Exercise and Fitness VI

[Alcibiades]

Alright. I tried the chair dips a little tonight. Did three sets, one of 10, one of 20, then one of 15. I didn't want to go nuts since I'd never done these. It's a good exercise. My arms are pretty achey.

[beniowa]

Just wanted to make sure I had the fantasy vision correct. ;)

I can hear Kay Fury growling clear down here in Iowa!

Oh God, the skipping responses killed me.

[Zoë Sumra]

do you wear your suspenders when you skip though meadows?

Duh. I can't believe you even asked.

For clarification; did you mean the American meaning of suspenders (things to hold up your trousers) or the British meaning (er, not, and slightly NSFW)?

[Liffguard]

Which is the better workout,

or

You be the judge!

[Lany Freelove Cassandra]

Obviously, skipping.

[Lord of Oop North]

Which is the better workout,

or

You be the judge!

Holy crap. I was not expecting him to throw down like that. Awesome.

[Lany Freelove Cassandra]

Powerwashing the side of the house counts as an upper body workout, right?

[Mudguard]

Made up my mind to hike the Grand Canyon rim to rim to rim this fall. I'll be starting from the north rim and hiking to the south rim, about 20 to 24 miles depending on the route. Staying overnight at the south rim, and then hiking back to the north rim the next day. 40-48 miles roundtrip. I'll be hiking Oct 10th and 11th. If anyone is interested in doing one or both legs of the hike that weekend, let me know. I'm really excited! I stopped by the Grand Canyon as a kid, but we just stayed up on the rim and I don't really remember anything. Hiking down into the canyon should be really cool.

[Stego]

Live for this by Hatebreed is my latest tune of choice for heavy lifts. It's an absolutely rousing little ditty, and I thank whoever turned me onto it.

I'm getting stronger and stronger, but my bulk is starting to add body fat. I am still going to wait until my cousins are gone in the fall before I go on my cut (probably another few weeks/month), but it's tempting to jump into it right now.

And every time I start to think that way I look at my workout notebook; see the numbers, the progression, the consistent personal bests. In many ways, this is the strongest I have ever been. And I will make the most of this opportunity.

Regardless, I'm looking forward to my cut. :P

[seastarr]

Mudguard, that sounds really fun. Wish I could take the time to do something like that, but October is usually a hectic month for me.

My Wednesday night workout partner is leaving me! I am selfishly sad, because it was fun to have him to work out with, and that helped me get motivated to push myself a little harder. Yet I am happy for him, because he is going on an exciting adventure to go teach Pilates in Turkey for a year. I'm proud too, because he's my student.

Anyway, tonight we did lots of balance work on the physioball, which is very entertaining. I managed to stand up on the ball, something I've been working towards for a year or two. It's rather nerve wracking, getting there, and then it's nerve wracking getting back down (I've taken some really graceless tumbles in the process) but I got there tonight, first time I did it perfectly, ever!

[Xray the Enforcer]

congrats, seastarr!! that's awesome. Did you sound a barbaric yawp?

And huge props to you, Stego. I can't say enough how fucking stoked I am for you.

So, it's official -- no gym for approx. a month. (or, well, now about 3 weeks). And that's OK, because I had a bit of mild exertion yesterday evening and my head was really unhappy afterwards for a couple of hours. In the interim, I'm going to work on my stretching and balance as much as I can.

[lessthanluke]

Live for this by Hatebreed is my latest tune of choice for heavy lifts. It's an absolutely rousing little ditty, and I thank whoever turned me onto it.

I'm getting stronger and stronger, but my bulk is starting to add body fat. I am still going to wait until my cousins are gone in the fall before I go on my cut (probably another few weeks/month), but it's tempting to jump into it right now.

And every time I start to think that way I look at my workout notebook; see the numbers, the progression, the consistent personal bests. In many ways, this is the strongest I have ever been. And I will make the most of this opportunity.

Regardless, I'm looking forward to my cut. :P

Hatebreed are my band of choice for the gym. Live for this is a good un.

[cjfshaw]

Anyway, tonight we did lots of balance work on the physioball, which is very entertaining. I managed to stand up on the ball, something I've been working towards for a year or two. It's rather nerve wracking, getting there, and then it's nerve wracking getting back down (I've taken some really graceless tumbles in the process) but I got there tonight, first time I did it perfectly, ever!

Thats ridic, I feel like I would have trouble doing that even if I used my hands (as well as my feet), congrats! Sounds rilly rilly tough

[seastarr]

Thats ridic, I feel like I would have trouble doing that even if I used my hands (as well as my feet), congrats! Sounds rilly rilly tough

Well, you do use your hands in the progression to get standing. Here's how I like to do it:

1) Start lying on the belly on top of the ball. Practice trying to balance there---lift hands and feet off floor and extend spine and try to float with the ball. This is a good way to work on balancing out the strength in the two sides of your back, and to start to tune the body into proprioception for ball balancing.

2) Walk out onto hands with ball under shins, tuck knees beneath you and sit back towards heels, smoothly, while kneeling, bring hands off floor and onto ball. Then kneel up, lifting hips away from heels, take hands off ball and practice kneeling on ball for a while.

3) Bring hands back to ball and steady it to bring one sole of foot onto ball, a little wide. Here's half the battle: Getting the other sole of foot onto the ball while staying balanced. Once both soles are flat and about hip width, then you start to get yourself upright. The moment when you take hands off the ball is the nerve-wracking moment, because you feel wobbly and the floor seems much further away than it is!

Xray, I wonder how easy balance stuff is going to be for you right now? My impression is that the inner ear is very important for your balance reflexes, and the inner ear seems like it may be something that was affected by your headmeat surgery? BTW I love the new avatar. Just a question--is it the exertion of movement that is what you shouldn't be doing (like getting the circulation of blood going) or is it that you can't move your head around--like bending forward and putting the head down, or both? Is lying supine OK? I have stretches I can post that don't involve moving the head around too much if you want some.

[Xray the Enforcer]

Xray, I wonder how easy balance stuff is going to be for you right now? My impression is that the inner ear is very important for your balance reflexes, and the inner ear seems like it may be something that was affected by your headmeat surgery? BTW I love the new avatar. Just a question--is it the exertion of movement that is what you shouldn't be doing (like getting the circulation of blood going) or is it that you can't move your head around--like bending forward and putting the head down, or both? Is lying supine OK? I have stretches I can post that don't involve moving the head around too much if you want some.

You make a good point on the balance stuff. My ears have stabiliized (they were popping like crazy the first few days post-op), but I should be careful that any residual inflammation/swelling isn't messing with my inner ear.

To answer the question, it's both. They're worried about bleeding and about keeping the sinus structures in place while they heal. Lying supine is fine, as is sitting up, but bending forward is discouraged for at least another week or two. :)

eta: yeah, we've been laughing over the MRI. "geez, Xray, where are your sinuses? you don't have any!" the main offender, BTW, is that mass just left of the medial line next to my temporal lobe.

[Eponine]

Aw, I would have wanted to do that hike Mudguard, but am already taking a lot of vacation that month and have a marathon at the end of it. Maybe another hike another time. Do you know anyone who's done rim to rim to rim in two days? I've seen on hiking websites to plan for 3 days just to go one way, but I don't know what kind of people they're catering to...

[seastarr]

As I am taking care of business this morning, I noticed that one of the websites I use for some equipment and supplies is having a promotional free sample offer on a new type of resistance band that is hypo-allergenic. I know there was some discussion of resistance bands on here a while ago, and if you go to this site they are giving out free band samples to people who register. Look over on the right hand side of the page. I think it means they will start sending your their catalog and mailings, but free stuff is cool! Thought I'd point you that way in case you've been wanting one.

I am not a huge fan of resistance bands, but they have their uses. I often use them to help people strengthen their feet.

[Rubies & Jade]

3) Bring hands back to ball and steady it to bring one sole of foot onto ball, a little wide. Here's half the battle: Getting the other sole of foot onto the ball while staying balanced.

wow, seastarr--impressive. I can't even imagine doing that! good for you.

xray, I didn't think that pic was *actually* your head! I just assumed you pulled off a website somewhere. heh. far out!

I went in late to work this morning and spent a lot of time at the gym after the usual rush hour--it was great, I wish I could do that all the time! Generally I have only enough time for cardio and about 4 or 5 different weight related things, and I rotate through various ones. Today, since I had a couple of hours I did everything plus a bunch of stretching. it was really great.

[Mudguard]

Aw, I would have wanted to do that hike Mudguard, but am already taking a lot of vacation that month and have a marathon at the end of it. Maybe another hike another time. Do you know anyone who's done rim to rim to rim in two days? I've seen on hiking websites to plan for 3 days just to go one way, but I don't know what kind of people they're catering to...

Bummer, but I just couldn't wait another 6 months until spring. If I really enjoy it, I might do it again in the spring, although I'm leaning towards a kayaking trip for the second time. Maybe get some fishing in too.

I don't know anyone who's done it personally, but I've read plenty of trip reports. It's very doable when the whether is nice and cool, which means late fall just before the first snow, or in the spring just after the snow melts. During the summer the bottom of the canyon is often over 100F, so it would be a pretty miserable hike, and possibly dangerous too. 3 days one way is way too slow for me unless I'm hanging out at the river to kayak or fish. Certainly, if you can run a marathon, you can do the rim to rim to rim in 2 days.

There are people who actually do the whole rim to rim to rim hike in one day...but this is a bit extreme for me right now. I like www.summitpost.org for route descriptions and trip reports. Here's a link to the Grand Canyon page. Routes and trip reports are listed in a column on the left portion of the page.

[Mudguard]

Nice job seastar, that sounds like a lot of fun! I think one of my friends has a physioball. I'm going to give it a try!