What would happen to your body if you hung on a barbell every day for 10 years? Personal experience

business consultant

“I haven’t forgotten about my back since childhood. When I was playing the piano, I read a lot and got used to ‘hunched over’. I went swimming, but it didn’t solve the problem completely”.

At a conscious age (after 25 years) I became interested in bodybuilding, then triathlon and overcoming ultra-distance. I was serious about it, so I formed a special corset consisting of muscles and fibers used to be in constant tension (hypertonus). Plus there were various injuries.

To cope with pain in the back and body from excessive loads helped me to perform the gymnastics “five Tibetan pearls” in combination with hanging on doors, trees, stiles. I learned about these exercises from professional athletes. They were also recommended by osteopaths and chiropractors.

The idea of the complex of exercises is to engage all 12 main joints of the body, which in Eastern medicine are among the energy centers. You can see the technique on the Internet.

I have been doing the complex every day for more than 10 years, of course, under the supervision of doctors. I also sometimes supplement it with such exercises as reverse bridge, static in two planks, stretching with a swallow on a roller (face up). Several times a month I use the Glisson loop. It is a fabric trainer for stretching spinal structures under load.

Now I have one or two workouts a day: tennis, boxing, cycling, functional, swimming or running. Thanks to Tibetan gymnastics and hanging on the bar, I have almost completely eliminated the consequences of right-sided stance in boxing, tennis and golf. I have also reduced the impact load on my joints in running and cycling.

Physician Opinion

leading traumatologist-orthopedist, podiatrist (specialist in foot diseases)

“Andrei’s extensive sports experience allows him to competently approach the loads on the body. It is noticeable that he tries to listen to his body, for example, when hypertonus occurs, he started to do exercises to reduce muscle tension”.

Indeed, the most common long sitting position negatively affects both the spine and muscle tone in general.

Here you can look to animals who stretch after a long rest. Look at your cats or dogs, who instinctively stretch after sleeping. The Five Pearls method is also aimed at gentle stretching.

The benefit of gymnastics and exercise is in stretching those muscle groups that are least utilized during the day. Also the load of your own body helps when exercising on the bar. Hanging on the arms helps to increase the distance between the vertebrae and in the case of compression of intervertebral discs.

Athletes are sure to “warm up” the muscles before the main load, doing a warm-up. They know that it is important to prepare the body so that it works properly and does not fail, for example, in the form of injury.

At the same time, sports with extreme loads such as triathlons, bodybuilding and ultramarathons for an unprepared body can be not only harmful, but also dangerous.

A doctor and even a sports physician should be consulted to avoid negative consequences, especially if it is a high performance sport.

The leading side, stance and specificity of some sports can contribute to some muscles being overloaded more than others. Here it is important to remember to maintain balance throughout the body and muscles in particular.

Professional athletes remember that it is necessary to pay equal attention to the muscles-antagonists: if you did exercises on the chest muscles, then do the back, if you pumped the flexors, then in the next approach we will use the extensors.

It’s a brain exercise too. Try at your leisure to brush your teeth not in the usual way, but with the other hand. I believe it will take much longer and the movements will be less precise.

Finally, it is worth noting that gentle stretching techniques and exercises have practically no contraindications, but the benefits of such regular exercise can hardly be overestimated.