medius, maximus, etc while I have spare time at work. I stopped doing foam rolling for a while, but am back on that as of last week. Also I’ve been using EMS massage mode on my Globus and that gives me some relief.
Overall I can’t say that I’ve neglected recovery but I also can’t say that I’ve spent as much time and effort as I have with my training.
Hey Roger,
With the Globus the massage mode is just continuous light pulsing, I’m guessing it’s somewhere between 10-15hz. The active recovery mode is 7 seconds of lower frequency (10hz) then over 7 seconds will speed up to higher frequency (20-30hz) then 7 seconds back down to the lower frequency of 10hz. So in summary it’s slow to fast to slow to fast, etc over an extended period of time. Is this anywhat similar to the compex?
I remember Tyrone telling me that Waldemar likes using EMS before massage. How many pads do you usually use when you do massage/active recovery work? Right now all I do is just using 2 bigger pads(50mmx90mm) over the entire muscle group.
Hi Ku2u,
How long do you hold a stretch for? Are you relaxed? If one side is tighter do you prioritise it? How progressive are you to reach your end of range?
Because personally I will hold an individual stretch for 10+ minutes sometimes…taking a long time to read my end of range and the outcome is very different to the typical textbook recommendation of 10-30 seconds.
The compex active recovery is a light and frequent pulsing for a few minutes, then it switches to deeper, less frequent as the program goes on. I don’t know the specifics of the pulses and frequencies. I think its about 6-7 minutes per cycle.
Waldemar’s unit has 12 leads. Mine has 8 (4+, 4-). When T Slow mentioned the first time about Waldemar’s use, I started doing each body part for a few minutes. So I would first connect the calves and let is go through for a few cycles, then discconent, and hook up the hamstrings while I then massaged the calves. I used this but it was quite a pain.
When I saw Waldemar, he used pads on the motor points on our backsides. One on the gastroc, one on the hamstrings (or more depending on what he felt was tight), one (or more) on gluteals, and several on the erectors. For areas he felt were really tight, he used Electro-acupunture, otherwise it was EMS pads.
Interestingly, (and I never asked why) he used an alternate + - connection. So the + would be on the gastroc and hamstrings, and negatives on glutes and back, as a basic example.
is there any chance of getting waldemar on this forum??
I don’t think he’d be interested as he has “no interest in promoting himself” and he is very busy, but as offered when we go up to visit next, I can try to get a couple of your questions answered. Another option might be to do a telephone consultation.
T
Rob, typically I never hold a stretch for longer than a minute at a time because I’ve heard of research saying that your tendons can get stretched if you hold a stretch past that duration. Not sure if I should listen to it or not, but sometimes a minute isn’t even long enough to help reach that end range! During that minute I will do some PNF or AIS.
I’m always relaxed when I stretch, breathing normally with relaxed face and chest. If one side is tighter I usually stretch that side 2x as much as the less tighter side. As far as the hip flexors go I’ve just worked my way to that end range position and immediately notice that I can deeper in my squats easier. My next goal is to work on my hamstring and glute end range.
Roger,
This is some very good information. So when you used this type of approach on your own, did you have someone do palpation to your calves while your hams were being stimmed? Do you think this could be a good thing to experiment for an athlete who doesn’t have access to manual therapy to the point where they could use foam rolling instead with the EMS hooked up on them?
Ku2u, If Charlie had made his training decisions based on what research was/is saying do you think he would have developed the athletes to the level he did? He often commented in the past how research confirms years later what coaches have known for a long time. You answered your own question regarding if a minute is long enough for you. Learn from your training experiences instead of basing training decisions on research. 
I used to be right into stretching and I was frequently injured. other less fit individuals in my sporting club who never stretched remained largely injury free. when I stopped stretching the injuries reduced greatly. the research has confirmed my suspicions about stretching.
also, the jamaican sprint coaches are dead against long static stretches…
Just as a note, I had the chance to watch Jeremy Wariner and his Adidas teammates warm up at a meet last spring. The Clyde Hart warmup is full of long hold stretches. It is very “old school” but it seems to work fine. Static holds before a workout appear to be fine if there is enough of a break between the stretches and the sprint activity. Wariner and friends probably sat around for a good 35 to 40 minutes pre-race.
I think the recent obsession with dynamic stretches needs to be taken with a grain of salt as it is not clearly superior to static. I’d be careful of throwing out static stretches as a potential tool. I like them early in a warmup, especially in a northern climate where it takes longer to warm up. It’s safer than swinging your joints around at high velocity before you could possibly be warm like I see tons of kids doing at meets.
I allow static stretches for two reason. One is if a longer warm up is needed, Charlie in the basement tempo (I think) said use static stretching as a check. Two - mentally a lot of athletes feel more warmed up when they include static stretches.
Nearly 99% of the research protocols are very practically flawed. They had subjects go through a warm up and within minutes perform some type of test (sprint, jump etc). Only a few sports do athletes have the 10 minutes time to dynamically stretch before competing immediately after (soccer). The comparison studies also show that as long as dynamic movements are done after static, it is just as good, if not better, than dynamic alone.
I’m not sure what you are asking.