Exercise & Fitness VII

[seastarr]

Today is Pilates low chair day. Or possibly wall system and swing. And supposedly I'm taking a 2.5 hour yoga workshop this evening. I am sure the only reason I will actually get to that is because of you, ztem, and your little post of encouragement.

Muchos Gracias!

What is everybody up to that is new?

I just set up my first trapeze class in October. I'm very excited! I am going to be working very hard on all things arms until then, because arms and grip strength are really the hardest things for me. So, lots of work with the bars and the rings. Also I need to work on my psoas muscle and getting my legs to fold up against my body as if they weighed nothing.

[cjfshaw]

Today was supposed to be leg day. Decided to sleep instead. Win.

lol, nice

Thought everyone here might be interested in this article. It talks about how statistical outliers are the only people really expected to be breaking records anymore. At least that's what I got out of it.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_...icle6799535.ece

[Liffguard]

I was going to post this on the healthy eating thread but no one's posted there in a while and it's just as valid here. A very interesting article regarding some of the common beliefs and actual experimental science surrounding modern nutrition.

Basically, the article claims that there are certain compounds that your body needs in certain quantities (vitamins, minerals, fatty acids etc) and as long as you get these nutrients then the only other thing that matters is total calories consumed, not where they come from. For example, it says that there is no actual evidence to support any benefit of wholemeal over white rice or bread.

[Liffguard]

Would people not get their key nutrients more readily or easily from good foods though as compared to a poor diet, supplements not withstanding?

I don't think that this is in doubt. The article just seems to be questioning the common wisdom as to what counts as a "good" or "bad" food.

[Happy Ent]

Ran another 12 km. This time I peeked at a watch before and after, and it took me something like 72 minutes, pretty much as I expected. 6 minutes per click.

The goal would be to do this distance in 60 minutes. 5 minutes per click. We’ll see.

Total 70 km.

[Lucky Pierre]

Question for the guys, spoiler text for the girls:

SPOILER: dudes, your help pls

So doing deadlifts, I find the bar usually winds up just at dick level. Rather, brushing up against dick level. I use a normal stance, but pretty wide grip, so is this a normal area to hit, or am I doing something wrong? Has this happened to anyone else, and what, if anything, did you do about it? Should I consider varying stance/ grip, or maybe wearing jockeys under the swim trunks I normally do? Aside from this, everything else in my deadlifts feels good; as though I can start doing real weight again. Your thoughts appreciated.

:lmao:

OK-so I'm glad it's not just me! I have short legs and a normal torso... there is no amount of grip or stance change that prevents me from not hitting my junk-even wearing a jock.

Anyway-I worked out again today which is day 7 now... I will finish this week with my normal Friday upper body and then just swim over the weekend (weather permitting). I'm sore all over-but not terribly so. It just feels like I've been working out every day. And weight is slowly going back down to where I would like it to be. I just have to be very strict about what I eat.

[Mudguard]

I went on a different type of hike last weekend. Went to find an old abandoned goldmine in the San Gabriel Mts. For the first 7 miles or so, we followed a stream that people still pan for gold today. This part was really fun and had a lot of stream crossings.

Then we went off trail and up the slopes of the mountain. Based on a map we had, we took the most direct route to the mine, but it ended up having lots of obstacles. At the beginning, lots of class 3 rock climbing on crumbly rock with poor handholds. Going up was fine, but I didn't enjoy coming back down. Slipped on one section, but luckily there was a ledge that stopped my fall after 5 feet or so. Got away with a badly scraped shin, but it could easily have been much, much worse.

After the rock climbing section, it was major bushwacking through dense brush, with poison oak everywhere. I was expecting this, so I had long pants and a long sleeve shirt, but apparently the posion oak oils went through my clothing anyway. I'm itching like crazy now!

The worse part is that we did not find the mine entrance. We found the ruins of the old cabin/ore processing building there, but went the wrong way when trying to locate the mine. Based on a hand drawn map from someone who has visited the mine, we were about 100 yards away from the mine entrance when we were at the ruins. That map also labels the route we took as the really stupid way to get to the mine, and instead recommends a different route. I'm going to have to go back again so that I can actually find the mine entrance. Not looking forward to dealing with all the poison oak though.

[ztemhead]

Today is Pilates low chair day. Or possibly wall system and swing. And supposedly I'm taking a 2.5 hour yoga workshop this evening. I am sure the only reason I will actually get to that is because of you, ztem, and your little post of encouragement.

Muchos Gracias!

any time!

I got hung up earlier today, but instead of heading home in the evening, I remembered that post and went to the gym first. I'm doing better with some lifts, holding steady in others. :dunno: Hopefully the aid of a frosty cold beer will chill me out enough so that I can sleep okay.

[Kat]

I went on a different type of hike last weekend. Went to find an old abandoned goldmine in the San Gabriel Mts. For the first 7 miles or so, we followed a stream that people still pan for gold today. This part was really fun and had a lot of stream crossings.

Then we went off trail and up the slopes of the mountain. Based on a map we had, we took the most direct route to the mine, but it ended up having lots of obstacles. At the beginning, lots of class 3 rock climbing on crumbly rock with poor handholds. Going up was fine, but I didn't enjoy coming back down. Slipped on one section, but luckily there was a ledge that stopped my fall after 5 feet or so. Got away with a badly scraped shin, but it could easily have been much, much worse.

After the rock climbing section, it was major bushwacking through dense brush, with poison oak everywhere. I was expecting this, so I had long pants and a long sleeve shirt, but apparently the posion oak oils went through my clothing anyway. I'm itching like crazy now!

The worse part is that we did not find the mine entrance. We found the ruins of the old cabin/ore processing building there, but went the wrong way when trying to locate the mine. Based on a hand drawn map from someone who has visited the mine, we were about 100 yards away from the mine entrance when we were at the ruins. That map also labels the route we took as the really stupid way to get to the mine, and instead recommends a different route. I'm going to have to go back again so that I can actually find the mine entrance. Not looking forward to dealing with all the poison oak though.

Sounds like fun. I love looking at old mines and ghost towns--this is my days off when I'm in Death Valley. Sorry to hear about the poison oak though. I'm not allergic (luckily--or else I'd have gotten it about 100000 times by now) but it looks annoying/painful.

I told my sister I'd go kayaking with her this weekend, but hopefully my shoulder won't still want to fall off by Saturday, like it's mysteriously been doing on and off since last week. :|

[seastarr]

Sadly, my 2.5 hour yoga workshop was about as boring and as full of bullshit as my postmodernism class was in college. In short, I would have liked to have left by the hour mark, when all we had done so far was practice engaging our pelvic floor and the "bringing the knee to the chest with the pelvic floor."

It made me realize why people come out of yoga class and do not want to go back. So sad. I'll stick to my own teachers from now on.

[Liffguard]

Postmodernism sounds all cool, but really is as boring as watching paint dry.

Going off on a brief tangent for a second, check out the Postmodernism Generator. Seriously funny stuff.

[Happy Ent]

Ran another 12 km. Feels good. Still slow, around 72 minutes, but with only one day of rest since the last 12 km. Total 82 km.

[seastarr]

I am sore from practicing vrkschikasana and forearm balance yesterday. Ow, especially in my left buttock! My success was accomplishing the entire cycle of getting into forearm balance, then into the backbend and back out smoothly to the floor in the center of the room with no props. Getting back out is really the hardest part. I hardly ever nail it but yesterday was my day.

[Liffguard]

Whew, another really tough double session today, Judo followed by BJJ. I think my Judo is improving, slowly but steadily. Mostly focused on seoi nage today and actually managed to pull a few off.

[zollo]

Whew, another really tough double session today, Judo followed by BJJ. I think my Judo is improving, slowly but steadily. Mostly focused on seoi nage today and actually managed to pull a few off.

I am starting to doubt whether you actually sleep on a daily basis. :P

[Liffguard]

Well it's nearly midnight here and I've got to be up early to teach a class so sleep will probably be in short supply. I catch up on sleep when I get choked out. It's rather pleasantly like being very drunk.

[Eponine]

I'm going to have to go back to the doctor. I hadn't felt badly for several days, and I felt that my lung capacity was coming back. The doctor had said that I would be fine to ease back into exercise as soon as I felt well. While I was jogging (slowly), my chest got tighter and tighter and in the end I just walked home breathing very shallowly.

[ztemhead]

:( sorry to hear, ep. don't kill yourself.

A- workout today with 25 mins intervals on the treadmill, and a little over an hour in the free weight area.

I'm doing well- the weight loss is making all the body weight exercises that much easier. Chinups and dips, FTW!! Dumbell chest press, shoulder press, and most of the other dumbell exercises are all better to the point where I'm now average guy-in-the-gym strength. (yeah yeah I know, don't worry about everyone else, just concentrate on YOU, Mikey.) Bench press still sucks. *sigh* Interesting point that at the gym in Paradise Valley where the rich people live, everyone seems monstrously strong, and on a level greater than the other locations I work out at. I wonder why that is.

Today doing squats, I noticed that little vein in my deltoids popping out. It was fun to see, but I don't want to be one of those guys with faux varicose veins all over the place. It just... ew.

[Kat]

My arm did not fall off while I was kayaking. In fact, it feels great (normal) now. Yay.

[Mudguard]

Sorry to hear that Eponine. Looks like you either got a bad case of bronchitis, or maybe you picked up a secondary infection. Hopefully, it's just lung irritation from the damage caused by the bronchitis bug. If that's the case, there's not much you can do except wait for your lungs to repair themselves. I think I had a cough for about a month after I eradicated the bug with antibiotics. Taking deep breaths would cause lung irritation.

Kat, I wish I wasn't allergic to poison oak. It's miserable. Many times worse than mosquito bites. The poison oak oils can cover large areas of your skin, so the rash is often over a large area of your arms and legs. And the itchiness can last for a couple weeks. Ugh. Mines are cool. I wanted to be a geologist at one point of my life, and I thought about it during college. I'm hoping I can see a quartz vein in the abandoned goldmine.

Did a 12-13 mile hike with 7000-8000 feet gain. It was very, very steep at times. Coolest thing was getting a glimpse of a bear. I only got to see it's ass before it vanished, but the guy who first saw it got a better look. Looked like a large adult bear. It was pretty high up, maybe around 8000'. It was pretty hot today at the lower elevations, so maybe it was hanging out at the higher elevations to beat the heat.