Exercise & Fitness VII

[Xray the Enforcer]

Finally worked all of the soreness out of my legs yesterday...with a 6-hour traipse through Propsect Park on a birdwatching trip. Of course, I thought it was only going to last 2 hours -- stupid me -- and was pretty dehydrated at the end. Still, I think I added something like 20 species to my life list in one go, and I did get some well-needed exercise/stretching done. Thankfully, most of the time we were in the shade and therefore I didn't get a sunburn.

[ztemhead]

:eek:

The patellar tendon graft is supposed to heal pretty quickly as well, but my physical therapist said he had several patients that have pain when kneeling later in life after this type.

that's the one I had, descriptions above regarding healing time. Two things about it that are worth noting are that first, it has a gnarly scar down the front of my knee, and also there's a dead patch there where I have no feeling. Touching it, it's like skin, skin, skin, {someone else's leg}, and then skin again. It's no bother at all, just odd.

[Whitestripe]

But I'm excited because this morning I got out of bed and joined the boy and the dog for their morning lap around the building (on my crutches, of course).

Crutches are the absolute worst. Your arms will look great, though. If I am never on crutches again it will be too soon! What did you have done?

[Coyotes Daughter]

Crutches are the absolute worst. Your arms will look great, though. If I am never on crutches again it will be too soon! What did you have done?

I had surgery last week to repair a torn labrum inside my hip socket, which resulted from a fall last ski season.

Hopefully the fancy crutches that the local med supply place ordered will be here soon. They'll be the sort that have a cuff around your forearm, rather than going all the way up into your armpit, and hopefully they won't be quite so miserable.

[Elrostar]

I don't know if these have been discussed before in this thread, but what do people think of the new obsession runners have with barefoot running?

I'm referring to the use of things like Vibram shoes and their ilk. There has been an increasing focus on that kind of thing, from articles in Wired Magazine, to the book Born to Run.

I'm contemplating getting a pair, but I was wondering what people thought if they'd tried them at all.

[Vethnar]

I don't know if these have been discussed before in this thread, but what do people think of the new obsession runners have with barefoot running?

I wasn't even aware that there was such an obsession, but the Vibram shoes you showed us do look interesting. Thanks for bringing them to my attention!

I hate traditional running shoes, and therefore hardly ever run outside the track. The soles are too soft, and the heels too high. When I hurl my legs to the ground with the intention of propelling my body forward, I don't want the shoes to absorb the shock and slow me down. The high heels reduce the tension in the calves, and this reduces the force I can generate with my calves.

Running barefoot would hurt my feet too much, but those strange shoes you mention might be the perfect compromise. I'll try them if I can find them.

[Elrostar]

I wasn't even aware that there was such an obsession, but the Vibram shoes you showed us do look interesting. Thanks for bringing them to my attention!

I hate traditional running shoes, and therefore hardly ever run outside the track. The soles are too soft, and the heels too high. When I hurl my legs to the ground with the intention of propelling my body forward, I don't want the shoes to absorb the shock and slow me down. The high heels reduce the tension in the calves, and this reduces the force I can generate with my calves.

Running barefoot would hurt my feet too much, but those strange shoes you mention might be the perfect compromise. I'll try them if I can find them.

Well, the idea of those shoes is to simply let you run barefoot without injuring your feet by stepping on things.

The point is that you would switch to running in them slowly, over time. As you do so, your feet will adapt and you will develop muscles in your feet and ankles to deal with the new way of running since if you run with and without shoes you land in dramatically different ways on your foot.

Apparently a lot of evidence shows that all the extra cushioning and support you get from running shoes doesn't help prevent injuries. And running barefoot is just better for you.

That's the claim, in any case. Here and here are some more articles on the subject.

My plan was to try changing over to these gradually on the treadmill where it would be easy to just run a couple of miles in them at a time. Apparently your Achilles tendon and feet really need to get trained up, but after a while you adapt and are used to it.

One problem for me is that my toes are shaped slightly oddly (with my second toe being longer than my big toe), so I'm not sure whether I can find a pair that will fit me properly. But fortunately there's a store near me that carries Vibrams, so I'm going to go there today and take a look at them and try some on to see how they feel and get some advice.

[Mr. X]

I just ran 10 miles, which was my first double-digit mileage run ever. Getting up to 10 miles was one of my goals for the summer, so I feel accomplished at the moment.

[Gilgamesh]

Less than two weeks til the Great North Run for me! Has anyone else done it or is doing it this year? There are supposedly 54k of us.

If anyone has any half marathon tips - especially specifically related to the GNR I'd really appreciate it.

[cjfshaw]

ha! nice! I just started reading born to run about a week ago. And I got to Barefoot Ted's chapter and really started thinking about trying it and was going to post on here about it actually, lol. My second toe is longer than my long toe too, so I don't know how the vibram 5 fingers will work out. So i figured I'd just start out by running in my old racing flats. There is a warning not to do it too much though, like only starting out by running w/o support one day a week for an hour or less.

[lessthanluke]

Some of you might find this interesting

http://chaosandpain.blogspot.com/

[Liffguard]

Some of you might find this interesting

http://chaosandpain.blogspot.com/

Heh, comes across a bit like the Bullshido of weightlifting. I agree with a lot of the stuff on the site. I'm usually just a little more diplomatic when I talk about it.

[Rubies & Jade]

Still, I think I added something like 20 species to my life list in one go, and I did get some well-needed exercise/stretching done.

sounds like fun! The most birds I ever saw in one trip (over the course of 3 days or so) was in Tucson, AZ... such an amazing array of birds and most of them I saw in exciting places like the parking lots of a strip mall. it was really funky!

I just got back from a trip in the Catskills--lots of hiking and kayaking. Lots of good exercise, and lots of good beer to balance it out. Couple of strange things, though: one, I had to buy some new clothes because when I pulled out all my long pants (which I haven't worn in many months) to pack, they were all huge on me. apparently I've lost a lot of weight (my summer clothes are such that it wasn't as noticeable)--I bought things that are 3 sizes smaller than what I was wearing in the spring. I've never lost weight without trying before (its usually very difficult!), so that was weird. Second, now that I'm home I've been having bouts of dizziness all day--I almost passed out twice. I have no idea if this relates to exercise or food or perhaps I'm sick. but its all a little weird!

I love the kayaking, though. would love to do more of that.

[cjfshaw]

Awhile ago there was a post on here about the hamstring/quadricep ratio people are supposed to have. Is there a relationship like that for other muscles, like bicep/tricep for example?

[ztemhead]

creatine update #1:

It's been a couple weeks since I started on the stuff, and here's what I've found so far. A little background, I've been doing four days a week in the gym mostly on free weights, some machines, typically over an hour per session, not including warm up and any time for faffing about. I run on off days, and sometimes will throw in 30 minutes on the treadmill in addition to resistance training.

Like Stego, my stomach didn't tolerate it well at first, but I think I've gotten used to it by now. There were a couple days there though.... hoodah, I had major swamp ass and was manufacturing some big ol' air boats. Today I had no issues, even though I ate fairly soon before taking the NoEXPLODE!!! and then working out.

And the sweat... I usually sweat rather profusely, but lately I'm soaked through from neck to navel. Imagine, if you will, my drenched gym clothes packed in a bag, cooking at a slow simmer in the trunk of a car in the Arizona heat for ten hours. Yummy. But there's no avoiding that, and it's not really the creatine's fault.

As I expected, I feel as though I can go longer than usual. 75 minutes solid lifting is no problem. I feel like I can do even longer, but I'm trying to be consistent with it and avoid the inevitable recovery day if I push too hard.

Another thing I've noticed, and again, it might be all in my head, but it seems as though I need a warmup set more now than I did before- as though it takes extra time for blood to flow to the muscles I'm working. So now I do 10 reps @ 50% 1RM before really getting into it.

REgarding actual strength- eh, comme si, comme sa. It's odd, some machines/ moves I've noticed a significant increase, others not so much. Everything abs is Tony-the-tiger grrreat! The torso rotation machine I've gotten to the point where I'm hanging weights off the front of it now. (yes, I do lots of other ab work too) Leg curls are 2/3 of the way down the stack. Chinups are progressing nicely. Squats are a little better, but my bench remains for shit. With the routine I'm on now, I suspect I'd be adding some lean mass if I was eating more, but I still have 13 lbs of belly fat to lose, so that will have to wait.

I'll update again about the creatine in a couple weeks. ;)

[lessthanluke]

Creatine is for teh gheys

[ztemhead]

Not that there's anything wrong with that?

[lessthanluke]

Not that there's anything wrong with that?

Nothing at all.

Creatine doesn't agree with me. Gives me a bad stomach cramps.

[Coyotes Daughter]

Finally started physical therapy yesterday, so now I'm using the exercise bike, too. I'm using the recumbent bike with no resistance, and I'm not even pedaling fast enough to turn on the electronic system, but it's something.

That, and they got out a scale so I could get the feeling for 30% of my weight on the bad leg, and made me walk around actually putting 30% on it. It didn't feel too bad, but later there was a lot more pain than usual, so I don't think I'm quite ready for 30%.

[cjfshaw]

Actually went for a run, had to stop early. This damned pain around my hip socket is KILLING my running.