Getting Started With Your CST Wellness Program
by Scott Sonnon

As you get started, please note that the Circular Strength Training Wellness program is designed to release tension and restore mobility. If you have an injury, it will be important to get an evaluation by a person trained to evaluate your body and specific concern. The best practitioners to do this are sports medicine physicians and musculo-skeletal therapists who have a deeper appreciation of the bodymind as a complete organism. This type of practitioner can assess your wellness program in depth and serve as a partner in your restoration plan.

Going slowly and letting your body guide you will keep you safe. You do not want to overtrain. You want to learn correct form for restoring. Incorrect form or doing too much will only add to the muscle tension and distortion that is creating the problem.

Don’t spook yourself about safety, but do be prudent about checks and balances. Sometimes, in the enthusiasm of finding a program that feels so right, you can push for too much, too soon. Baby steps work best.

Step 1: Start and Journal your Practice

Begin with any form of light to moderate movement for 5 minutes after each meal. This can be walking, dancing, rocking, riding your bike, making love or any form of movement that suits you and your life style.

After you find this is comfortable for you, begin recording it every day. You can do this:

In a written notebook
Here on the CST Wellness Program Logs section if you would like to share your process with others on the same journey, and receive feedback to your questions.
If you use the CST forum, start your log by naming it as yours. You will then add to it each day. This way you will have an ongoing record.

If you use a notebook, include the items below: Here's the format:

Date: Helps you reference the days of your logs.

Time: What time of day and how long did it last. Very important.

Place: Where you did your practice. Very important.

Energy Level: How you felt before the session. This may be expanded to explain your meals preceding your session.

Exercise Selection: What movements you did.

Sets: How many groups of each movement did you did.

Repetitions: how many total times you did the movement.

For instance, if you did Pelvic Circles 5 sets of 10 repetitions, you did 10 "reps" of Pelvic Circles, took a short breather, then did another 10 reps and so on 5 times.

Rest Period: How long the "breather" you took in between sets (and in between the exercises themselves) was.

Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE): How hard the entire exercise was on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being fine and 10 being the hardest effort imaginable). In general, you should only increase any variables (such as reps and sets) when you perform a movement with an RPE of 6 or less.

Rate of Technique (RT): How well you felt when you did the exercise on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the worst, lowest quality performance imaginable and 10 being the best). You CAN do a 10! Don't make it an unreachable target. AND you can do a 10 NOW, since it's subjective, not objective. 10 is the best you can do NOW! Progress not perfection! In general, you should only increase any variables (such as reps and sets) when you perform consistently with an RT of 8 or higher.

Rate of Perceived Discomfort (RPD): How uncomfortable a particular movement was on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being easy and 10 being the worst pain you've ever felt). In general, you only move through a range of motion (ROM) when the RPD is less than 5.

When you assign RPE and RT numbers in your logs, you still need to expand upon your:

Sensations: How you experienced the exercise internally. What things did you experience during the movements physiologically.

Feelings: How you felt during the movements emotionally.

Images: any "flashbacks" or "impressions" or even "drifting thoughts" that arose during the movements. These are highly important! Do not dismiss ANYTHING from your logs, since part of us (the tension or "bound flow") inadvertantly conceals issues because it's protecting the area for us. This is natural and healthy, but we need to release the issue. Fortunately, we're "hard-wired" to communicate, and the central nervous system (CNS) often communicates to us through imagery.

Thoughts: What you concluded about the practice session, what you hope to explore and deepen.

Questions: Even if you listed your questions in the info above, repeat the questions here, so that the forum leaders can quickly reference the issues and respond efficiently. Record handwritten the sensations and feelings right after each session even if you only do 5 minutes. If you are using the CST forum, you can transfer it at the time it is convenient for you, if not all at once. You want to make notes right away, however, when the information is fresh in your Bodymind. It is like catching a dream. Write it down!


Step 2: Insert Warrior Wellness™ into your Daily Personal Practice

Order the Warrior Wellness™ tapes from the Radiant Recovery® CST store:

They come in a package of three. You will start with the beginner’s tape. It is 25 minutes and will show you the basic joint rotational movements that will become the foundation of your entire program.

Insert the Warrior Wellness™ program into your 3 sessions. Watch the tape a few times; follow along until you get a sense of the flow. You can do entire program spread out throughout all of the 3 sessions, or you can concentrate on tension areas with the same movements all three times.

Initially you will be doing a total of 15 min of this kind of movement per day, broken into three 5-minute segments. If you are diligent about recording after each session, you will start to notice your skill and your points of tension.

You may order the Clubbells® when you order the tapes. Only order the 5 pound ones for now. When they arrive, you may take them out of the box, hold them and look at them. Do not swing them and keep them away from your children, husband or partner.

As you feel stronger, add some time to your 3 sessions, even if only one more minute at a time. You will find that organically you are able to extend the time and do more. Go slowly and work on the smooth rhythm and style of your practice. Work on technique.

Many people can get up to a ten-minute session after about two weeks. If you are not able to do this, do not get discouraged. Tiny increments add up. Use your log to notice what is changing. Look in each of the sections for change. You will notice not only the content of your session but also the rate of your perceived exertion, the rate of your technique and your rate of perceived discomfort.

The process is training you to observe. Many people are disconnected from their bodies. You are not only learning how to move, but to move correctly and to notice subtle change. Do not be impatient. You are correcting a lifetime of not paying attention, doing movement incorrectly or not moving at all.

This preliminary training is the prerequisite to use the Clubbells®. You are developing habit and discipline as well as respect for your body. Injury comes where you are tense. If you have no understanding of your body and you start a new Clubbell® practice, you are at risk for unnecessary injury. We want the process to be exciting, fruitful and safe.

Your Clubbells® will be calling you. Let them sit and wait and watch. We are building a level of endurance and skill that will allow you to use them. Using Clubbells® is not like lifting weight. It is motion and resistance in 3 dimensions. You want to know your body and have the concentration and focus to use them as befits them.

We want your body to know the movements by heart before you arm yourself with the Clubbells®. We want you to be able to discern tension (i.e. risk) quickly and accurately. You do not want to lose your concentration under the load of the Clubbell® and waffle. Waffling means getting hurt. They are a mighty tool for claiming the body you were born with. But you will want to respect that power by getting yourself ready.

Step 3: Consolidate your time

Once you have achieved 3 10-minute sessions, consider building a deeper program. You can do a 15/15 minute spilt in the morning and evening, or go with one 30 minute session. Your body and your time schedule will guide you in which works better for you. A longer session is better since it trains your mental stamina and focus. Remember, we are doing body and MIND training here. Both are interconnected.

Work on this new schedule for at least 2 weeks. As you get steadier, notice which time of day you have the MOST energy. This will be the window you will introduce the Clubbells® into. You are going to lead from strength and have a Clubbell® training session 3 times a week. You will continue to do the Warrior Wellness™ exercises the other four days.

You can also practice any of the joint mobility motions throughout the day. If you work on the computer, exercise those digits, roll those shoulders. If you stand all day, swing those hips.

Step 4: Get Swinging - those Clubbells®

You are now ready to add your first Clubbell® session. Before you start swinging, you have some more homework. Get a copy of Circular Strength Training™ from the website and Read it before you start. Get a yellow marker and highlight the parts that jump out at you. Play close attention to the first section on how to hold them safely. Get a pencil and draw circles on the pictures of me holding them. Notice how my hands and wrists are.

Explore how to park them, how to pick them up. Practice setting them on the floor. Practice setting them in the shoulder park position. This is particularly important if you have a large bosom. You do not want to bonk yourself by not paying attention.

Read the safety session carefully. The Clubbells® can be a lethal weapon. Do not have your children or pets in the room with you. Carrying a lethal weapon may evoke some intense feelings for you. Put these in your log. They are natural and can be exciting. Some of the language we use may be a little disconcerting. Terms such as being ‘armed” or “loaded” may not be the kind of language you generally use. These are terms from male marshal arts. As you work more in the program, the terminology will become more familiar and comfortable. As your body learns the strength and power that comes from this new form of movement, you will find yourself being at ease in integrating a male model into your process. You will be pleased at what comes with the best of both worlds.

A. Begin with the basic Swing. Read all of the instructions. Practice without the Clubbells®. Focus on your exhalation. Align your spine crown to coccyx. Sit back, don't lean over. Bend at the hip, not the spine. Keep your shoulders down. Keep your wrists flat with your hands (no flexion, with your knuckles bending back towards the top of your forearms.) Swing the Clubbells® with your body, not your arms. Keep the Clubbells® aligned with your forearms, as if clicking the TV remote control with your arm fully extended.

Start with 5 sets of 5 repetitions with 1 minute of rest in between each set. And even though your goal is 5 repetitions, if you feel fatigued, stop, take a breather and then do the next repetition. You can do these "rest pauses" on each repetition if you need to. Even if you feel very fatigued, stop and end your session. It's okay. We all do this, and it's just learning how to pay attention to your changing energy levels, just like with food biochemistry.

Do this for one week.

B. Next, move on to the Pendulum. After that one week, instead of beginning and ending in "Floor Park" position, you'll begin and end in "Order Position" (see the book and video). From Order Position, extend your arms outward and slightly upwards, so your elbows lock BEFORE you begin the Swing. After you swing them behind you, and are returning back to Order Position, swing them all the way up to slightly beyond parallel with the floor, so that they're in 'free-fall' for a moment. THEN bend your elbows to bring them back into Order Position. Instead of the basic Swing, this is called a (Forward) "Pendulum."

For the second week, do 5 sets of 5 repetitions with 1 minute rest in between each set of Pendulums.

C. Take an "active recovery" break. For the third week, you won't be using Clubbell® training, only your Warrior Wellness™ in your practice. You need to take this break so that all of the work you did cements in. Resting is the most important part of effort! But active rest using your Warrior Wellness™ to remove any remaining tension in your muscles.

Step 5: Creating your own cycles

Now you know how it works. It's up to you to choose which exercise you want to learn. Pick on and train it for 3 weeks using the model above in Step 4 (two weeks practice, on week active recovery.) This is called a "cycle" - how to start, stop and wait (for recovery) so you progress and adapt - so you grow stronger and stronger without injury and without tension!

If you study the book and video, you'll learn how to select and practice two or more basic exercises and then in a new cycle, combine them seamlessly so they can be a fun combination routine. This REALLY gets fun, because you can create your own unique combos that are healthy, strengthening and very fun!!

Also, besides Combination Routines, you can start to change the variables in your cycle besides exercise selection. Generally, you can increase repetitions, which will train you to have greater endurance. If you increase repetitions, you should, in general, decrease sets. So instead of your 5 sets of 5 repetitions, you can perform 4 sets of 8 repetitions. And when you find yourself getting even more stamina, you can start a new cycle and perform a program with 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions. Then even, 2 sets of 15, or one long set of 25+ repetitions. But as you lengthen your repetitions, don't change any other variables. Even though each time you start a new "cycle" you start fresh, if you increase the repetitions, stick with an exercise you've been practicing. In other words, whenever learning a new exercise, always start with 5 sets of 5 repetitions.

Don't hesitate to ask questions, request help, or even make comments in other people's logs cheering them on and congratulating them for their hard work. Remember that we may be a supportive community, but sometimes things are not that way at home. So although we may be alone in trying to cultivate the discipline of deepening our daily personal practice, we are all alone... together.

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