The Exercise Motivation Thread - 2014

[peaches08]

Walked 35 min today.  I haven't done anything since Thursday and frankly it was kinda nice.  I think with boards coming up and all, I needed to do absolutely nothing for a few days.

 
It is a tendon problem and I'm in both a boot and a brace. No walking without it, no walking for exercise. For four weeks. If that doesn't help, the next and only option is surgery. 

 I can't drive, so Rick will have to take me back and forth to work. He's going to love that. Next ortho appt is July 8.

So no stress fracture?  Hmm.  Are they thinking that if they allow it to rest and reduce inflammation, then you can resume exercise?  Like an overuse injury?  Geez Winchester, I bet you are aggravated.  Well, upper body workouts then?

 

[Winchester]

No stress fracture. The x-rays look normal to him (ortho guy). He's had the same tendon problem, had the surgery, and is back to running (he's a marathon runner) and he says I will walk again...he just doesn't know when right now. I'm trying to be optimistic. He really doesn't think there are any stress fractures. The way he felt around the tendon, he says it's very, very swollen, but it's not torn. Yet. Yes, he's thinking that with rest, the swelling will go down and nothing will tear. He says that with stress fractures, the surrounding area is often very bruised....this area is not. Looks normal, except for a long lump along the foot.

So my general doctor tells me stress fractures; the ortho guy says nope. 

 I give up.

 

[peaches08]

I feel ya!  I'd be swearing at the wall. 

 

[jtbo]

It is a tendon problem and I'm in both a boot and a brace. No walking without it, no walking for exercise. For four weeks. If that doesn't help, the next and only option is surgery.   I can't drive, so Rick will have to take me back and forth to work. He's going to love that. Next ortho appt is July 8.

Oh c***, that really sucks

Hopefully that rest will help, but good thing is that you can actually keep working, it would be much worse if one had to take sick leave for that long.

Do you have those stretching rope things? I was thinking if such would be allowed so that you could hang other end some place higher and other end to your knee, then while you are on your back, you can kind of pull stretching thing with your knee and that will train legs too a bit. Also maybe ankle weights and when sitting lifting up and slowly lowering leg at a time, but of course doctor's orders must be respected.

I would like to build some kind of bench/board for abs and back muscles, I'm still bit unsure what materials I will need. My back starts hurting so quickly that I need to at least try to gain strength to my back. It is always when I lean forwards that my back starts to ache and it can keep going for days, maybe enough training will help with that.

 

[peaches08]

I woke up early this morning, so I went for a short run.  I ran two 5 min sets, totaling 10 min.  I felt like I could do more, but I figured I better ease into it.  Then I cut the grass and sprayed my driveway for weeds.

 

[jtbo]

I thought I try my ages old dumbbell set, so I did set some weights on to handle and started to do bit random moves and 10 repeats, I found out that I barely could do that 10, but I did add only 4.4lbs of weights, then I did do some weighting and I found out that handle alone is 4.4lbs, so I was doing 8.8lbs and I'm absolute beginner with weights and things, so I guess I need only a handle until I learn proper way of doing the stuff.

Then I did some good morning moves, to help with my lower back issues, http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/BBBentKneeGoodMorning.html

I have no such equipment, so I grabbed on large log of wood, I did try large iron bar at first, but that felt light, log was perfect in weight, I think that move did hit the correct spot.

Then I did bicycle moves from here http://exercise.about.com/cs/abs/l/blabworkout.htm I found those to be really tough moves as I did struggle to keep every part moving and aligned properly. Crushed stone on my yard under the grass and moss did not feel very nice while doing that, so I need to build something more.

It is funny how some repeated moves feel so difficult and other ones are so easy, also I find even huge wood logs quite easy to bear hug and pick up, but that few lbs weight when I stand and have upper body tilted forwards so that it is parallel to ground and lift both arms from straight down position to straight to side, that is so unbelievable difficult move, with that 8.8lbs on both hands I did manage only two repeats until form did go wrong, I guess I should just flap my hands without any weight to be able to reach 20 repeats that I would like to reach for endurance buildup.

Then as I was on bed already, I thought to try lifting both leg up while laying on my back, using only my abs and back muscles, what I learned is that my legs are incredible heavy, could not do 10 repeats as I started shaking so badly.

So I learned that there is lot of things that I could improve quite easily by doing those moves daily, which led me thing of creating some sort of daily routine or program.

 

[tammat]

It is a tendon problem and I'm in both a boot and a brace. No walking without it, no walking for exercise. For four weeks. If that doesn't help, the next and only option is surgery.   I can't drive, so Rick will have to take me back and forth to work. He's going to love that. Next ortho appt is July 8.

Oh no Pam. A brace! No walking! I'm praying it's a quick month for you. Can you do anything on the bow flex? quick healing vibes for you.

 

[tammat]

Today I ran for 30 mins. My legs are sore from yesterday but once I was warmed up they felt great and then as soon as I stopped my quads were sore again. Oh well. It's a good soreness. I very much understand the saying " no pain, no gain" these days. :lol3:

 

[dragonheart]

We finally added a treadmill to our communal home gym, yay. I've been wanting to get one for awhile now. It's pretty basic but it was free so the price was right. 

 Today I started week 1, day 1 of Couch to 5k. It was pretty easy actually--not surprising, given that I spend 7 hours at work on my feet, much of it walking around. I'll be alternating it with Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred, with one rest day on Sundays.

 

[jtbo]

lower_back_device_thing.jpg

• jtbo
• Jun 11, 2014

My back muscle device thing, it does lack few essential parts and I put those wood bits to bottom just so it does not tip over as I tested it a bit.

I still need to shorten two legs, make some platform for feet and also that round thing that goes behind the legs, also some braces so that it will stay in set angle, but it is coming together.

Making that was also my exercise today, all bits did cost 25 euros, which is not a lot as shop build device will cost quite a bit more. My design is such that that red exercise mat is going to top of that wooden thing and then there is cushion, I have to store that device at outdoors so I don't attach any cushion on it, just put mat on it when using the device.

Hopefully I can finish that tormorrorow, it should be quite nice to be able to workout on my back.

 

[peaches08]

Biked 7.89 mi in 40 min.  86 degrees so not too bad.  Got back literally just before the rain started. 

JTbo, how does one use that?  I mean, feet at what spot, etc.?  Cool that you have the know-how to make such things!  I'm not a creative person. 

DragonHeart, I'm so jealous!  I'd love to have a treadmill.  And free??  Pfft, can't beat that with a stick.

 

[jtbo]

Biked 7.89 mi in 40 min.  86 degrees so not too bad.  Got back literally just before the rain started. 

JTbo, how does one use that?  I mean, feet at what spot, etc.?  Cool that you have the know-how to make such things!  I'm not a creative person. 

DragonHeart, I'm so jealous!  I'd love to have a treadmill.  And free??  Pfft, can't beat that with a stick.

It is really great when one has timing just right with the rain

Feet goes to ground, hip to where top of the device is then chest to other side of device, so that you kind of lie on your belly over the whole A shaped thing, then just lift up upper body and lower it back down.

Also one can lift back straight so that legs and back are in straight line and then lower upper body to vertical position and repeat.

Lower back bench or something like that I think it is called, but I'm still lacking that support bar that goes behind the legs and platform where feet must be put, so it should be more clear how to use when those are installed.

I did stole bit of inspiration from device used in this illustrative video, but also I did check quite many of abs/back benches, until I did settle with such design, also I did decide to build separate tilted board for abs training:
[video][/video]

 

[peaches08]

I gotcha! That's an awesome exercise.  I've heard reverse incline pushups are great too (different muscles).

 

[jtbo]

I gotcha! That's an awesome exercise.  I've heard reverse incline pushups are great too (different muscles).

Reverse pushup is impossible, well no if you are Mr. or Miss Olympia, but it is fairly impossible for mere mortal like myself or maybe I just lack of some muscles

I did like one move which you could do on inclined bench though, lying on back on bench, head up and feet down, holding with hands from something at top of the bench, then lift both legs up and lower slowly down and repeating that, I think it is harder than normal way of doing abs, but still not inhumanly difficult.

This lower back exercise is really easy move, I could do whole day of it but maybe I take some weight to make it harder. Anyway it depends so much which muscles one are strong ones and which are weak ones. I have big unbalance now with lot of bicycling but not doing real workouts, only some wood chopping, log carrying and stone carrying.

In cases where once face something seemingly impossible, one has to start smaller and keep at it small step at the time, until seemingly impossible is conquered

 

[tammat]

I was waiting outside the toy shop this morning to buy my "make shift" exercise equipment when I read jtbo post. How cool!!!
I need something to do chin ups on. (Attempted chin ups ). I came up with this idea.

image.jpg

• tammat
• Jun 11, 2014

It works. I need my arms wide apart to work my back. That's why I have two swings.
So today I did my back, triceps and calves. 4 sets with 75 seconds rest.

Of course my children love my new exercise equipment!!!

image.jpg

• tammat
• Jun 11, 2014

 

[tammat]

Shoulders and abs for me today. That's three weeks done. Three to go. I am running a hot bath to help with the soreness. Two days off now

 

[jtbo]

Shoulders and abs for me today. That's three weeks done. Three to go. I am running a hot bath to help with the soreness. Two days off now

I did started to repair heat source of my sauna today, soon I shall get sweet heat to cure all these mosquito bites and tight muscles!

I like your use of swings, just hanging from something feels so good in shoulders and back that I might copy your idea a bit if I just find good place to place some ropes, I think that garage has sufficient height.


Today I carried lawnmower around the yard, it has some issues with wheels (every wheel points to different direction and after cutting session they point randomly different directions) and also moss is so thick that wheels are not working too well, lawnmower tends to get stuck then and I need to half carry it most of the time, hard work, two hours of that as I did cut one field that I rarely cut and it was quite a workout there, even for lawnmower I think bigger engine might help with that tall grass.
Oh, it is not self pulling model, I have to push it around manually, don't know if you have those at all in US.

Then I did repair some garden table and chairs and put then outside, so that I can have a place to sit outdoors, but that is bit of silly as I don't usually sit outside, there is always something to do.

Also I did repair one gardening tool, installed handle to it which I found as I was cleaning and tidying warehouse a bit, that was quite a workout too as there is so much of all kind of old stuff that I had to pick up carry around and put down to better location, hours of sweating. I made also some discoveries and now I have parts for abs bench thing, also I can perhaps make it so that it works as bench press thing, some woodworking needed again.

Could not find time to finish my lower back exercising machine, even I did move non stop whole day, even bicycling for 10km with 70 years old really heavy bicycle, hills felt soo huge with that one, it is my shopping bicycle which I use to train slower muscle groups as it has no gears, pedals move really slowly and I have to really push it to get to top of the even small hills, but that is one part of the training

 

[tammat]

jtbo a sauna sounds wonderful.

 

[jtbo]

Was nice workout, there was one place where I got bit stuck, so wet mud that rear tire was spinning without producing forward motion to my bicycle, also some very narrow quite soft paths where I had to go quite slowly.

longer_bike_workout.jpg

• jtbo
• Jun 14, 2014

I wonder if this is the same that visited on my yard earlier, note my beaten old shoes are largest size that they sell here, 46 in our sizing system, not sure what it is in in other places:

bear_tracks_14_6_2013.jpg

• jtbo
• Jun 14, 2014

This time I had bit of trouble to get my motor going, during first 15mins I had difficulties to get heart rate over 80, it took over an hour to reach 110, so last hour I spent mostly in 120-130 range.

Some day I will get belt that logs heart rate to sports tracker, it would help a lot to see where I need to adjust my pace.

It was +11C, despite being very sunny, I felt first bit cold, then I started to feel too hot, but around 1.5 hours it was perfect. Bicycle computer did record only 20km from bit over 30km, it was too cold for that computer to operate fully

Not very tired after that workout, so I did 30 series of good morning, only 16kg weight, but it starts to feel quite a bit around 20 and last few are quite hard, I need to train my lower back lot more.

Then I did 10 pushups, legs straight and my own 245lbs being quite bit of weights for that.

Some good stretching after that and feeling is like a champion

My recovery drink/food recipe currently is 1 liter of full/real orange juice without any additives, 150 grams of Nestlé cereals that have added vitamins and stuff, that also has protein and I did read protein is important after workout.
I had only water with me, about 1 liter of it, when I get another bottle, I fill it with orange juice and another with water and I should be good for 3-4 hours.

 

[tammat]

I stayed up late last night researching tabata. If it's approved by my trainer then I'm going to give that a try for my cardio his week. It sounds great. jtbo that looks like a big bear!!! Yikes!! And yes protein after a workout. Straight after.