Exercise and Fitness V

[lokisnow]

crap

you know how I said it was my first day back lifting on tuesday? well my legs were a hell of a lot more sore on thursday than wednesday, never the less I went to the gym intending to workout, stretching before hand I felt a bright sing-song "pop, pop" in my left quad followed by nice stabbing grits of pain. I grunted it out a bit and slowly started trying to work it out with more stretching and massage. No dice, as soon as I tried to stand up and walk on it I knew I couldn't work out, at least not press and deadlift, which was 66% of the day's workout (come to think of it I could have done my chin up sets, but I was feeling sorry for myself and took it as an excuse to skip the workout) I almost waited another day to recover, considering I had the three week layoff before hand and was still fairly sore, but it was just stiffness until I started stretching, so I figured more exercise (I'd planned on doing a lighter workout anyway, in light of the soreness) would help work that out. In any event although I never shower at the gym unless I have flip flops and never get in the hot tub unless it's in the morning (all that protein foam from the asshats who DONT shower before getting in the tub, despite signs every 18inchs yelling at them to shower first) I went ahead and soaked in the hot tub for about twenty minutes and then spent a good twenty minutes to half hour in the sauna. This seemed to help, I then rewarded myself by renting a movie and getting some ice cream, and by the time I was back home, the pain had disappeared and my leg was back to just being stiff. And so much for watching the movie, I started dozing off twenty minutes in then clambored into bed a good 90 minutes to 2.5 hours before my usual bedtime. :-p

I'll skip a workout tonight (probably see Bruno instead) and evaluate on saturday morning and see how a workout sounds to my legs. I've already told myself I get shabu shabu as a post workout reward this week (I usually eat out one meal a week on weekends) so hopefully I will feel like working out as I don't get the restaurant meal unless I work out. :D

[lessthanluke]

Capo,

That fact that he went back and did curls on his first day back just goes to show that he has no concept of weight training. Invest in Starting Strength, a book by Mark Rippetoe.

This.

You will lose a lot of strength if your losing 3-4lbs a week in my opinion but your bigger than me so you may be able to lose more without it affecting your strength as much. Good luck.

[Stego]

I'm definitely going to lose strength, Luke. I know that. I simply have a lot of fat I want to lose. Need to lose.

[lessthanluke]

I'm definitely going to lose strength, Luke. I know that. I simply have a lot of fat I want to lose. Need to lose.

Fair enough man. I've just accepted the fact that I'm not gonna lose my fat now lol. Rather be fatter and stronger than leaner and weaker.

[Stego]

I agree with that completely.

Except, even after those two months I'm gonna be fat and strong compared to most folks. :P

[Kat]

Hiking tomorrow-Friday. Hopefully I will come back from this trip not wanting to kill any of my former classmates. I just got a list of meals, and I guess I gave them less credit than they were due, because the meals are surprisingly well-balanced, so maybe I don't have to do the protein powder+water thing, which was about as unappetizing as you all made it sound. I'll probably end up losing weight on this trip, which is sort of annoying, but hard to avoid. I just hope when I come back I won't have lost all the progress I've made at the gym as far as strength goes, I feel like every little bit counts for me.

In good news, I can touch my toes easily now. I know, I know, hold the applause. I feel like women are expected to be a lot more flexible than men, but this is an accomplishment for me, because usually it feels like no matter how much I stretch post-workout, all I'm doing is preventing myself from becoming more inflexible. But I have been doing the belt hamstrong stretch that seastarr demo'ed a few threads ago and lo and behold, it actually works. So much so that my pilates instructor gave me a thumbs-up earlier in the week, as opposed the usual pitying glances I receive from people when I stretch in public. :lol:

[Stego]

Protein powder is my life!! It's not that bad!!

[BLU-RAY]

Protein powder is my life!! It's not that bad!!

By itself in water, it really is.

[lessthanluke]

By itself in water, it really is.

Mines not. Its tasty. Even tastier in milk though.

[Gilgamesh]

good news, I can touch my toes easily now. I know, I know, hold the applause. I feel like women are expected to be a lot more flexible than men, but this is an accomplishment for me, because usually it feels like no matter how much I stretch post-workout, all I'm doing is preventing myself from becoming more inflexible. But I have been doing the belt hamstrong stretch that seastarr demo'ed a few threads ago and lo and behold, it actually works. So much so that my pilates instructor gave me a thumbs-up earlier in the week, as opposed the usual pitying glances I receive from people when I stretch in public

I find my flexibility varies dramatically according to what I've been up to, but I always finish every workout with about 15-20 minutes of stretching. How long do you spend on each stretch? I generally do a minimum of 30 seconds, up to a max of about 5 minutes.

[seastarr]

In good news, I can touch my toes easily now. I know, I know, hold the applause. I feel like women are expected to be a lot more flexible than men, but this is an accomplishment for me, because usually it feels like no matter how much I stretch post-workout, all I'm doing is preventing myself from becoming more inflexible. But I have been doing the belt hamstrong stretch that seastarr demo'ed a few threads ago and lo and behold, it actually works. So much so that my pilates instructor gave me a thumbs-up earlier in the week, as opposed the usual pitying glances I receive from people when I stretch in public. :lol:

:thumbsup:

from your cyber-pilates instructor!

[Stego]

Seastarr,

Doing your program, I am pretty close to touching my head to my knees with my hands around my ankles. I have not been this flexible since I was in Kempo like.... 15 years ago. (And I was about 50lbs lighter) I should have remembered to thank you before now.

Thank you!

And please stop posting pics as your avatar. Half of us, men and women, already have cyber-crushes on you. No need to make it any worse!

[seastarr]

Seastarr,

Doing your program, I am pretty close to touching my head to my knees with my hands around my ankles. I have not been this flexible since I was in Kempo like.... 15 years ago. (And I was about 50lbs lighter) I should have remembered to thank you before now.

Thank you!

You're welcome!

That's great! It's really funny that you are calling it "my program." I posted two stretches! But I am glad some people are practicing them. I'll post some more.

Next month I'll put a different mug up. You're stuck with my toothy grin for July.

[ztemhead]

And please keep posting pics as your avatar. Half of us, men and women, already have cyber-crushes on you.

and the other half are asexual.

bike shop guy was right- the pedal is fucked. I only did a trip to the mall and back before it started wobbling around. Luckily he's Mr. Johnny on the spot and fixes stuff while I wait, so it was only a minor inconvenience.

I'm still down for my ride to the cab place in Mesa later, and if they don't have a cab for me, which is a distinct possibility, I'll be riding back. (most likely after a pit stop at the pub I favor)

[Mudguard]

Hiking tomorrow-Friday. Hopefully I will come back from this trip not wanting to kill any of my former classmates. I just got a list of meals, and I guess I gave them less credit than they were due, because the meals are surprisingly well-balanced, so maybe I don't have to do the protein powder+water thing, which was about as unappetizing as you all made it sound. I'll probably end up losing weight on this trip, which is sort of annoying, but hard to avoid. I just hope when I come back I won't have lost all the progress I've made at the gym as far as strength goes, I feel like every little bit counts for me.

Good luck and have fun on your trip! Don't let the bears steal your food!

I think I'm going to try to do some stretching on a daily basis, preferably when I'm watching TV and zoned out. I'm horribly inflexible, and I think increased flexibility would help immensely with rock climbing, which is something I want to do more of. Probably also helps reduce the likelihood of injury.

Seastarr, are there any good stretching exercises I can do while sitting down and watching TV or something? All I know are some some stretches that involve trying to touch my toes...

[Kat]

Ugh. My backpack weighs 45 lbs when I put weights in to estimate food and water. It'll probably be more than that in the end. I'm not even sure why I weighed it, I didn't want to know this. That is over 1/3 of my body weight.

Whatever respect I already have for soldiers in body armor in the mountains of Afghanistan just tripled. :|

[Stego]

Kat, that's actually a really, really light pack.

[Mudguard]

Ugh. My backpack weighs 45 lbs when I put weights in to estimate food and water. It'll probably be more than that in the end. I'm not even sure why I weighed it, I didn't want to know this. That is over 1/3 of my body weight.

Whatever respect I already have for soldiers in body armor in the mountains of Afghanistan just tripled. :|

I don't think you need to worry about losing muscle mass! Should be a very good workout, one lasting a week...When I'm dayhiking, I like to keep my pack to 25lbs or under. The good thing though, is that my pack gets lighter throughout the day as I drink fluids and eat, and I'm assuming the same will be true for you. By the end, I barely feel the pack.

[Kat]

The thing is, I know I've carried this much before for a week, it just seems heavy once I know the weight. :rolleyes: Especially because I know my gear is not light as far as backpacking gear goes...I usually go by what's cheap rather than what's light. (I have friends who are ultralight backpacking enthusiasts, so they're like...look at me with my titanium shit. Look at my tent which weighs less than 2lbs. Bah.) But I have not been hiking anywhere cold for this long recently, so normally my pack is lighter.

I know I can do it. Unless I run into a pack of hungry marmots. :uhoh:

ETA: I would probably be surprised if I weighed my typical daypack, too...I usually guess it's ~10 lbs, but it must be a lot more than that with a gallon of water, hammer, chisel, food, heavy compass, bigass GPS, clipboard, maps, camera, rocks, etc...I do not travel lightly.

[Mudguard]

I know I can do it. Unless I run into a pack of hungry marmots. :uhoh:

ETA: I would probably be surprised if I weighed my typical daypack, too...I usually guess it's ~10 lbs, but it must be a lot more than that with a gallon of water, hammer, chisel, food, heavy compass, bigass GPS, clipboard, maps, camera, rocks, etc...I do not travel lightly.

Yeah, those marmots will eat anything apparently. I saw a sign at the Bristlecone Forest that said a car was towed to town, and when they opened up the hood, they found marmots in there that had chewed up the hoses and wires. Seriously, I'm not making this up...

I think a gallon of water alone is probably close to 10lb. The weight adds up really fast. Especially if you are also carrying rocks! I'm guessing your daypack is generally over 20lbs.