Exercise and Fitness IX

[QuietColours]

I love this series of exercises, seastarr. I'll be putting it to good use.

Last week ended up being a pretty poor week for me and exercise. The elbow thing ended up being more troublesome than predicted--I couldn't bend or extend it much for four days, and it hurt to jar it, meaning no bouncing. After it started feeling better, I drove out to DC for my sister's baby shower. It was 16 hours in the car and being polite at the shower all day--not much a chance to get a solid workout. On the upside, I did spend a lot of the time on baby duty. So there was lots of dancing with sixteen pound, drooling weights and walking around in a squat position helping 6-9 month-olds walk around. They were about 26 inches, I'm about 61 inches, and they could go for twenty minutes at a time--I was starting to feel it.

I'm planning to get on the wagon again this week. Dance class today was okay. I still have all the leg strength, but I need to work on core strength a lot. That's conditioning that you can do daily, right? I figure I'll make sure to do about twenty minutes a day, watching out for back problems. I remembered that spotting is a good things and all of my turns suddenly became controlled. I really need to get the ribbons on my new pointe shoes. These are pretty broken. When I was seventeen I could handle shoes this bad, but these days my feet seem to prefer a little more support. Gymnastics again tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it, but I'm worried about my elbow holding up. It still hurts just a bit to lock it, and it just kind of aches in general. Probably no standing back handsprings, but I hope I can still do the ROBHS--you have to absorb a lot less force.

[seastarr]

QC:

I did manage to get pics of my shoulder stretches for preparing for forearm balance and handstands this weekend.

Now, the only problem is finding the cable that lets me get the pics off the camera and onto the computer. I cannot wait for the days of fewer cables. I have bags of cables. I don't even know what most of my cables connect to. I do know that this is a fussy camera and only a very special cable will do the job. So that's where I'm at with the shoulder stretches.

I had a nice class at ashtanga this morning. I was left to my own devices as there was a substitute teacher, and I realized how much I like to practice on my own without any teacher. It let's me slow down a little and concentrate on getting into the postures better. Sometimes my ashtanga teacher is a little forceful (to push my lazy ass, I'm sure) and I get a little ahead of myself. I think I just like learning on my own, too.

[Mudguard]

Hiked the Grand Canyon rim to rim to rim last weekend over the course of two days. On day one, I hiked from the North Rim to the South Rim via the North Kaibob Trail and Bright Angel Trail. About 24 miles with 5000 feet elevation gain and 6000 feet elevation loss. Took about 8 hours and 45 minutes, which was much faster than I was expecting. Weather was great, which made it much easier. Probably was around 40F at the North Rim when I left, and maybe in the 80's at the bottom of the canyon by the time I got there. The Grand Canyon is immense, breathtaking, but it's hard to really get an idea just how big from pics alone. You really have to visit to get a true sense. Nevertheless, pics here.

Day two, I hiked back from the South Rim to the North Rim via the South Kaibob Trail and the North Kaibob Trail. About 21 miles with 6000 feet gain and 5000 feet loss. Took about 9 hours and 30 minutes. I started the hike at about 6:15am, so I was able to catch the sunrise while going down the South Kaibob Trail. If you're doing a relatively short hike and want to see expansive views of the main canyon, I'd recommend the South Kaibob Trail. Bright Angel Trail and North Kaibob Trail both traverse side canyons, whereas South Kaibob Trail follows a ridge down into the main canyon. When I was leaving the park, I saw a herd of about 80 bison in a large meadow just before the ticket booth at the park entrance. Really nice suprise to end the hike. Pics here.

Total stats: 45 miles/11,000' gain/11,000' loss.

[ztemhead]

so how creepy would it be if I cut and pasted all of seastarr's recent posts to one central location?

a) really creepy

b) not creepy at all. You're a busy guy, and while you can't go right into downward facing dog on a moment's notice, when you do have free time, it would be helpful to have this wealth of information available without having to slog through a hundred odd webpages.

cool pics, mudguard!

question for you: at the Grand Canyon, all the guides tell you specifically, "IF YOU TRY TO HIKE DOWN TO THE RIVER AND BACK IN THE SAME DAY YOU WILL DEHYDRATE AND DIE!!!!" They're vehement about it. Are they perhaps being a little cautious? It seemed doable to me last time I was there.

[seastarr]

so how creepy would it be if I cut and pasted all of seastarr's recent posts to one central location?

a) really creepy

b) not creepy at all. You're a busy guy, and while you can't go right into downward facing dog on a moment's notice, when you do have free time, it would be helpful to have this wealth of information available without having to slog through a hundred odd webpages.

This is fine with me. Not creepy. But I read Clive Barker, happily.

[Mudguard]

question for you: at the Grand Canyon, all the guides tell you specifically, "IF YOU TRY TO HIKE DOWN TO THE RIVER AND BACK IN THE SAME DAY YOU WILL DEHYDRATE AND DIE!!!!" They're vehement about it. Are they perhaps being a little cautious? It seemed doable to me last time I was there.

Very doable when it's not too hot at the bottom of the canyon. That means the best times to go are late fall before the first big snow, or late spring right after the snow and ice melts off the trail. The facilities at the North Rim are closed from mid October to mid May, so best bet is probably right after it opens in mid May or just before it closes in mid October.

Under these ideal conditions, I drank about 5 liters of fluids (3L water/2L sports drink) each way, and I carried 8L first day (2L sports drink for the following day) and 6L the second day. I never had to stop to get water at the various potable water sources along way. The hike itself was not that hard to me with this weather, easier than Whitney where you have to deal with the elevation. In the summer, it would be brutal, and it's not something I would try when I have other options.

That said, it's not something most people should try doing even when the weather is good. They warn against it all over place on signs and guide books because of all the people that they have to rescue out of the canyon each year, about 250 people, mostly young males who probably aren't properly prepared and don't know their limits. According to one sign a woman who ran 3 hour marathons died of heat exhaution.

But if you are prepared, very fit, it's not bad at all. Hardest thing for me to deal with was foot pain and leg pain during the last 14-15 miles of the second day. Stared popping ibuprofen and acetominophen at that point. If you can hike for 20-25 miles with 5000'+ gain in a day in under 12 hours, you can probably do it. There are lots of trip reports online, so it's easy to do a lot of research before you attempt it.

[Vestrit]

I was doing some supine pull-ups for the first time in a while this morning

three sets to failure

Won't say how many I did, as it's a bit embarrassing, but I'll just add that it is an evil exercise

[Vethnar]

I was doing some supine pull-ups for the first time in a while this morning

three sets to failure

Won't say how many I did, as it's a bit embarrassing, but I'll just add that it is an evil exercise

Supine pull-ups is the exercise more commonly known as chin-ups, isn't it? Like ordinary pull-ups, but with the palms facing towards you rather than away from you?

I have a somewhat strange relationship to pull-ups and chin-ups. When I just start training after a long period of absence, they're among my favorite exercises, because I am fairly good at them even when completely untrained (mostly because of my low body weight, not because I'm very strong). After a few months, they become my least favorite exercises, because improvement stops completely after just a couple of months. I still do three sets to failure at the end of each workout (alternating between pull-ups and chin-ups), but it's not fun.

What's the best way to improve at pull-ups/chin-ups when reaching a plateau? Adding a couple of negatives at the end of each set, perhaps?

[Vestrit]

Supine pull-ups is the exercise more commonly known as chin-ups, isn't it? Like ordinary pull-ups, but with the palms facing towards you rather than away from you?

No, as you say, that's a chin-up

A supine pull-up is kind of like an inverse press up. You lie flat on the ground beneath a bar and pull yourself up to it, kind of like this woman here (personally I try to go a bit 'flatter', a bit more parallel with the ground)

In the same way that you'd use normal pull-ups or chin-ups instead of lat pull-downs, because they're better pure strength exercises, you'd do this instead of maybe seated rows or bent over rows.

What's the best way to improve at pull-ups/chin-ups when reaching a plateau? Adding a couple of negatives at the end of each set, perhaps?

Or weighted pull-ups/chin-ups.

I use a weights belt, which you can use for pull-ups/chin-ups and dips. Means you can progress with the sets you're already doing, but also you can do high load/low rep stuff - hang more weight off it and go from there. Great for strength building. And the belt is pretty cheap too from memory, £15 or something like that

might sort out your boredom with doing bodyweight sets to failure each time? :)

[lessthanluke]

Supine Pull Ups aka Fat man pull ups lol.

I fail hard at pull ups. Can do like 5 :/

Not much training this week for me. Been out a few times and as I don't drink often its taken its toll on me!

Gym today hopefully and then not again till monday.

[Stego]

I actually just got 20 dead hang pullups for the first time in ten years last night. It's a lot more impressive, though, as I weigh about 50lbs more than I did then.

[ztemhead]

I'm delighted to be able to do chin ups at all, and the number I can do from dead hang has been increasing nicely. I can only bang out a couple wide grip pullups if I kip like a flopping fish. :/

diet plan is going well. Total I'm down 39 pounds, six more to go before I start working on muscle building, and hence increasing all my lifts. :) Even so, yesterday I managed a personal best in bench, and today I'm aiming for one in deadlift.

[Fleeing Finn]

Or weighted pull-ups/chin-ups.

That and you can also get a cheap pull up bar to your home. Every time you walk past it, you do a set of clean chin-ups/pull-ups and stop couple of reps sort of failure. You can even do this by buying those rubbery pink dumbells and putting one between your feet still allowing you a lot of reps but adding a bit of extra weight. Soon enough you'll notice you can grind 50 chins without too much trouble (unless you already can :P ).

[Vestrit]

Fleeing Finn, I’m glad you popped in, I’ve got a question for you.

We’ve got two versions of our S&C programme this year, one for the more experienced lifters and one for the less experienced and less confident.

I was looking at the programme and I’ve only just noticed that the S&C coach has put supine pull ups into the experienced programme where lat pull-downs are in the beginners’.

So, he’s substituting supine pull-downs for lat pull-downs, when I thought it was more for the horizontal plane pull, and you’d do normal pull-ups/chins in the vertical plane.

Any thoughts? Are supine pulldowns fine or should we be doing normal pull-ups instead?

[Liffguard]

A supine pull-up is kind of like an inverse press up. You lie flat on the ground beneath a bar and pull yourself up to it, kind of like this woman here (personally I try to go a bit 'flatter', a bit more parallel with the ground)

They're often called reverse rows as well.

[Stego]

That and you can also get a cheap pull up bar to your home. Every time you walk past it, you do a set of clean chin-ups/pull-ups and stop couple of reps sort of failure. You can even do this by buying those rubbery pink dumbells and putting one between your feet still allowing you a lot of reps but adding a bit of extra weight. Soon enough you'll notice you can grind 50 chins without too much trouble (unless you already can :P ).

50? How much do you weigh?

[Whitestripe]

Very doable when it's not too hot at the bottom of the canyon. That means the best times to go are late fall before the first big snow, or late spring right after the snow and ice melts off the trail. The facilities at the North Rim are closed from mid October to mid May, so best bet is probably right after it opens in mid May or just before it closes in mid October.

We went down the South Kaibab trail and up the Bright Angel trail (in two days) at the end of May. It was damn hot. I wouldn't recommend it as a one day trip at all. But it was one of the most amazing trips I've ever taken. I enjoyed that hike much more than my hike up Mt Washington, hands down.

[Eponine]

Started playing indoor soccer with the new team last night. Unfortunately it looks like I'm going to miss several games because of work travel though.

I've had a low-grade headache for three days now. I can't pinpoint anything that's causing it and it's not so bad I can't work, but it's a continual annoyance.

[TerraPrime]

I've had a low-grade headache for three days now. I can't pinpoint anything that's causing it and it's not so bad I can't work, but it's a continual annoyance.

Do you have sensitive sinuses? Some people react to pressure fluctuations that are typical during season changes and part of that reaction can be a dull headache. I know my SO is as sensitive as a barometer when it comes to a big thunderstorm building up.

[ztemhead]

heh, I actually don't have a usable doorframe for a chin/ pullup bar. the one doorway I have is almost flush with the ceiling.

[100% pure vanity post]

I love the way my shoulders look when doing dips now. They've never looked like this before, not even when I was seventeen and weighed 140 pounds. Call it vanity if you want, but I'm learning to love my body, especially since I've worked so hard to get it this way.

[/100% pure vanity post]

no PR on deadlifts today. I'll hold off on that for the next time I'm in the dungeon and can use one of the belts they have hanging up.