Staying fit to serve as a human punching bag as seams rivets and closures reach 63 years of age since being knit by that unpaid Gaelistan laborer, is a fey task. Doing so while traveling 75 days a year, for a “movement coach,” that is a real problem. The plan falls a bit short of planning, and amounts to a groggy sense of near urgency.
Mobility Concerns
The specter of sitting for days summons the limping gimp within. The first concerns are with maintaining range of motion and flexibility.
1.) I arrive early and alternately pace and stretch from a standing attitude, doing slow triangle step drills with coil and without extension.
-a.) Standing knee raises, with the weight back on the heel of the flattened base foot while slowly raising the other knee and trying to keep the crown of skull pointed to heaven, chin in and solar plexus open and not crunched.
-b.) Waist rolls, interior and exterior, focus on slow even, continuous motion.
-c. Side bends, with a focus on lifting the ribs
-d. Squat Creeps: Touch out towards the ground 8 to 16 inches in front of feet. Walk the fingers back, touch toes, walk fingers around ankles, pull elbows in line behind calves and stretch ham strings and low back. Bend knees until thighs even with ground. Push up on thighs with hands while slowly standing up. Repeat
2.) While seated on train and in station do dips between arm rests and in front of seat to develop traction for lumbar.
3.) When train stops for fueling and crew change, every 8 hours, walk back and forth on platform and do 1.d [as above] and appropriate squat.
4.) Seated, and standing, when guts feel compressed, lace fingers behind neck and exhale as fanning elbows out and back and pushing head back. Inhale to a neutral upright crunch, not curled, and expand again. Done best with seat back.
5.) Walk between seat and lower level bathroom and viewing car platform as often as practicable.
6.) Wear shoe quality bottom, soft upper slippers on train, giving feet and lower leg a rest from boots.
7.) Walk stairs at Denver Union Station. Speed walk with short steps at long platforms like Minot, North Dakota. Use railings and sign posts to assist in 1.d.
Strength
Squats are the main exercise, as I am still recovering from June 9, 2023 cripple curse at the gimp hands of Juju Quartermaine. In between squat sets I do Squat Creep hamstring stretches. Never lock knees.
-Wall Squats. Stand with back to wall and slide down and up holding at various levels above 90 degrees and below 180 degrees.
-Posture Squats. Pump thighs by doing 1/8 to ¼ squats, never locking knees out. Do between one and 4 half squats in the middle of the set, do more pumps, then one half squat. Hands go to front down to 90 degrees and return to hips in karate horse stance approaching 170 degrees. Finish set by threading one hand behind back, grabbing with the other and sliding passive wrist in active hand so that the active hand cups the wrist when facing forward. Then do a curl with the active hand, stretching the far trap and chest passively while bracing the back with the forearm of the shoulder being stretched.
-Seated postures stretch and brace. Some times I simply slide the hand behind until finding the far side of the cushion and then use fingers to pull the shoulder down.
-Squats while holding on to hip bar in basement well of pullman car.
-Leg raises while holding onto door bar.
-One arm pulls with feet together under bar.
-Seated mobile tension:
-Wrist) Lace fingers together, elbows by ribs, hands under chin. Roll hands slowly, then quickly, changing directions slowly then quickly.
-Fist/Chest) Place loose fist in cupped palm across chest. Press together, allowing fist to tighten and rotate to flattest two finger and three finger contacts.
-Shoulder/Chest/Tricep) Upward palm I outward palm, press. Shift upward to outward orientation and press.
-Bicep/Tricep) Downward Palm into Upward palm, with no space between fingers, Downward pinkie over upward thumb, palm to palm, upward pinkie against downward wrist. Push down to groin, resisting with upward hand in curling motion. Reverse. Alter to pushing across with upward and pulling in with downward. Then raise level push and pull across solar plexus. Keep shoulders down for all of this.
Forearm/Tricep) Alter push and curl and push and pull by placing upper palm on back of lower hand and repeat cycle.
Forearms) Rotate lower arm outward and upward towards chest as upper arm chops downward and cross while across belly to strike the two ulnar bones together in an oblique angle, not perpendicular, to keep bones strong while not being dinged by sticks.
Neck) Rolls, forward and backward, slowly.
Ankles) Toe arises and heel raises and alternate tow and heel raises while holding onto bars.
Hamstring/Low Back Finish) Especially when train is stopped and am still on train, stand before aisle seat, place palms on seat edge and lower head to seat, let hand 30 seconds, pushing up to assist back. Repeat, but at end of 30 seconds go to posture squat.
In the middle of the night, down in the luggage and bathroom compartment, shadow box.
Fingers/Palms) Practice palm checking and finger jabbing by thrusting speared fingers of one hand into cupped palm of the other. Practice hitting speared fingers with palm to condition for collapsing fingers when missing the eyes or throat and hitting hard targets like the skull.
Between each article or chapter in an armed office chair like this, do a slow set of dips, focus on letting butt hand dead and decompressing lumbar.
