Round 8: Tai Cheng, Days 11 – 14: Taking Control of My Own Destiny

Ever have one of those days where nothing goes right? Well, my entire week has been like that. My Microsoft Exchange Server was dying and it was time to migrate. So why not move to the latest and greatest version: Exchange 2013? Well, one week into the process and lacking any email, calendar and contacts, the reason–apparently–is because Exchange 2013 doesn’t seem to work. And it’s also one of those weeks where the tennis elbow seems to be getting worse, also for no apparent reason. Sorry for venting.

Oh, the Tai Chi stuff has been going fine. And the repeated sequences in the second half of week 2 have enabled uncoordinated me to perform the moves with decent form. But with the email frustrations, and being basically ripped off the grid, my Tai Chi accomplishments just weren’t enough. I needed some tangible progress of higher magnitude.

Enter the American Standard Champion Max 4 Toilet.

For months now, I’ve been annoyed with the bowl in the bathroom next to my office. Poor flush, water running, etc. So in my Microsoft-induced state of frustration, I ripped that bad boy out and installed the Champion Max 4. The installation went without a hitch. And the flush is–divine. Still, no email. But it’s something.

Round 8: Tai Cheng, Days 8 – 10: Patting My Head AND Rubbing My Belly

With the second week of Tai Cheng, we are introduced to combination moves. These moves incorporate the individual stances learned in week one with transitions from one stance to the other. The first day is the Lift & Lower combined with the Phoenix Tail. The second day we combine Ward Off and Pull Back. On the third day, we Press together with Separate & Pull. We then repeat these actions for the remaining three days of the week.

Well, as I feared, simply combining two moves into one sequence resulted in my becoming completely discombobulated. Despite the slow pace, and clear instruction, I always wound up completing the move on the same side. Not realizing that the second half of the week was an opportunity to repeat the first half, I fired up the DVD player to attempt the Lift & Lower/Phoenix Tail combo for a second time later the same day.

Tip of the Day:
By making the additional 7 minute time investment to re-try the sequence, I discovered that what works best for me is to view Dr. Cheng as if he is a mirror image. By doing this little trick, I performed the move correctly each time.

Sometimes the best solutions are the simplest.

Tennis Elbow Rehab with the Thera-band Flexbar & Tyler-Twist Protocol

If you’ve ever suffered from Lateral Epicondylitis (aka “Tennis Elbow”), you’ve no doubt been frustrated by this condition’s tendency to linger. Tennis elbow is an over-use injury to the tendon of the forearm. It tends to flair up as you age and stubbornly attempt to fight the ageing process by living an active lifestyle.

Like many, when tennis elbow first appeared, I decided to fight through it with Ibuprofen, an arm brace and icing it down after playing tennis and exercising. Like most, this approach only caused the condition to worsen over time.

After six months of increasing pain and decreased functionality, I decided to see an Orthopedic surgeon to seek treatment. I was given a rehab protocol, a wrist and arm brace and a topical anti-inflammatory (Voltaren). I was advised to stop playing tennis, doing upper body exercise and allow for recovery. Thirty days later, I followed up with the doctor after having made the condition worse by playing my final two singles tennis matches of the season. I lost the last match due to the pain.  The Doctor wanted to do an MRI as the next step. At this point, I opted out of his process and vowed to myself to really stop using the arm. From here, I ventured into the world of acupuncture, cupping, massage and electrical stimulation of the affected tendon. These definitely helped loosen up my very tight muscles and provided very temporary relief. The tightness, it seemed, was contributing to the condition. I stopped this approach after a few weeks because I found it increasingly painful to reach back every other day to get my wallet from my pocket and pull out my credit card to pay for the treatments.

Then a friend and fellow tennis player introduced me to the Thera-band Flexbar and the Tyler Twist rehab protocol for tennis elbow.

He swore by it. He said it cured him after having been similarly frustrated in his attempts to beat the condition. So I looked it up on Amazon and the customer reviews were substantially all similarly evangelical in nature. A mere $16 investment, I purchased the green flexbar (women and those with intense pain may want to start with a yellow or red Flexbar). What did I have to lose?

New York physical therapist Tim Tyler developed and researched the “Tyler Twist” exercise with the Thera-Band Flexbar for his patients with lateral epicondylitis, or “tennis elbow.”  The exercise was so effective that he terminated the clinical trial because the test subjects were improving so quickly over the control group of patients.

The Tyler Twist rehab protocol is pretty straightforward, but best understood when viewed via video.

The protocol has also received positive reviews in The New York Times, NPR, and The North American Journal of Sports Physical Therapy.

The theory is that this works because the Tyler Twist causes an eccentric contraction (movements that cause muscle to contract while it lengthens) of the wrist extensor muscles on the injured forearm. And the lengthening under contraction helps break down scar tissue in the tendon at the elbow.

How’s it been working for me?  Well, as I write this, I’ve completed three weeks of the Tyler Twist, 15 reps, 3x/day with the green Flexbar. I has also been using the Flex bar as a little foam roller. I place the Flexbar at forearm/elbows height in a door jamb and then lean hard into it, finding the tight trigger points in my forearm, biceps and lower triceps. I have had good success foam rolling my legs, but was never able to get enough weight onto the arm to get any benefits. But using my body weight on the Flexbar in a door jam has been extremely effective.  I was shocked to feel how much my tight triceps were contributing to he elbow pain.

Three weeks in, the tennis elbow is still there. But the condition has improved. The stabbing pain is now a general dull ache  And there is no pain when I press directly on the spot where the tendon joins the elbow bone. This is good progress and gives me hope that I will beat this and return to upper body exercises and tennis in several more months.

I’ll update this post to let the reader know if this trend continues.

Round 8: Tai Cheng, Days 5 & 6: Press, Separate & Pull

With today’s Separate & Pull instruction, I’ve completed the first week of Tai Cheng’s static moves. So far, my impression is the moves seem fairly straightforward and are presented in a non-intimidating way. The repetition is very helpful as well.

The “Neural Reboot” warm ups are also beginning to show a positive cumulative effect on me. I’m feeling looser and less achy. I feel I have more range of motion with my neck, in particular. I’m still spending extra time on the foam roller, sweating through and just sitting on tight spots at various spots in my legs. I went for a 5 mile walk in the woods last evening. That always tightens my quads and IT bands.

On a related note, I’m starting to think that my tennis elbow is actually starting to mend. Instead of having stabbing pains throughout the day, it’s now more of a dull ache. And there are periods where there is no pain at all. There is also improved range of motion without pain. This is progress. I am continuing with the daily Thera-band Flexbar Tyler Twist protocol. It’s been three weeks of doing this. Here’s hoping the positive trend continues.

Round 8: Tai Cheng, Days 3 & 4: Ward Off & Pull Back

No, I’m not getting all defensive. The title of today’s post refers to the two new Tai Chi moves I learned yesterday and today.

This first week remains pretty low-key with most of the time spent in the warm-up and foam rolling sequence. That’s perfectly fine with me because 1) I need the foam rolling and stretching and 2) learning only one move each day still intimidates me.

It’s ok, we’re advised at the end of today’s video, it you think you may be forgetting the moves you’ve learned so far. (It’s like they’re reading my mind). Because we will have the opportunity to perform them over an over, learning by repetition.  Hopefully, that will be enough for me. I wasn’t kidding when I said I couldn’t do the macarena.

While the Tai Chi and warm up has been time well spent this far, it hasn’t been a vehicle for me to get my heart rate up, burn calories and get substantial exercise. This weekend, I supplemented the Tai Chi with a 6 mile hike and a 10 mile bike ride. And that’s my plan going forward this summer.

Round 8: Tai Cheng, Day 2: The Tail of the Phoenix

Today I completed the second day of the Tai Cheng program. It’s another 30 minute routine. Like yesterday, it consists of a 20 minute “neural re-boot.” The re-boot is a warm up and foam rolling sequence. Also, like yesterday, I found the foam rolling a much-needed sequence. My legs are fairly tight and knotted. Yesterday, being my first day of the Tai Cheng program, I just went with the sequence as presented. But I found the time devoted to the foam rolling to be insufficient for my current needs. Today, I just paused the DVD and foam-rolled to my heart’s content.

I don’t quite fully understand the mental defect I possess that inhibits me from foam rolling in those times when I’m not doing an exercise regimen.  It’s quite irrational, I know. It’s no longer an issue as it appears I’ll be foam rolling every day for the next 88 days as part of this program.

After the warm up, I was introduced to a new tai chi move called the Phoenix Tail. I think I performed it fairly well. I did notice I will need to focus on my posture throughout the series. Fortunately, Dr. Cheng reminds you to check your posture every twenty seconds or so.

So far, this has proven to be very low-intensity stuff. Maybe I burned 20 calories. Coming off of P90X, X2 and Insanity, it’s quite a different mindset. But its fun to do something different and new. And I’ve been feeling pretty good afterwards. Looser.

Will following this program make me less uptight? Will I forgo my right-wing mindset? Will I become more egalitarian? Fear not. If I sense this is happening, I’ll just turn on Fox News and play it in the background as I contradict myself, singing songs of myself.

Round 8: Tai Cheng, Day 1: Recovery Summer

It’s been nearly a month now since I turned off the DVD player and exhaled my last yoga Om. And it’s been a month and a half since I last held a tennis racket.

Since then, I’ve been losing my mind. Frustrated with the lack of progress resolving my lateral epicondylitis (aka: tennis elbow) and unable to take out those frustrations with push ups, pull ups, curls, and so forth, I’ve been reduced to just obsessing about my elbow: Oh, I think it’s getting, better. No, it’s much worse. Errrr, it’s just the same. All three statements are true. Just ask anyone with the misfortune of having asked me how’re ya doin’?

Fortunately, I resolved that I wouldn’t play any tennis all summer. At the moment, it’s not an option to tempt fate anyway. Same with any exercising involving the arm. Hopefully, I will reach the point where the pain is gone and I will then have to have the discipline to continue to leave it alone to let it heal. It’s May 31st, as I write this and I’m having my doubts that this will resolve in time for fall tennis. Frustrating, indeed.

For the past month and a half, I’ve been doing PT rehab moves, acupuncture, cupping, myofascial massage and electrical stimulation of the tendon. I’ve also been using the Thera-Band Flexbar “Tyler Twist” protocol to strengthen and lengthen the tendon. Similarly-afflicted people swear by it. For me? I’ve been “twisting” for 2.5 weeks and the jury is still out.

One thing I’ve learned from my adventures is that from all the tennis and exercising, I was piano-wire tight. Everywhere. Quads, back, neck, triceps, biceps and forearms. And since I’ve been in recovery-mode, I know I face a long summer of continued  rest and rehab.

So, in an effort to soothe my mind and hopefully contribute to a successful recovery effort, I’ve decided to spend the next 90 days doing Tai Chi, via the Tai Cheng program taught by Dr. Mark Cheng.

Tai Cheng is yet another Beachbody fitness program designed for low-impact, recovery and overall fitness efforts. It’s been sitting in a box, an unopened Christmas gift for my wife that was banished to the Island of Misfit Toys. As such, I already had everything at hand, including a cool bamboo desk chair mat on which to stand and perform the moves.

The biggest hurdle to overcome was in my mind: committing to 90 full days of slow movement activity. I intend to supplement with walking, hiking and bike riding.

Once I had come to terms with the prospect of the 90 days, I decided to start immediately. And so today was Day 1.

It felt good to be doing something physically productive. And while today’s 35 minutes were very easy for me, I do not doubt that I will be challenged as I progress. I have trouble doing the Macarena, so I somewhat fear the multi-step moves that are in my future. The fact that today’s moves were easy is entirely due to the leg balance work in P90X-2. And for that I am grateful.

And so, dear reader, be warned: incredibly, this blog may become even more boring than it has been.

More Radical Hate-Speech

It’s worth the 43 minute investment to watch.

Round 7: P90X / X2 Hybrid, Days 88 – 90: And on the 91st Day, He Rested.

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain muscles and fitness, and lose the ability to play tennis? ~from the Gnostic Gospels

I’ve been dwelling on this thought for the past couple of weeks. I’ve now completed my seventh round of 90 day exercise regimens. Out of these seven rounds, I finished two with injury. Both injuries took place in the first round of the year. Last May, I limped to modified completion with a knee injury that hampered my ability to play tennis and hike. And this past month, I’ve modified my way through a frustrating tennis elbow injury that has me again sidelined from playing.

And I exercise routinely so that I can perform better at  tennis, hiking and active pursuits.

There are at least two schools of thought on this matter. The first is: what do you expect? You’re no spring chicken and that’s what happens when you pursue unrealistic objectives.

The second: These things happen from time to time precisely because you are fit and are competing at a more advanced (more taxing) level.

I’m of the second school of thought. It’s very frustrating to get injured, but the overall benefits of my efforts have outweighed the setbacks. And it’s a process. How to walk the line to improve fitness and play tennis reasonably well while avoiding injury. Of course, I need to work on technique, once I’m healed. Goodness knows I can work on improving my technique forever. It’s not like I have an athletic gift. I just enjoy playing. But I think I also need to discriminate between which shots are worth pursuing and which are not. Just because I can now get to a ball and hit it back doesn’t mean I need to tax myself to maximum effort on all shots. By picking my shots, I think I might better avoid injury and maximize my ability to play another day. The pros do this all the time. They’ll play routine tennis for four hours and win a match in a three minute burst of inspired and athletic play.

If I can manage to play crappy tennis for two hours and raise my level to “duffer” for maybe fifteen minutes, my results may improve. Hmm. I probably shouldn’t reveal this strategic thinking in a public forum, lest my future opponents learn of my plans.

So, another round is complete. I can’t say I feel heroic for the accomplishment, finishing with an injury. It’s just a minor setback. And I’m taking the long view.  I’m gonna take some time off to recover. But I expect I’ll get going again soon, even if it continues to require I modify upper body efforts.

Round 7: P90X / X2 Hybrid, Days 86 – 87: A Snake Spirit Animal Visited Me

The other day, I replaced the P.A.P. Upper routine with a 6.5 mile hike through the Jones Bridge Section of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. I was moving fairly well, completing the hike in 1.5 hours, at an average pace of just under 4.5 miles/hr. The estimated burn was 727 calories. This is good because, with the tennis elbow injury, I am in  dire need for an activity to replace calorie-sucking pull ups and tennis. These short hikes seem an excellent substitute. Plus, I like to hike. And, it’s good training for my Austrian hut to hut excursion planned for later this year.

Additionally, I received a good omen at the exact end of the hike. Just as I was exiting the trail to return to my car, I almost stepped on a beautiful copperhead snake that was stretched out across the trail, blocking my progress. I jumped back. But after the initial shock, I took a moment to admire the beauty of the creature as it slowly slithered off the trail into the cover of the leaves. What makes encountering a poisonous snake a good omen? Well, the snake spirit animal represents powerful transformation and healing. Perhaps this sign bodes well for my recovery from this tennis elbow.

Wait. What? Spirit Animals? Acupuncture? What’s next? Socialism?

Not to worry, I’m still all about freedom, liberty and rational thought. I promise.

Still, there is the issue with the cupping.

Yes, during my first visit to the acupuncturist, there was cupping involved. What the heck is cupping, you ask? Well, I was wondering that too. He had me laying prone and was working my back with his elbow. You’re very, very tight he pronounced. I’m thinking, what? I’m always this way. German heritage, I suppose. Very rigid.

I need to loosen you up. So he takes all these glass cups, creates a vacuum and plops them all over my upper back. There was intense suction to drawing the blood to the surface. The result is large, circular hickeys across my back.

He next began the acupuncture on my upper right back, tricep and at the point where the tennis elbow tendon attaches to the bone. Next, he wired me up to an electrical generator not unlike that used by Dr. Frankenstein to breathe life into the creature. My shoulder and tricep, twitched away from the stimulation for maybe 20 minutes.

After all this, I paid and was sent on my merry way, the acupuncturist assuring me I would be pain-free after three treatments. Why three treatments? I expect it’s because they swipe your credit card prior to treatment to see how much damage they can impose.

After the treatment, I admit I did feel better. Looser. But maybe its just because they stopped electrocuting me and sucking at my back. Time will tell.

I also visited my Ortho doctor. He was concerned that I hadn’t shown any progress in the 30 days since my last visit. He asked if I had had any relief from the anti-inflammatory gel he prescribed. No, I hadn’t. None at all. Upon inspection, he observed that my arm wasn’t inflamed, (No, it’s just withering away because I’m only using it to hold a fork and drink beverages.) “It’s early to be discussing surgery,” he said. (Who’s discussing it? YOU brought it up, I say to myself ). So he prescribes another anti-inflammatory and has me schedule an MRI and a follow-up to assess next steps.

After I get home, I decide there’s no way I’ll consider surgery for this condition. So what’s the point of the MRI? I cancelled the MRI and follow-up and will just really, totally rest the arm for the next 30 days and monitor my progress.

Oh, shit! I’m late for my Tarot reading. Gotta run!