EC Container 4
I love the TGU. I do the TGU a lot. I do the TGU when I first get up without any weight. Just going through the movements. Let’s me know how my day is going to go. Sort of. But if I can’t do a “naked” TGU first thing in the morning it usually is going to be a slow moving and somewhat painful day. Means I need to do LOT more mobility exercises than usual.
If I find I have a problem in one of the seven basic steps I stay on that area, working through it until I can do it at least moderately well. If I can’t do it then I have no business even touching a weight and I just do the primitive movement work, accessory work, mobility work, whatever else is needed.
I work at a computer all day so I take a 10 minute break every two hours and I do one or two steps of the TGU or an accessory movement to the TGU just to help keep me mobile. Since I sit all day, the high bridge and the windmill part is one of my mainstays and where I have the most problems. Hip mobility and thoracic mobility issues really stand out with this movement. I always have problems in these areas. I’m closer to 60 than 50 these days so I need to move and move often. The TGU makes ever part of me move, if I want it to or not.
I hate the TGU. Did I say I loved it. I hate it. Doing the TGU always tells me that I have problems that need to be worked on. Even when I don’t want to. I hate that. What I want to do is move heavy iron. But no, I have to work through my problems the TGU keeps telling me about. So I go through the book or DVD from “The Ground Up” that I have and I work on my problem areas. I’ve spent weeks at a time working nothing but the pieces of the TGU and swings.
I do the TGU in my office (at home). I do the TGU in the living room. I do it in my garage gym. Out in the yard. My neighbors think I’m nuts. Maybe I am. I just keep doing the TGU. And to what end? I’m never going to get it perfect. But maybe that’s the whole point. To keep working at it and try to get better by getting better and moving better overall. I may never get it perfect but the more I do it the better my body feels when I finish. I don’t feel like I’m getting close to 60. It’s only when I stop doing it for a while that I start feeling creaky, slower, less fluid. Although, I’m not sure fluid is a word that should be used when describing me.
Now I can’t decide if I love or hate the TGU. Maybe I just love to hate the TGU. Either way I’ll keep doing em. Day in and day out. Man, I just hate that.
But if you want to REALLY learn the TGU and you can't learn it from me, learn it from the best, Gray Cook and Brett Jones.
Managed Fitness and Health
Look better, feel better, live better
EC Container 5