Fitness, Nutrition and Health- All Welcome (Hardcore and “Light”)

My wrist was tender so didn’t toe today—did some walking and hope to go back to rowing tomorrow.

@sushiritto Therein lies the problem. I “streak”, which means I run every day. Yeah, I know all the drawbacks, but it’s what I do, and so far none of my injuries have been blamed on the streak. I try not to be stupid. One streak ended in 2015 due to some serious eye surgery and the doc was not amused when I asked about doing “just one mile” the next day. My longest streak was 1065 days and ended with a high hamstring injury. I was allowed to keep running, but it simply became impossible. I averaged 5.3 miles a day for that streak. Current streak is 396 also at 5.3 miles a day. I train mainly very slowly (low heart rate) and run faster when I race or do a tempo run or something. It generally works for me mentally and physically, and my injury rate is actually better than most runners of my longevity. BUT- things do happen and the issue with the streak is trying to keep it up while healing. I stopped a short streak last December when I had pneumonia. I have friends who would have somehow run throw all of that and have permanent damage… This particular issue seems to allow for a short run. We shall see.

@MomofWildChild , have you ever considered getting a percussive massage gun like a Theragun G3 Pro or Hypervolt Plus? Pricey but very effective at releasing trigger points and tight soft tissue, both pre and post workouts and for rehab purposes. I had a physiatrist use one on me when I was injured during the summer and I was instantly sold on it. I got a Theragun for 1/3 off during Black Friday sales and loved using it until I made the mistake of taking it down to BPM where immediately my daughter and coaches stole it and refused to allow me to take it home, lol.

My cardinal rule, smoothies must be gastorial guiltless pleasures that tickle your taste buds, not painful like a dose of cod liver oil, lol. Try my recipe ?

@MomofWildChild

Oh no! Boo! No injuries! Are you taking any anti-inflammatories?

I hope this is a mere odd blip and you will be able to run pain-free very soon.

A hot subject on Barbell podcasts is how the level of pain is not indicative of the level of damage.

Pain is a warning signal created by the brain. The takeaway? Don’t freak out. Most of the time, training can continue, but intensity & volume (& frequency) will need to be adjusted.

Good luck!!!

@sushiritto

Yes, thank you for asking, I’ve got safety arms on my squat rack.

I have not failed a bench press yet. I’ve definitely tested the setting of the safety arms — with an empty bar — for when that day comes.

I have failed the squat 2x and used the safety arms to set the bar down, then do the crawl of shame out from under!

Gotta have them!

I always lose weight in January, but I’ve been surprised that even though I don’t think I’m eating less, the tracking is probably having some effect since I am down almost 7 pounds. That included one splurge weekend in Mystic where we ate a lot of restaurant food including shared desserts and at least one unhealthy breakfast. I’ve been much better about getting exercise, though I am sure it’s not anywhere near at the level I should.

Michael- I hadn’t heard of that “gun”. Sounds interesting. I really do pretty well injury-wise and don’t get too tight, but it does happen!

I do think my doc helped things yesterday and the exercises help, too. I really like the balancing on one leg, which is something I should have been doing anyway.

How do you do the leg balancing thing? I am not a big yoga fan (the only time I’ve had a real sports injury was from yoga and it took two years to feel right again), but I like to do a few of the poses for stretching and relaxing. I usually do the tree pose of few times a week.

I’ve read that older folks should do the one leg balances to help our overall balance. In yoga, you pull the other knee up towards your chest and hold it while you balance on the other leg. My doc just had me lift that leg off the floor about waist height. He said to do it for about 2 minutes, counting falling out of the position. In hot yoga I think they hold it for a minute. It helps to be barefoot and to stare at something straight ahead of you. To start, just lift your other foot off the ground as high as you feel comfortable with doing. I put my arms out to the sides. He suggested trying it on one of those wobble pillow things, but that is a little advanced for me right now.

80 minutes this morning on the skier watching women’s tennis final in Australia. Speeches gave me at least an additional 10 minutes. LOL

Fell a tad short of my goal for January. I started on the 6th, instead of the 1st so overall, I’m happy with my results - 7.2 lbs down and my goal was 8 lbs. I definitely noticed some strength gains from lifting, which I’m very happy with.

I’m trying something new this month. I plan to alternate weeks of vegetarian eating with my normal lots of meat diet. I’m also ready to start running again this month … slowly, now that I have a little endurance back. Also tightening up my calorie counting.

Hope everyone meets their February health and fitness goals!

Cutting down on the sugar, alcohol and processed foods. I’m down 3+ pounds since January 1st.
The training group ran 6.5 miles this morning, which went well (we all finished) and next Saturday we run 8. Picked up my fitness challenge medal at the local running store this morning (January was 31 miles in 31 days) and got the February challenge card which is 44 miles. I like doing challenges in the winter because it really motivates me to do more. Not sure if I really need that with the training , though.

For one leg balances, I typically will do single leg deadlifts using dumbbells or kettlebells:

https://classpass.com/movements/single-leg-deadlift

Great metabolic strength workout today. After warming up with lumbar press ups, hip bridges, thoracic stretches, KB arm bars and head circles, did the following:

6 minute AMRAPS (as many rounds as possible) of paired movements:

Turkish Get Up with Kettlebell R/L

Weighted TRX Chest Presses with hands and feet suspended
Weighted Chin-Ups

Dead Stop Kettlebell Swings
Half Kneeling 1 Arm Kettlebell Presses

Sandbag Front Squats
Sandbag Split Stance Rows

Then 6 minute EMOM (every minute on the minute) of alternating arm Kettlebell Snatches

Finishing with high TRX planks, high TRX plank crunches, weighted hanging knee lifts and high TRX side planks R/L

Great thing about this programming is that it is relatively short, whole body engagement with each exercise, very intense with a high heart rate the entire time.

And then, for my post workout meal, I had … wait for it… a smoothie (super shake). With cup of 1% Fairlife milk, 2 scoops of whey protein powder, creatine monohydrate, strawberries, blueberries , banana and organic peanut butter.

Was very purposeful about not twisting wrists and rowed for 25 minutes, somewhere about 1.75 miles or so. Seems to have been a fine workout.

Well, I’ve managed to hit my distance goals every day this week except for today. Only managed 3 miles but I’m feeling worse. H was at urgent care midweek and has passed along his virus (thankfully not the flu or coronavirus) but I was up all night hacking. We had great plans for the weekend which have all been cancelled but such is life. It could be worse.

Congrats @Midwest67 on the bench! That is really great.

I am sorry @MomofWildChild about the injury. I’m glad it doesn’t sound too severe and something that can be run through.

And kudos to all those with the successful Januarys. I think I’m trimmer, but since Planet Fitness removed their scales 15 months ago and my old gym closed, I don’t have any access to a scale. For me, it’s for the best. I’m a numbers freak and once I start weighing, I get way too obsessed with the numbers.

I ran for 45 min this morning in asheville, NC. It wasn’t awesome. I run better in a routine vs somewhere new, but 45 min was better than 0 min and I was pleased I felt better running up the hill vs down.

@ClassicMom98 - I don’t like the scale either. Too easy for me to get discouraged if the number isn’t what I want and then I want to quit. Easier for me to have exercise and food goals. My jeans do a good job of letting me know when I need to get more series about my portion sizes.

Alas, I am NOT thinner! 3 business and 1 personal trip in January with lots of too good food and drinks was not helpful. I’m just a couple pounds up, but still… @momofsenior1 Sorry about the virus. SO much stuff is going around.