Working out with cerebral palsy

[Whatsinaname84]

This thread has been created to help myself as well as others with this common (1/500) physical condition.

[Whatsinaname84]

This thread has been created to help myself as well as others with this common physical condition.

right now abdomin is rather uneven. It used to not be noticeable thing but it has declined to this state of noticable difference over the last few years.

now for the questions to start this thread off:

-What should I be doing to help my abs get more even?
-My shoulder comes up a little bit on my right side when i do curls or bench press so what can i do to improve this?
-I have mild cerebral palsy on my right side so what stretches would one recommend do help with range of motion so as to better my ability to work out properly?

[TheUnlikelyToad]

I'm in...


Isolating right/left abdominal regions (or core in general) is near impossible to do. More than likely you will also find some difficulties with the spinal erectors as well. As we discussed earlier it's more about strengthening your overall mind and muscle connection in an attempt to force a stronger contraction.

Static holds or 'planks' may help to some degree as you can concentrate on tha feel. Once you get it down, move to an abdominal machine. Pick a light weight. Visualize, contract those weaker muscles and rep slowly. Just make sure you keep it light and don't progress too fast in an effort to push heavier weight, all you'll end up doing is creating more stimulus for your stronger side. Occasionally you can go heavy, but we can cross that bridge at a later time...


Can you go into more detail with your shoulder concerns?

[Ned_Flanders]

Not sure if this is what you want but here are some links....

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/theunlikelytoad1.htm

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/jrod13.htm

[Whatsinaname84]

I'm in...


Isolating right/left abdominal regions (or core in general) is near impossible to do. More than likely you will also find some difficulties with the spinal erectors as well. As we discussed earlier it's more about strengthening your overall mind and muscle connection in an attempt to force a stronger contraction.

Static holds or 'planks' may help to some degree as you can concentrate on tha feel. Once you get it down, move to an abdominal machine. Pick a light weight. Visualize, contract those weaker muscles and rep slowly. Just make sure you keep it light and don't progress too fast in an effort to push heavier weight, all you'll end up doing is creating more stimulus for your stronger side. Occasionally you can go heavy, but we can cross that bridge at a later time...


Can you go into more detail with your shoulder concerns?

What stretches should i be doing?

The shoulder issue is an odd one. Its almost as if somehow the shoulder takes on a significant amount of the weight. This is notable even when working with lesser weights. right now i am concerned about trying to build a more level arm strength so i am not going too high (20lbs) who knows maybe over the past few months of not working out i should go lower and play around there... idk its really odd!

onto what you mentioned about the ab workout... right now i think the reason why my abs are lopsided is because i am overweight and my normal side is compensating. does this make sense? before i had abs of more symetry much like your own only not defined or nearly as strong. I am seeing a specialist for my pelvic floor dysfunction and she gave me some exercises that work more on one side than the other. the exersize she gave me was to do crunches taking your left elbow and pointing to your right knee and visa versa.with that as well as your advise to focus on the contractions have made my work out feel equal on both sides. i cannot do straight up and down crunches as it will aggrivate my pelvic floor dysfunction but oneswhere i go from one side to another is perfectly fine. are there weighted exercise down the road that i could do with these one side to the other type crunches?

I have 6 months time on my hands to do nothing but work out if i want to. id really love to get a head start on this thing so as to encourage me to continue once my life becomes busier. my pain issue has kept me from doing the things i want for 4 years and i am now motivated to the point where i want to use these 6 months to better myself for when my pain is gone. I want to be the best that i can be. as a person with mild cp for 24 years i am really looking forward to playing soccer at a higher level. i live a life of normalcy with normal friends and sometimes its hard to keep up.

i do have some questions for you.. is your cp mild or moderate? also should i expect to be able to see gains in a few years that are of a decent size or do you think that you are one of the lucky ones that can?

[TheUnlikelyToad]

What stretches should i be doing?

Whatever you think may be of benefit. I rarely ever stretch on my own because I need someone to assist. If I'm feeling tight, I'll have my fiance work me over.

The shoulder issue is an odd one. Its almost as if somehow the shoulder takes on a significant amount of the weight. This is notable even when working with lesser weights. right now i am concerned about trying to build a more level arm strength so i am not going too high (20lbs) who knows maybe over the past few months of not working out i should go lower and play around there... idk its really odd!

I still need more info with this one. Pure speculation, but it could be that you are overtaxing you're CNS. My spasticity goes ape **** when I start to overtrain. Otherwise, in my experience you'll get some additional movement out of tha opposite side not worked with some movements... I think it's normal

onto what you mentioned about the ab workout... right now i think the reason why my abs are lopsided is because i am overweight and my normal side is compensating. does this make sense?

Yes, it makes sense but I also think you'll run into this regardless tha more you train as well. It's inevitable, so IMO there's no need to start splitting hairs.

before i had abs of more symetry much like your own only not defined or nearly as strong. I am seeing a specialist for my pelvic floor dysfunction and she gave me some exercises that work more on one side than the other. the exersize she gave me was to do crunches taking your left elbow and pointing to your right knee and visa versa.with that as well as your advise to focus on the contractions have made my work out feel equal on both sides. i cannot do straight up and down crunches as it will aggrivate my pelvic floor dysfunction but oneswhere i go from one side to another is perfectly fine. are there weighted exercise down the road that i could do with these one side to the other type crunches?

There are plenty of ways to modify exercises to fit your individual needs. You will most likely find that your biggest challenge will be getting tha right angle on a machine or specific grip to perform each exercise. This is also where getting tha right 'feel' can come into play as certain motor skills require certain fiber types that have been damaged and you can't get a strong enough contraction. You gotta work around it unfortunately, through trial and error.

I have 6 months time on my hands to do nothing but work out if i want to. id really love to get a head start on this thing so as to encourage me to continue once my life becomes busier. my pain issue has kept me from doing the things i want for 4 years and i am now motivated to the point where i want to use these 6 months to better myself for when my pain is gone. I want to be the best that i can be. as a person with mild cp for 24 years i am really looking forward to playing soccer at a higher level. i live a life of normalcy with normal friends and sometimes its hard to keep up.

i do have some questions for you.. is your cp mild or moderate? also should i expect to be able to see gains in a few years that are of a decent size or do you think that you are one of the lucky ones that can?

I would say my CP is mild, especially when you consider there are a lot less fortunate in wheelchairs... Honestly, you can do whatever to put your mind to. I truly mean that. It's going to be a struggle and you really have to want it for yourself but it can be done. I've dedicated 9 years to bodybuilding so don't think this all happened overnight. When I was young, I was into a lot of team sports including Soccer. It didn't take long before I realized it just wasn't working out. Bodybuilding was something my college housemate got me started on and it quickly put back tha confidence I left out on tha field. Bodybuilding became my sport. A sport where both successes and failures are a direct result of my actions. Needless to say, you get what you put in. I've been fighting tooth and nail for every rep and every pound since tha beginning, going somewhere around 120 to my heaviest at 180... and all points in between.

[Whatsinaname84]

What stretches should i be doing?

Whatever you think may be of benefit. I rarely ever stretch on my own because I need someone to assist. If I'm feeling tight, I'll have my fiance work me over.

The shoulder issue is an odd one. Its almost as if somehow the shoulder takes on a significant amount of the weight. This is notable even when working with lesser weights. right now i am concerned about trying to build a more level arm strength so i am not going too high (20lbs) who knows maybe over the past few months of not working out i should go lower and play around there... idk its really odd!

I still need more info with this one. Pure speculation, but it could be that you are overtaxing you're CNS. My spasticity goes ape **** when I start to overtrain. Otherwise, in my experience you'll get some additional movement out of tha opposite side not worked with some movements... I think it's normal

onto what you mentioned about the ab workout... right now i think the reason why my abs are lopsided is because i am overweight and my normal side is compensating. does this make sense?

Yes, it makes sense but I also think you'll run into this regardless tha more you train as well. It's inevitable, so IMO there's no need to start splitting hairs.

before i had abs of more symetry much like your own only not defined or nearly as strong. I am seeing a specialist for my pelvic floor dysfunction and she gave me some exercises that work more on one side than the other. the exersize she gave me was to do crunches taking your left elbow and pointing to your right knee and visa versa.with that as well as your advise to focus on the contractions have made my work out feel equal on both sides. i cannot do straight up and down crunches as it will aggrivate my pelvic floor dysfunction but oneswhere i go from one side to another is perfectly fine. are there weighted exercise down the road that i could do with these one side to the other type crunches?

There are plenty of ways to modify exercises to fit your individual needs. You will most likely find that your biggest challenge will be getting tha right angle on a machine or specific grip to perform each exercise. This is also where getting tha right 'feel' can come into play as certain motor skills require certain fiber types that have been damaged and you can't get a strong enough contraction. You gotta work around it unfortunately, through trial and error.

I have 6 months time on my hands to do nothing but work out if i want to. id really love to get a head start on this thing so as to encourage me to continue once my life becomes busier. my pain issue has kept me from doing the things i want for 4 years and i am now motivated to the point where i want to use these 6 months to better myself for when my pain is gone. I want to be the best that i can be. as a person with mild cp for 24 years i am really looking forward to playing soccer at a higher level. i live a life of normalcy with normal friends and sometimes its hard to keep up.

i do have some questions for you.. is your cp mild or moderate? also should i expect to be able to see gains in a few years that are of a decent size or do you think that you are one of the lucky ones that can?

I would say my CP is mild, especially when you consider there are a lot less fortunate in wheelchairs... Honestly, you can do whatever to put your mind to. I truly mean that. It's going to be a struggle and you really have to want it for yourself but it can be done. I've dedicated 9 years to bodybuilding so don't think this all happened overnight. When I was young, I was into a lot of team sports including Soccer. It didn't take long before I realized it just wasn't working out. Bodybuilding was something my college housemate got me started on and it quickly put back tha confidence I left out on tha field. Bodybuilding became my sport. A sport where both successes and failures are a direct result of my actions. Needless to say, you get what you put in. I've been fighting tooth and nail for every rep and every pound since tha beginning, going somewhere around 120 to my heaviest at 180... and all points in between.

Right now I am taking it easy. the physical therapist and i are slowly putting physical stuff back into play and testing the pain reactions. I told her about my assperations to be the best that i can be and she said "its fine just as long as im not trying to be arnold..." which really bugs the **** out of me because that could be an exaggeration. I really want this and i hope that emense physical effort and wanting is all that is needed... i see her again on tuesday. I would appreciate it if you could come up with a mock exercise routine so that i can show her what i would be doing at the gym. from the looks of her she obviously knows her way around the gym and hasnt really mentioned a specific exercise besides to avoid like doing straight sit ups and saying that i shouldnt do more than 100 straight forward and back crunches a day... I hope you can find it in your busy schedule to help me out from time to time. Anything you mention i will do. im not exactly a lazy whiner and i want this for myself so feel free to give me anything you think that will help. If in the future i end up hearing from my PT that doing this is a bad thing for the condition i may need to find alternatives... but we will cross that bridge when we come to it. also... isnt it a struggle for everyone who body builds? I would expect extra difficulty but i would also expect a different amount of determination from those with mild cp to want to improve their lives. from what ive felt in the gym its about finding the right way of doing things that have kept me back. what are the added challenges you would say that people with cp would have to go through? Im trying to mentally prepare for this seeing as the gym didnt really work out last time.

edit: you mentioned the cns giving you a hard time.... how exactly? i know that when i push myself sometimes my biceps wont get that "getting worked" feeling as much. also to note... even if i do the curls straight off cardio it still does that. it doesnt really make sense... i can carry in 3 palettes of water bottles from the garage with it not happening. perhaps it has something to do with the up and down motion?

edit 2: the reason why i brought up stretches was because i have a rather disappointing range of motion for my right arm ie cant really reach around my back in the shower with my right arm and i have to use my left. i think a lot of that is also stuff to do with the shoulder.

edit 3: my shoulders on both sides pop from time to time even when i dont exercise.

[TheUnlikelyToad]

Don't get discouraged, but at this point in time I don't feel comfortable designing a workout routine because I don't know you well enough. Although we both have CP, there will be some fundamental differences in our disposition. For instance, so far I've learned that we are reverse wired. My left is my bad/weaker side, for you it's your right.

More than likely your PT said about Arnold as to not get your hopes up or so that you don't start doing anything 'crazy', get yourself hurt and try to make her liable. I'll be very upfront with you. A lot of the medical community at large will try and derail your efforts. There is a certain stigma that comes with being a bodybuilder and you having CP does not lend itself to bearing much fruit... as you later go on to say "If in the future i end up hearing from my PT that doing this is a bad thing for the condition i may need to find alternatives..." In my humble option, this is tha roadblock you will constantly face and a war will ensue as to whether you'll want to actually follow said advice.

I rarely listened and stopped going to mine in my early teens. I found out that if I wanted to make tha best out of my life, I'd have to be willing to take risks and blaze my own trail. I'm not entirely saying you have to do this, but I'm giving you some perspective. Many doctors have told me that bodybuilding is not good for my condition, that putting on too much weight places an incredible amount of stress on my joints, foot/ankle and left big toe. I've been told it could break under pressure requiring me surgery. In fact, they'd like to do surgery now. All in all it's a balancing act to not get too big too fast and keep my weight under control. But I refuse to give up bodybuilding. God gave me this gift and I want to take it as far as it goes. That's why I'm helping you and why I hope to help others with this very thread.

[Whatsinaname84]

Don't get discouraged, but at this point in time I don't feel comfortable designing a workout routine because I don't know you well enough. Although we both have CP, there will be some fundamental differences in our disposition. For instance, so far I've learned that we are reverse wired. My left is my bad/weaker side, for you it's your right.

More than likely your PT said about Arnold as to not get your hopes up or so that you don't start doing anything 'crazy', get yourself hurt and try to make her liable. I'll be very upfront with you. A lot of the medical community at large will try and derail your efforts. There is a certain stigma that comes with being a bodybuilder and you having CP does not lend itself to bearing much fruit... as you later go on to say "If in the future i end up hearing from my PT that doing this is a bad thing for the condition i may need to find alternatives..." In my humble option, this is tha roadblock you will constantly face and a war will ensue as to whether you'll want to actually follow said advice.

I rarely listened and stopped going to mine in my early teens. I found out that if I wanted to make tha best out of my life, I'd have to be willing to take risks and blaze my own trail. I'm not entirely saying you have to do this, but I'm giving you some perspective. Many doctors have told me that bodybuilding is not good for my condition, that putting on too much weight places an incredible amount of stress on my joints, foot/ankle and left big toe. I've been told it could break under pressure requiring me surgery. In fact, they'd like to do surgery now. All in all it's a balancing act to not get too big too fast and keep my weight under control. But I refuse to give up bodybuilding. God gave me this gift and I want to take it as far as it goes. That's why I'm helping you and why I hope to help others with this very thread.

I think you misunderstood. I am not seeing a physical therapist for my cp. I am seeing her for PFD (pelvic floor dysfunction) which is completely unrelated to the cp. She was telling me straight crunches can and likely will cause my pelvic pain to return. Again she is being paid for services unrelated to my cp and her advice is based on PFD. I intend to get into the best shape of my life and eliminate a few of my limitations along the way. By routine i mean toss some exercises that i will likely be doing at the gym so that i can ask her if they will be an issue and why. I think if i can get some answers to those questions you can better help me with my workout. Just toss some exercise names at me and i will inform her of them. Risk is a part of life and is a bigger part of ours because of cp. You have to risk something in order to gain something. I have to risk things in order to do the things i want to do. even if things did flair up my PFD it will take only a couple of appointments to get the pelvic floor muscles back to normal if i treat it immediately but i would need to know if she thinks its a high risk exercise. So yeah... toss me some names of exercises that i will likely be doing so that i can show her. Thanks again for your support and your inspiration.

[TheUnlikelyToad]

I think you misunderstood. I am not seeing a physical therapist for my cp. I am seeing her for PFD (pelvic floor dysfunction) which is completely unrelated to the cp. She was telling me straight crunches can and likely will cause my pelvic pain to return. Again she is being paid for services unrelated to my cp and her advice is based on PFD. I intend to get into the best shape of my life and eliminate a few of my limitations along the way. By routine i mean toss some exercises that i will likely be doing at the gym so that i can ask her if they will be an issue and why. I think if i can get some answers to those questions you can better help me with my workout. Just toss some exercise names at me and i will inform her of them. Risk is a part of life and is a bigger part of ours because of cp. You have to risk something in order to gain something. I have to risk things in order to do the things i want to do. even if things did flair up my PFD it will take only a couple of appointments to get the pelvic floor muscles back to normal if i treat it immediately but i would need to know if she thinks its a high risk exercise. So yeah... toss me some names of exercises that i will likely be doing so that i can show her. Thanks again for your support and your inspiration.

My apologies... I didn't initially misunderstand, but I did end up forgetting what you said when I started generalizing about doctors/physicians/therapists etc.

How spastic are you? Do you think it could be contributing your PFD issue?

Tha following is a list of exercises I do. I've never been able to utilize many free weights, so your mileage may vary...

Machine Flys
Pec Dec
Cable Crossovers
Machine Press (using vertical grips)
Push Ups (using vertical grip bars)

Shoulder Press/ Military Press Machine
Side Lateral Machine
Upright Rows

Seated Tri Ext
Standing Tri Ext

Weighted Ab Crunch
Lower Back Ext

Hammer Strength Iso High Row
Hammer Strength Iso Low Row
Seated Rows
Fixed Pulldown Machine
Lat Pulldowns (Wide, Close, V-Bar)

Machine Bicep (preacher) Curls

Hack Squats
Horizontal Leg Press
Leg Ext
Seated Ham Curl (singles)

[Whatsinaname84]

I try my hardest to use my right side as much as possible to help guide my behavior to include the cp side. I have spastic characteristics in my right side such as cramping in my calf muscle and foot mostly. in addition my dexterity is rather crap on my right side. my ability to stick just my ring finger out by its own does not work very well as my pinky finger comes out straight along with it. i can not curl my toes but i assume that is from the heal cord lengthening i had when i was younger as i used to have control over the toes. you asked me if i think the cp contributed to the pelvic pain... i lived pelvic pain free for 20 years before the surgery so i do not think it was the main cause. i was able to have sex multiple times a day a week prior to the surgery without pain or unusual discomfort. do you think the cp would contribute to it? all i know is that it will likely take longer to resolve due to the right side of my body including right side of the pelvis is tighter. my overall goal is to improve my strength so that i can do more things as well as improve my physical appearance.

[Whatsinaname84]

when you say disposition youre referring to my drive for weight lifting or am i misunderstanding? also are you saying that there is a precieved limitation to gains for people with cp or are you saying that cp will most likely not bear results of any significant degree?

[TheUnlikelyToad]

when you say disposition youre referring to my drive for weight lifting or am i misunderstanding?

I'm saying that our dispositions may be different depending on how CP has effected you in comparison to me.

[TheUnlikelyToad]

I try my hardest to use my right side as much as possible to help guide my behavior to include the cp side. I have spastic characteristics in my right side such as cramping in my calf muscle and foot mostly. in addition my dexterity is rather crap on my right side. my ability to stick just my ring finger out by its own does not work very well as my pinky finger comes out straight along with it. i can not curl my toes but i assume that is from the heal cord lengthening i had when i was younger as i used to have control over the toes. you asked me if i think the cp contributed to the pelvic pain... i lived pelvic pain free for 20 years before the surgery so i do not think it was the main cause. i was able to have sex multiple times a day a week prior to the surgery without pain or unusual discomfort. do you think the cp would contribute to it? all i know is that it will likely take longer to resolve due to the right side of my body including right side of the pelvis is tighter. my overall goal is to improve my strength so that i can do more things as well as improve my physical appearance.

So you had pelvic surgery or are you talking about heal cord lengthening?

I had tha heal cord done when I was 5 and can't curl my toes or pivot my ankle up or down as a result. My right (good side) calf is about 3x tha size of my left without any additional exercise... Fingers appear to be similar. In certain situations I've found my left fingers will work better by moving my right. Like if I move my right index finger, my left has a tendency move along with it.

[Whatsinaname84]

So you had pelvic surgery or are you talking about heal cord lengthening?

I had tha heal cord done when I was 5 and can't curl my toes or pivot my ankle up or down as a result. My right (good side) calf is about 3x tha size of my left without any additional exercise... Fingers appear to be similar. In certain situations I've found my left fingers will work better by moving my right. Like if I move my right index finger, my left has a tendency move along with it.

I had a suprapubic catheter installed and removed which is likely the cause for my pelvic pain. so you do not do exercises for that calf muscle? i know that if i try hard i can move my toes to some degree.

[TheUnlikelyToad]

I had a suprapubic catheter installed and removed which is likely the cause for my pelvic pain. so you do not do exercises for that calf muscle? i know that if i try hard i can move my toes to some degree.

No voluntary contraction... classic drop foot since surgery. I haven't worn a brace either in years, but I've recently reconsidered.

[Whatsinaname84]

No voluntary contraction... classic drop foot since surgery. I haven't worn a brace either in years, but I've recently reconsidered.

i notice that the inner side of my calf is weak.... is this the same for you?

[TheUnlikelyToad]

i notice that the inner side of my calf is weak.... is this the same for you?

It's all weak as I only get involuntary contraction out of it (ie muscle spasms). But when I do, I tend to feel it more mid-outer than along tha inside. Is that what you mean?

[Whatsinaname84]

It's all weak as I only get involuntary contraction out of it (ie muscle spasms). But when I do, I tend to feel it more mid-outer than along tha inside. Is that what you mean?

yep. I showed the list of exercises to the PT and she said they will all be okay with time. she took a copy and is going to go over it more thoroughly. I am excited to start this! I am to try out machines little by little to see if it causes a flair in pain and if a particular machine does ill just have to wait a while longer for the treatment to progress. So im not gonig to be hitting it hard right away i guess. are any exercises for the abs that i can do at home that does not require a forward crunch? also seeing as my right hand is kind of weak would strengthening it help with dexterity and control at all? i know brain damage causes motor control issues but i am thinking so does weakness.

edit: isnt there some form of corrective surgery for the heal cord lengthening surgery that could alleviate or improve some symptoms from it?

[TheUnlikelyToad]

www.exrx.net is a good resource. Any oblique exercise you think you can perform should suffice.

As far as tha hand goes, you can certainly try to strengthen it. My grip strength has improved over time, but dexterity has not. In fact, I still can't tie my own shoes. You have to remember too that working out IS a form of physical therapy so you'll see some subtle improvement overtime.

I have no idea on tha surgery. I have not seen my surgeon in years. He is one person who strikes enough fear in me that I can be brought to tears in an instant... too many bad memories. Ironically, I just recently found out he moved his practice and is literally a block away from my work. In fact, one of my consumers is going to see him for back pain as he was my consumers old doctor as well... Perhaps God wanted to say Hi, but for some reason I find it hard to smile back.

[Casey Butt]

This isn't specific advice, but I have a friend with CP who trained like a bull for years. He did all sorts of routines, but eventually settled on strong-man type stuff - very basic, free-weight, odd-object lifting, etc. The only real difficultly he had was with Squats - he couldn't keep his balance so he switched to hip-belt Squats and the like. He was a Deadlifting machine. Without training his posture and gait was very noticable, but the training seemed to help that to the point that I don't think you'd really notice unless you were looking for it.

[TheUnlikelyToad]

Without training his posture and gait was very noticable, but the training seemed to help that to the point that I don't think you'd really notice unless you were looking for it.

Come to think of it, my mother has theorized that about me as well. At tha time I didn't place much stock into it as she compared me to another local individual she knew who doesn't workout.

Canada's Jeff King, who also has CP, found incredible success with Strongman as well as Armwrestling.

[Whatsinaname84]

Come to think of it, my mother has theorized that about me as well. At tha time I didn't place much stock into it as she compared me to another local individual she knew who doesn't workout.

Canada's Jeff King, who also has CP, found incredible success with Strongman as well as Armwrestling.

update:

I can begin the following exercises now:

machine flys
pec dec
cable crossovers
machine press
push ups
shoulder press/military press machine
side lateral machine
seated tri ext
standign tri ext
hammer strength iso high/low row
fixed pulldown machine
lat pulldowns
machine bicep Curls
leg extension
seated ham curl

are there any stretches i can do to make my shoulder more flexible?

[TheUnlikelyToad]

are there any stretches i can do to make my shoulder more flexible?

I would try raising both arms and grabbing hold of your bad arm/wrist with good hand and stretching backwards. It also may help to do this laying down.

Any exercise you can perform, you can also do a modified stretch for that muscle group by incorporating static holds with light weight throughout different ROM.

[Whatsinaname84]

I would try raising both arms and grabbing hold of your bad arm/wrist with good hand and stretching backwards. It also may help to do this laying down.

Any exercise you can perform, you can also do a modified stretch for that muscle group by incorporating static holds with light weight throughout different ROM.

I might have her take a look at it next week. i think the muscle underneath is really tight... cant be sure though. on another note... did you everhave lax joints in your fingers?

[TheUnlikelyToad]

I might have her take a look at it next week. i think the muscle underneath is really tight... cant be sure though. on another note... did you everhave lax joints in your fingers?

You mean hyper-extended swan neck?





...yeah

[Whatsinaname84]

You mean hyper-extended swan neck?





...yeah

no not like that.. hmm maybe im using the wrong wording here...ill come back to this later.

[Whatsinaname84]

There are some products that can cause muscles to contract and i am wondering if one could use those to better figure out how to create voluntary muscle contractions?

[TheUnlikelyToad]

There are some products that can cause muscles to contract and i am wondering if one could use those to better figure out how to create voluntary muscle contractions?

Short of Electronic Muscle Stimulators and/or use of a Hyperbaric Chamber, I highly doubt it.


Strengthen your mind and muscle connection by getting a good feel for each muscle worked. Over time things will improve.

[Whatsinaname84]

Short of Electronic Muscle Stimulators and/or use of a Hyperbaric Chamber, I highly doubt it.


Strengthen your mind and muscle connection by getting a good feel for each muscle worked. Over time things will improve.

i agree on that one but i also think that some muscles will be very subtle because of cp's effect on the body. Obviously you would know more than me based on your 9 years of body building experience with cp but that was my thought. i have been practicing clenching my right side abs but i can only do it with significant force if i have stimulus forthe muscles ie me crossing my arm in front of my body and putting a small amount of weight on it. are you saying that over time that will likely improve to where i wont need stimulus like this?