Using It - August 13 - 19

[Shadow]

For this week, I decided to change what I was doing so I will be going back to a body-parts rotation with a little cardio thrown in. I think this week I'll combine the push muscles (chest/triceps) and the pull muscles (back/biceps). Who knows where I'll go from here :p.

Sunday - Legs and abs
Monday - Cardio intervals
Tuesday - Back, biceps and abs; mowing (cardio :rolleyes: )
Thursday - Chest, shoulders and triceps; kickboxing
Friday - Total body weights with abs; mowing (more cardio :p )

What is everyone else up to?

[bigdawg_SLC]

Hello everyone -- from the sandy beaches of the Flaming Gorge Resevoir! I love this place. We're just about ready to take the boat out and let the girls wakeboard, ski, float tube -- whatever they like. We're really being quite open as far as what we do. We may just go out on a long boat ride!

I'll try to check back in periodically... Enjoy! I'm still trying my hardest to eat the PPLP WOE. I've taken the blender and protein powder...That will give me a jump start on that anyway.

[banshee]

Well, I started the week yesterday with a visit to the State Fair, so a bunch of walking, although it was rarely brisk, so I'm not sure if it really counts as "exercise". Tip for anyone who is planning on a day trip which involves a lot of walking and some stair climbing - don't do an intense lower body workout the day before your trip! The walking part was ok, although I could feel the burn/tension in my legs, but the stairs almost did me in!

Speaking of lower body workouts, I did get in my 2 days of exercise last week with a lower body workout Saturday. I tried something new which led to the major DOMS yesterday (and today). For the leg press, instead of doing my usual 180 pounds on each leg, I lowered the weights to 160 and did 2 extra sets. I think this is what I need to do from now on for legs. Instead of 1 set of 20 reps and 1 set of 15 reps, I did 3 sets of 20 and 1 set of 15. This was followed by my usual routing for leg extensions, leg curls, hip abduction and hip adduction. (Although by the time I got to the hip abd and add I had to reduce the weights because my legs were so tired!)

This one change really made a difference in the workout. When I got off the leg extension machine, my thigh muscles actually started giving out when I tried to walk. I definitely had worked the muscles "to failure". I had to wobble my way to a bench and rest my legs for a good 5-7 minutes before continuing!

Of course, that's brought up a question - what does "work to failure" really mean? In the past, I had always thought it was "Do the reps until you can't do another one". But now I'm wondering if it means you should work the muscle until it literally "fails" to work, even for normal movement? In the past with my leg exercises, I thought I was working the muscles to failure, but now I'm wondering. I'm also wondering if the reason I'm not seeing progress with some of my upper body exercises is also because I'm not truly working "to failure"...

[Shadow]

Mary - To me, "failure" is when I cannot perform one more rep with good form - and that applies whether I'm working on endurance or on strength :). Way to go on varying that routine! When we do the same things over and over, we fail to challenge our muscles and we stop recognizing any gains. While this new workout is challenging for now, when it stops challenging you, then it's time to change it again ;).

Bigdawg - What fun :D!

[Ottawa]

Sunday: 90 minute swim across lake and back with snorkle& fins. Found 6 golf balls
Monday: Day Off
Tuesday: Day Off
Wednesday: Baseball after work 90 minutes, Evening 100 inclined situps & Bench weights 'til failure
Thursday:
Friday:
Saturday:

[banshee]

I decided to try something similar yesterday for my upper body workout, namely lowering the weight a bit and doing more reps and sets, to see if it would be as challenging to my muscles as the lower body workout was. (I'm still a bit sore today from Saturday's lower body exercises!) I also decided to separate out my upper body and just do biceps/triceps, and focus on the chest/back on another day.

I did three different kinds of pullups - wide grip palms out, narrow grip palms out and narrow grip palms in. I had done these in the past as the last exercise group in my upper body rotation, but this time I did them first. I lowered the weight by 15 pounds and did three sets of each. I also did 3 sets of dips and tricep extensions, with lowered weight for the extensions but not the dips. Then I tried some new exercises for biceps and triceps using the pulley machine, which I hadn't used before. Only 2 sets for those exercises. I'm sore today, but not as bad as the legs were. (Maybe because the muscles are smaller, so don't have as many nerve endings to complain? :p ) We'll see how I feel tomorrow - for me DOMS usually waits til the second day to kick in - the legs kicking in the next day were an abberation!

Anyway, it was interesting trying different things. I also started some core exercises now that I'm finally feeling normal after the surgery. I did some back extensions with just my own body weight for resistance and pushed myself a bit harder on the ab vacuums.

[banshee]

Well, after my happy report yesterday, I now have to report that I won't be getting in my 2 days this week. :mad:

Last night I bent over to open the bottom drawer of my dresser, something I've done dozens if not hundreds of times, and I threw my back out. :eek: Thankfully the bed was right there so I could collapse on it in pain! I was really concerned for a while that I might have seriously injured myself, because I couldn't even straighten my legs out for almost an hour. :( (Although how I could seriously injure myself just tugging on a drawer handle baffles my brain...) But the on-call doc said that since I didn't have shooting pains down my leg and didn't have any numbness or weakness, I most likely just did something to cause my back muscles to spasm. (I'm still not sure how I'm supposed to tell if I have "weakness" if the spasms are so bad I can't move...:confused:)

Anyway, it's massive amounts of ibuprofin, lots of ice, and no exercise until this clears up. It's a little better this morning - enough that I was able to get to work - but I still can't bend over without pretty serious pain. We'll see how long I can stand to sit at work...

[Ottawa]

Mary,
I empathize with your back concerns. My wife has a continuing problem that waivers on intesity but is always somewhere in the backgrouns waiting to flair up. Accupunture and Chiropracty have helped somewhat but various different back exercises have helped the most although they give short term relief (a few hours).


Lita,
"To me, "failure" is when I cannot perform one more rep with good form - and that applies whether I'm working on endurance or on strength."


That is very close to my interpretation as well. When working with heavier weights on a bench or even with heaviy hand weights, I work 'til I get the shakes (loss of control) or can not manage the weight safely. It is usually a little beyond the initial pain and definitely beyond the discomfort area, since I know that it is putting a "load" on some part of the body. I've noticed that heavy bench weights affect me afterwards in other sports like swimming so should likely stop a little earlier if doing some other activity using that muscle/joint group.
Even in an active sport I would expect some residual pain if I have put myself fully into the game. With Baseball or Ultimate Frisbee the pain is usually the next morning in ankles and lower joints, I think largely from moving 200 pounds quickly, :slywink: and also as I age when I damage myself (happens a little with every sport or workout) your body does take a little longer to repair itself. That is part of the "Reality of Mortality".

In last nights softball ball game one of the guys came up to show me why my hits are not going as deep as they should. When I swing I was using mainly my arms and shoulders whereas I should be using everything from the ankles up (full body turn into the swing with arms extended at contact). It will take a while but I definitely had better hits last night and feel it a little in my ribs. The cost was a little pain today for my foirst triple I had last night that more than compenastates for the pain. I know at some point as time catches up I will have to alter what I do. Maybe as I age and my memory fades, I'll just forget to show up for the games:D , but 'til then I know that eating this way repairs me faster than any other WoE and lets me maintain or even improve muscle and activity.

[hawk]

RANDY< Can you put your hands on your hips and stretch back ward while standing ?? Every 30 minutes. When you have to bend over, always lift one leg behind you so your back does not bend foreward. Keep your spine straight. Also, can you carefully lower yourself to the floor and lay so that your calves are on the sofa and you are on your back on the floor with your knees at a 90* angle and your rear up against the sofa, another 90* angle. Relax your upper body. This disengages the hips and realigns the back. Sometimes it take 45 minutes-two hours. Do it every day for a while till the pain is gone. Roll to your side and push up with your arms to get back up.
Pete Egosque...Pain Free... Great book. There is nothing to compare with this mans book. I was in a serious car accident with a drunk driver and was in pain for weeks, in Physical Therapy. A friend loaned me this and with in a matter of days the pain was gone and never returned. I still use the static back excersize. He has a few more. The book is indorsed by Jack Nicolas (golfer) Pete is a physical therapist for many athletes .
he has another book... "healing through motion". I belive it is his principles that saved my right leg with the RSD as I followed them instead of the medical profession. I did the opposite of what the doc said because his book made more sense. Just like PP.
Last night a person with High cholesterol told me she was eating baked potatoes and vegetables and little meat and no eggs to get her cholesterol down. I listened politely. When she goes back in to get her test results the next time, if she complains about them, I may hand her the PP book. Her HDL was at 80. Which I thought was good. LDL at 180.

[Ottawa]

Thanks for the pointers Lyne. I've emailed the link to my wife so she can try them out.

[hawk]

Spelled his name wrong... Pete Egoscue.. Pain Free. You can find it by searching for Pain Free.

[Mitra]

Also, can you carefully lower yourself to the floor and lay so that your calves are on the sofa and you are on your back on the floor with your knees at a 90* angle and your rear up against the sofa, another 90* angle.

I know that a lot of people find this position very helpful, but when my back is painful, this makes it worse. I do better lying face down, then after a while lifting my head so I'm propped up using my elbows - so the front of my hips is stretched, with a slight backbend. It depends what and where your back misalignment is.

I'm off for a week of yoga on Sunday - this time last year, when I went off for the week I couldn't do any forward bending because of my lower back problems, and had to be very cautious with the backbends, and very very cautious with bending sideways. This year, though I'll always be watching it pretty closely, there shouldn't be much that I can't do :cool:.

My yoga teacher will be doing the yoga part of the week, and a woman who taught anatomy & physiology at Queen's University in Belfast will be teaching us about structural and hormonal problems - for someone with a wonky back and pre-menopausal hormones, there should be lots of interesting stuff! She taught us last year, too, and is an excellent teacher - very enthusiastic, and good at explaining things clearly.

[Shadow]

Mitra - I'm sure all of the women here (and maybe the men ;) ) look forward to a full report when you get back!

Mary - So sorry your back is bothering you again :(!

Lynn - That sounds like a book I might have to check out!

Randy - Awesome job on that triple :D :thumbsup:!

[SherryJ]

Hawk, thanks for the heads up on the book... I've got it on hold at the library, hoping it will help Mr. Wonderful's back and plantar facitis (sp!)...

Mitra, have fun! :D

Sherry

[hawk]

book helps knees,carpal tunnel,hips,shoulder pain,back pain,flat feet, all kinds of allignment problems that cause pain. I just reordered them from amazon.com because I can't remember who I lent them to.

[SherryJ]

Wasn't me!!!! :jawDrop:

:lol: :p :lol:

Sherry

[banshee]

Thanks everyone for the ideas to help with the back. I ended up going home yesterday because sitting was too painful. Stopped by the docs on the way home and got a prescription for Tylenol with codeine for the pain, cause the Advil wasn't cutting it. Spent the rest of the day dozing/sleeping on the couch, then straight to bed. This morning, the back just felt sore, like it had gotten an excessive workout at the gym. I'm still going to take it easy on exercising for a few days, though. I might try some of the easy back stretches and exercises, but no weight lifting for the rest of the week.

[hawk]

Sherry you silly person.:lol:

[SherryJ]

Made 'ja laugh, didn't I!?!?!?

:p

Sherry

[hawk]

you did indeed.. not an easy thing to do.

[SherryJ]

I know! And, it was worth it! :D

Sherry

[hawk]

Well today I got another set of Pain Free books today and Mark took my new copy of Pain free. Just don't let me forget he has it.
I walked three miles today . One with Gus pulling me and two with Gus riding on my back. Too hot to put him in the car. I live on a busy highway and cannot walk from home so I drive to a park with a walking track 5 miles away. Gotta keep up with Sherry