One Side Teaches The Other

Variety Day today, partial and full getups with 18 and 24 kg.

A bit of injury history is in order:

While recovering from pneumonia in 2003, I broke a rib coughing. It's around the back of my rib cage, on the right side. The doctor said it's fully healed, and it never bothers me doing anything, even the heaviest of lifts, with one singular exception - getups with my left elbow down and my right arm up.

It isn't the weight overhead that's the issue - the discomfort in that spot happens with an empty upper hand just the same as it does with a weight.

Today, I "asked" my bad side to learn from my good side and achieved a good result.

On my good side, I noticed my thoracic spine was extended as I come up on my elbow. On my bad side, I "turtle", rounding through the neck and t-spine, living in fear that my formerly broken, now still not-quite-right rib cage will hurt. I'll try not to be dramatic, but it doesn't hurt just a little when this happens. I ask my doctor about it every year at my physical, and he says he can't find anything wrong. My suspicion is that I "hinge", putting a big load inappropriately on one small spot, and therein lies my problem.

Attempting to keep my t-spine extended on my bad side was a big help today - progress with my getups and, I hope, a lesson that will stick with me - get the form right, and there's no pain, but getting the form right requires facing, not doing an end run, around the possibility of pain.

NB: 25 years of running has left me unable to put a lot of pressure on my knees, especially in certain positions. There is a limit to the number of full-range getups I can do, even though I have modified the movement to minimize pressure and rubbing on my knees. This works out OK for me because the place in the getup where I am poorest is the very beginning, from on the floor to up on my elbow. This range of motion is what I practice most, and I do the full getup only once every few weeks just to be sure I'm still comfortable doing that, which I am. Today I did one 18 kg and one 24 kg full getup on each side.

Onward and upward.