Individual Thought Patterns: Guest Post by Darryl Lardizabal

Editors Note: I wrote about this concept here after a conversation with Darryl and then went on to give this a try, and my results got better from it.  Practically speaking, I wasn't wasting time dicking around testing weights and expending undue energy.  It also saves time.  As another experiment, I am having a friend try it out, and she is a complete blank slate when it comes to a lot of exercise movements, though not a complete novice.  I have also ventured out to testing new movements to success as well, and some movements I wrote off due to old dogmatism--I recently did direct tricep work and lat pulldowns.   At the end, check out Darryl's website and his stuff.  He asks interesting questions and they might give you new ideas.

Introduction

Mental testing?

Think it's impossible?

It's not necessarily something you first starting doing is it. Most of us that do Biofeedback testing have in some way begin to experiment outside of just testing exercises. Some have begun testing food, others something else entirely.

Some of my first questions were:

Can I test my thoughts?

What will begin to happen when I begin testing my thoughts?

What changes will happen if I begin to do so?

The original question came about while I was exercising. Frankie Faires often says, “Test Everything.” But one of the biggest questions that comes from that is “What is everything?” and “What isn't everything?”

So as I began exercising I came up with a simple question. Do I really have to do the movement to test it or can I think of the movement and get similar results to when I do it?

So I begin a little thought experiment. Think, test, do.

For example: Think “Can I deadlift.” Test. If it tests well, do it.

It seemed to work.

When This Seems to Work WORSE & What You Can Learn from It

Before I go over how this seemed to work better, let's go over why I don't prefer this method for beginners; and what I'd prefer you do, if you decide to try it.

I think of testing as a way of data acquisition. Basically, a way for your body to gather data on what tends to work well per second, per hour, per day, per week, etc. What seems to happen as explained by Frankie Faires in his Biopsych course is we begin to have better associations of what is and isn't right for us at the moment. With these better associations, we then keep getting better and better at figuring out who we are – physically, psychologically, and chemically.

When you test for things and they turn out better, you understand what TO DO [at the moment].

When you test for things and they turn out worse, you understand what NOT to do [at the moment].

In the beginning, mental testing seems to be influenced heavily on “ONLY” your beliefs at first, but when you begin testing both mentally and physically – your beliefs tend to better match YOUR reality: what actually works for YOU.

For example: If you've deadlifted before and have done so multiple times, when you test for deadlifting by just thought; most likely you will be more accurate on if it tests well or not.

On the other hand, say you haven't been deadlifting, especially more recently or you are new to deadlifting in general, and you decide to test for it (only mentally); you have a better chance at having the “wrong” belief.

On a personal note: There were times during this mental experiment that led me to pursue an exercise, and it just didn't feel right when I did it. Sometimes it would put me into pain, other times it would completely ruin my state.

For example: I thought I should deadlift. It tested well. Then I did it and it hurt me or just didn't feel right to do. I ended up either in pain or with no PR in intensity/density/volume.

But was I wrong? I don't think so. But I had to ask my question better. What was wrong and what was I actually testing?

What was wrong and what I may have been testing seemed to be my personal beliefs on the issue. Those beliefs have served me before, but something may have changed at the moment to make that belief somehow worse for me at the moment. In this case. Thinking I should deadlift and it hurting me may have some other associations I didn't have before: For example: Prior deadlift days may have been on days where I was well rested and possibly on this day I wasn't. Another example may be I may have had more mental stress (from running my business, writing blog posts, studying online courses, etc) that affect my overall bodily function overall.

Using the Wrong, To Make It More Right

Since then I've reformatted this thought experiment depending on what I'm testing and how “new” it is to me.

Anything new:

Think
Test
Act
Test

Anything “older;”
Think
Test
Act

This formula isn't set in stone!

What constitutes new or old?

New is a relative term because new is based off of you, so is old. Some exercises you may have been doing for 6 months and it may still be “new” to your body.

I've started to judge “new” by “Intuition.” For our purposes, intuition is when you start to feel like you want to do something.

Intuition will help you govern what seems to be new or old. The general idea is if you still don't know if you should or shouldn't be doing something yet, that exercise is still “new” to you. On the other hand, an exercise seems to be old when you start to have some indication PRIOR to doing that exercise if you should or shouldn't be doing it yet.

What do you mean this formula isn't set in stone?

This above formula is highly based on what you feel like you should do. In general if I want to make sure something is “right” I will do the “Anything New” formula.

Anything new can be:

Any new Macromovement

Any new Micromovement

Any new Micromovement Modification within a Macromovement

Any new Macromovement Modification within a Micromovement

Any new Micromovement Modification within a Micromovement

Any new Macromovement Modification within a Macromovemnt

You be the judge of when you want to recheck, I would say recheck when you feel like it or whenever you are unsure of yourself.

If you continue going down this route you'll have a better overall predictive abilitiy (better intuition) in terms of anything you've been testing.

For example: If you've been testing deadlifting, front squatting, bicep curling, bench pressing, and overhead pressing; your ability to judge when you should or shouldn't do them will get higher and higher as you continue on. On the other hand; anything you haven't been doing in awhile will more than likely get lower and lower as you continue on, until you start doing them again.

How Fast Will I Gain Predictive Abilities?

With the typical formula: test exercise, do exercise; the predictive abilities seem to be slower than when you mentally test the exercise, do the exercise, and retest, then continue to do the exercise as long as it tests well.

 

My predictive abilities came slower than when I taught a similar formula to my clients. There was also a difference in speed between those who did the mental version over just the solely physical one.

So What Is Exactly Going On?

First of all. I have no idea what EXACTLY is going on.

But I do believe.

What I believe this method does is better map your mind to your body, rather than mapping your body to your mind, something Frankie Faires says we want to be trying to do – if it tests well. Why I believe this method works better is because you're “directly” testing your beliefs and rechecking it with the “truth.” Your belief of a how say a deadlift is good for you, you do it, and it turns out it isn't; helps form a better representation of what your body really wants.

I don't necessarily think you should or shouldn't be doing this, but my overall goals are to see how far I can take testing by following Frankie's simply motto: “Question Everything, Test Everything.”

Darryl can be found in “The Play Pen”, editing videos of himself playing with himself or with his clients, training his clients for Pure Greatness, or writing smart ass articles on http://www.easierstrengthtraining.com/. If you’d like to contact him: E-mail him at apolakifitness@gmail.com, friend him on facebook: Darryl Lardizabal, or twit him @XPO312.

Your Back Hurts? Quit Fucking Whining and Fix It, Part 4

 Read these:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 5 (read this one after you read the current post, in case you cannot count)

This time, my back hurt.  It hurt pretty fucking bad for a while.  I was practicing front squats on a distress (day where you do not strictly follow GM protocol) day and did not stop when I should have.  What started as a manageable tweak, turned into something horrid.  The back pain erupted into something worse.  It was aggravated by sitting down in my work chair.  I would notice that when I stood up after sitting for extended periods, a sharp searing pain radiated from my ass to my foot, and it hurt like hell.  I had never felt this way before, so after a week of not moving, and still hurting, I started to worry.   I opted to use a doctor as a last resort, and in the mean time fucked around with other ideas.

Idea one was simple.  Stop sitting at work.  I did that.  Shit felt better immediately (but still really fucking hurt).

It was my sciatic nerve that was fucked, by the way

Other things that provided temporary relief included anything involving an L-Sit.

This is an L-Sit

This was a good idea, and always tested well.  A problem I was still having however, was that by even doing a bodyweight squat, my left leg felt like it was having an earthquake, and that it couldn't support my body.  This was no good.

I then decided to look into massage therapy.  A good friend of mine, Nyssa Hanger, happens to be someone I trust, and a massage therapist.  I went to her first, because I have known her for several years and as such, I trusted her.  She recommended Structural Energy Therapy, which is a structural realignment based on your current structure.  I was interested, but ultimately didn't give a fuck to learn the details until after I felt better.

Nyssa Hanger, contemplating the infrastructure.

It was pretty interesting, what I learned during the first session.  What was more interesting was the fact that after the first session, I gained a fuck ton of leg strength back and was able to start squatting again.  Yay. No more quaking left leg.  The pain had decreased a lot.  I tested whether I should get another one, and got a green light.  Even less pain the second time around.  Sitting did not hurt as much.  Though, I don't sit at work anymore I still sit on the couch at home or lie down.  During the most intense periods of pain, lying down always helped as did standing.  Now, I am able to front squat, back squat, and safety bar squat again.  A third massage did not test well, but now the pain is a half inch away from non existent.

The massages were only one step to my pain resolution.  Being in the situation forced me to think of other things to do to help the pain.  Bridging, static stretching, using a stairmaster, and asymmetric lifting all tested well.  At one time, static stretching and the stairmaster never tested well.  But this time, stretching the everliving fuck out of my hamstring (by way of a toe touch stretch and downward dog yoga moves) helped me out immensely.  As the pain got better, the amount of stretching decreased.

I have no reason to believe I won't be able to compete at the next powerlifting meet I signed up for, now.  Prior to my resolution, I was deathly afraid I wouldn't lift again.

On a positive note, I didn't lose strength, and could wake up any given day and be ready to compete at 181 with no cutting, so there is a ten pound weight reduction.  I have since decided to compete at 165.

I still stand at work, and have also switched to barefoot shoes--Vibram Five Fingers (because I am a tool) and Merrell Tough Glove barefoot shoes.  Both of these brands are rad to lift in and have helped me keep the better alignment Nyssa helped me achieve.

I will also add that I got a shitload of reading done.  I read Stieg Larsson's Millennium Series (which includes The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).  It was fucking awesome.  I also finished the first book of The Hunger Games.  It was also fucking awesome.

I know it sounds like I was whining here, and I probably was.  This is the most hurt I have ever been in my life.  The take home points are several.  First and foremost, unless you're about to break a world record, fucking stop moving if something hurts.  Two, don't do what I did as far as treatment, unless it's right for you. Three, the sciatic nerve, like the Wu-Tang Clan, is nothing to fuck with.  Hopefully, this will help someone out there.  And there you have the first three months of my new year since about my birthday (16 January).