Horizontal Pulls 10, 13, 13
Jackknife Squats 3x40
I performed the horizontal pulls hanging off of my dining room table. The flat smooth suface on the table did a great job of working my grip. I also performed these wearing socks on a hard wood floor. This was not a previously thought out decision, but it worked out great. Since my feet weren't really providing any traction, it forced me to engage my core for stabilization. Additionally, after the first set, I sucked my shoulders down into their sockets, and instantly felt stronger and more stable. This allowed me to get a few more reps in the last two sets than in the first. Today my back has a nice bit of soreness all along the spinal erectors.
The jackknife squats proved to be much easier, but had the unexpected side effect of helping to mobilize my talus. The talus is the bone in the ankle that sits over the top of the foot, and allows the foot to move up and down. My talus has had decreased mobility for a good year and a half now following an ankle sprain. Over the past two weeks, it had been feeling increasingly stuck. Last year my PT mobilized my talus to the point where I could begin to mobilize it on my own through various exercises. I had been doing as much of the physical therapy exercises as I could remember - calf raises, body weight squats and lunges, but not gaining any real relief. The close foot position of the jackknife squat forced my talus to mobilize. With each of the reps, it gained a little bit more mobility and decreased pain to the point where it felt 70-80% better than before.
Since I can already perform a pistol, these squat progressions are not super taxing on my muscles. Still, I am seeing quite a few benefits already from starting at the beginning and working my way through the sequences.
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