Exercise & Fitness VII

[Ser Barry]

hmm. Shoes aren't old, but they only cost about 15 Euros. Could be that.. :)

Anyway, not painful today. I'll try running and if they get sore I'll stop. Don't really want to muck about with tendons, right enough. Thanks for the feedback, all.

Don't stretch your achilles before running. It lessens the elastic tension in it and lessens your running efficiency.

Try and concentrate on using your bum more when running. As your foot hits the ground concentrate on tightening your glute. A lot of achilles problems are caused by overloading it and not using your arse effectively. Surely you know how to use your arse effectively?

On a rest day from running or at the opposite end of the day from a run try doing this;

Stand on both feet with your toes at the edge of a step. Take one foot of the ground. Lower your heel down so it is below your toes. Put the other foot down. Raise yourself onto your toes. Then take one foot of the ground and repeat. Try and get full extension downwards and don't try to raise up on one foot. The achilles has shite blood supply which means that it heals very slowly. Doing that will encourage blood flow to the area. Do it ten times for each foot, 5 days out of 7 for four weeks and see if it helps.

Shoes are really important. Try and get some from a proper fitter.

If your achilles is sore try not to run on a treadmill (sorry no idea is this is relevant) because you bounce on a treadmill rather than run and it overloads the achilles.

[Lany Freelove Cassandra]

Ditto this for hiking. What sort of surface and/or incline was your hike on? It definitely makes a difference.

I went hiking for the first time in a while on soft, unstable ground--we were at Lassen National Park and my calves were kind of sore after hiking through a bunch of tephra (that's pebble-sized volcanic debris, the equivalent of big ash) for several hours. It wasn't that long of a hike, we just stopped a lot (because this was actually a lesson for high-schoolers, not one of my personal geologic death marches) and I was surprised in the afternoon. Maybe I need to take more long walks on the beach when I'm at home. :P

It was mixed surface...a woddsy area with a lot of rocks, so a few soft areas and some hard ones. The first part of the hike was a little steep, but only for 1/3 of a mile. After that it was a slow incline. We did climb over the quartz rock outcroppings, but I don't think that was the problem.

Like needle, I am better now, so it wasn't too bad. Guess I just need to do it more often.

Thanks everyone. :)

[needle]

Lots of good advice there, Bazza :). I'll keep doing those stretches later on ( though my neighbours might look at me oddly - only stairs we have are outside the flat)

Using my arse definitely helped :P. I will inform Zak I wasn't using it right.

Fucking shitey run though. First I got lost in a freaking industrial estate, dodgy lorries with the hot sun beating down on me, trying to find my way back to my nice riverside run. Then my tendons were fine, but my bloody stupid useless knee that I broke skiing a a year or so back started giving me serious gyp, so much so I had to walk/limp about a mile and a half home.

*sigh* I hope this knee problem goes away. Just as I was starting to really get in to the running thing ( I.e. be able to do half an hour without stopping :P)

Glad your tendons are better too, Lany :)

[needle]

hmm. Ok, insoles here I come.

It's all about the money chats - I'm redundant, so running is the only free exercise option I have really. Though the great outdoors is also nice when I don't stray upon industrial estates :P

[cjfshaw]

Using my arse definitely helped :P. I will inform Zak I wasn't using it right.

That made me lol

[Fleeing Finn]

Tendinitis getting worse. Have to go under the knife. Bugger.

[cjfshaw]

Just went on another 3 mile run in flats for barefoot training. WOW, my shins are feeling it. It isn't a bad shin splint pain though it is a soreness I am only used to getting after several miles of running in regular running shoes. I am also feeling it a bit in the back of my foot, right above the heel, but I only feel it in the beginning of the run and I felt it a bit when I woke up 2 days ago but that's it.

[Vethnar]

If you have the mobility to do Olympic squats properly there can only be advantages in doing them.

Actually, I find mobility to be more of a problem in the low bar squat, particularly shoulder and hip mobility. Shoulder mobility is fairly obvious, hip mobility less so. I find it more difficult to avoid rounding the lower back in low bar squats. I think it is most likely to be a hamstring flexibility issue; it is easier to keep the lower back straight in Olympic squats because of the deeper knee angle.

They're good for the knee joint, mobility and building quad strength, don't stop doing them. With low bar squats and a wider stance the knee joint will usually be at its most vulnerable position right when you change direction and start pushing the weight back up. Also, like you said, you'll be using mostly your glutes and hams to complete the lift and in time your quads will get weaker in comparsion to the antagonist muscles. Now, I'm not saying the Olympic squat is better than the low bar squat, just that they're different kind of exercises with emphasis on different musclegroups. Since your goal is general conditioning for the track I suggest you keep on doing those Olympic squats just so you're doing something with the full range of motion of the knee joint. On the track you'll never have to use the full ROM and you can guess that with the forces pounding the joint every time you run you'll be happier in the long term if the joint strong throughout. Besides you get much the same benefits with deadlifting and GMs that you would with low bar squats.

Thanks for the advice. I'll stop trying to learn the low bar squat and stick with Olympic squats from now on. :)

All that rant aside the transfer effects of Olympic squats to your sports are pretty poor.

I think the transfer effects are quite good, especially for accelerating out of the blocks.

I'd still do them periodically just to keep the joint healthy and the muscles around it strong. On a side note I used to despise direct ab work but I've found that everyone doing real sports should do it. Being able to do a set of 10 with a 25 kg plate behind your neck is a good start.

I agree: Direct ab work is boring, but useful. I mostly do hanging leg raises rather than situps, though.

By the way, I tried the natural GHR/Russian curl exercise you recommended recently for the first time yesterday. It's an awesome exercise, but I'm embarassingly bad at it. I only managed two reps entirely unassisted, from then on I had to use a slight push with the arms at the bottom. Of course, discovering that I'm bad at something is actually a very positive discovery, because it means there is great room for improvement. :)

Today, the tendons behind my knees hurt, but I guess it's only because I'm not used to the exercise, and that it's nothing to worry about.

Tendinitis getting worse. Have to go under the knife. Bugger.

Ouch. That sounds like seriously bad news.

:(

[lessthanluke]

Vethnar, GHRs are very hard to do to start with, especially ghetto ones.

[Mudguard]

Went on a 5 mile trail run with about 1000' elevation gain at a local park. Took about an hour, but I took a wrong turn and I stopped to take some pictures of a tarantula I saw on the trail. It was the first tarantula I've seen in the wild, so it made my day. Taking two months off from running has definitely hurt my conditioning, but hopefully it won't take too long to get back into shape.

[Vethnar]

Vethnar, GHRs are very hard to do to start with, especially ghetto ones.

"Ghetto GHRs" are the same thing as "natural GHRs"? Yes, they are clearly very hard. This is, of course, a good thing.

:thumbsup:

[Fleeing Finn]

Ouch. That sounds like seriously bad news.

Not that bad, it's a small operation.

[Fleeing Finn]

Can you guys picture the exercise where you have your back towards a wall and a big exercise ball between your back and the wall? And you basically do squats leaning up against the ball as it rolls up and down the wall?

Is this more to be as base for working towards doing squats or is it like a back massage?

Or is it to balance the hips out?

I guess it's like a wall squat where your shins stay vertical to the floor at the bottom position. Basically it's just an exercise for the quads with about as much relevance to the squat as leg press or leg extensions.

[seastarr]

I guess it's like a wall squat where your shins stay vertical to the floor at the bottom position. Basically it's just an exercise for the quads with about as much relevance to the squat as leg press or leg extensions.

The ball squat's "relevance" is basically as a therapeutic exercise. Obviously, there are many many people who cannot do a typical weight lifter's squat, load-bearing or otherwise.

The ball controls the alignment of the spine and provides support. It allows people to hold a position and make refinements in their shape and how they are putting weight through the soles of the feet, so they can learn new patterns of alignment.

I use it to help people with chondromalacia or other knee tracking issues become aware of how their knees are tracking in a weight bearing knee bend. I also use it to help people learn how not to pronate or roll down the arches of the feet during a weight bearing knee bend. It can also be helpful for people with balance problems or muscle atrophy from nerve damage--a weight bearing exercise they can do with support through their possible range.

[polekat]

Is the proper forum in which to groan about my sore muscles?

I practiced Climb-into-flip a million times Tuesday night and my back, triceps, shoulders, the fronts of my hips, and my left calf are killing me.

Remember when massages used to just feel awesome instead of painful? I miss those days. Maybe I can make a date with a hot tub tonight.

[Stego]

Ran 8 miles this morning. A few years ago I wasn't sure if I'd ever walk again. It felt pretty damn good.

[Happy Ent]

Welcome back to the road, Stego. (And watch those small signs to avoid injury!)

Just came back from another 12 km in 67 minutes, total 130 km. (12 km is 7.45 miles, or roughly .95 stegos.)

[Xray the Enforcer]

:love: seastarr

:love: stego -- that's awesome, man.

I've had some health issues this week and haven't yet been to the gym. Hopefully I'll be ready on Monday.

[ztemhead]

This week, I've also come down with something icky in the my throat/ nasus area. I intend to kill this virus with a combination of alcohol and general meanness.

work on the Hollywood body next week. This week I am a very fragile princess.

[seastarr]

Yes, it is familiar.

Do you mean you have one hip hiked up so they are not level in a horizontal manner? Like one hip bone is higher than the other? This is not too abnormal unless it is really noticeable, but it can definitely be a sign of problems in hip and low back function and something to learn how to manage as best you can.

I would try out some side-bending stretches with your torso. Simple one would be to reach up with one arm overhead and just bend to the side while standing with both feet planted into floor hip width. Try not to lean forward or back, just bend purely to the side. Do you feel tighter in this stretch on the side where your hip is higher?

General rules for dealing with hip hike:

1) strengthening hip flexors (especially psoas muscle) on lifted side. Start very very easy and learn how to isolate psoas action so you can do hip flexion without hiking the hip more.

2) Stretching side bends and twists for torso (as long as you don't have active herniated disks)

3) Strengthen obliques to help learn to stabilize pelvis during hip flexion

4) Stretch your glutes, especially gluteus minimus and medius (hip haunch muscles more on the side)

I'd love to write you up some exercises to achieve all this but I'm going to be late for yoga! Perhaps after work...