Less rib flare, stronger grip and better nervous system regulation.

Jun 7 (edited) • Wins

6/5/26 I had another training session today: single-legged split squat, pike push-up and horizontal pull-up.

I felt my glutes working more on the squat, and I was able to go deeper with good technique (maintaining alignment and keeping the spine stable).

On the pike push-up, I felt my abs working again, instead of my lower back. And it was my shoulders who gave up first, instead of my triceps. This might be because I trained the ring push-ups yesterday, where I usually work them.

And in the horizontal pull-up, I had almost no rib flare, even when pulling up. I do it now with the feet resting on the ground and my knees semi-flexed, making it easier.

Throughout the session I exhaled and inhaled through my nose only, trying to create the intra-abdominal pressure and diaphragm activation. I still did collapse my nose multiple times while trying to avoid it. It is especially hard when breathing in.

Combined with this, it was cold and very humid outside, so I thought this would have lead to me staying deregulated afterwards, but to my surprise, it wasn't the case.

What caught my attention most was that my grip today was significantly stronger.

I hung a bit afterwards, and it was physically difficult to stretch my forearm, which used to be the default. I even tried to go single-handed and stretch my left forearm, where I've broken my wrist twice. Even so, I was not able to replicate the feeling; it seems that my nervous system automatically engaged harder when hanging. It goes back to normal afterwards.

When taking a shower a bit later, I noticed I had red marks and calluses in the middle of my palms. I consciously tried to squeeze my grip too, and I was surprised by how strong I could make the contraction, to the point it was slightly painful. I have always had the experience of feeling too much pressure on my calluses from hanging and my grip giving up because of that, instead of from real muscle exertion. Now I didn't even feel the pressure, so that might have changed.

I tried this again in the afternoon, hanging a bit with feet on the ground from a bar my singing teacher has. And the effect repeated itself. It is something automatic; I simply hang much more strongly and somehow less tiringly.

I did apply the correct diaphragm breathing and core bracing, instead of passively hanging and letting my pelvis stretch. So that may be the cause.

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Less rib flare, stronger grip and better nervous system regulation.