So. P90X anyone? (Misery loves company)

[Chimpy]

When I was lifting for football in high school I could pretty much military press more than I could bench. I just was never very good with bench presses.

So I have one more hard run in my 5k training plan before next Saturday's race, a 3 mile run tomorrow. I managed to run the whole three miles on tuesday and I did not die (as I was expecting) on yesterday's 30 minutes of 90 second run/60sec walk intervals.

Bicycle riding is really what I am enjoying more than I thought I would. Last Saturday I did 23 miles non-stop (and averaged less than 4 minutes a mile). Tomorrow morning I will be shooting for at least 25 miles. I hope to be up to riding 45-50 miles in one trip by the time it gets too cold to ride, though I am already pushing the distance that my hybrid bike is efficient at. Going to have to buy a road bike in the spring.

[01101010]

Unless it is tendonitis or rotator cuff weakness. If I start getting sharp, sticking pains in my joints, I back off for a week to see if it goes away a bit. Shoulder presses are my weakest area mainly due to tearing my shoulders up in volleyball in college. I warmup all the little stabilizers in the shoulder before presses and I still on occasion get shoulder joint pains. Getting old blows...

[Ingmar]

Speaking of shoulder issues; I'm just finishing up my third cycle of 5/3/1, and I'm finding that my shoulders are in a state of fairly constant low-level pain and stiffness. I expect some DOMS, but not days later, and pain while I'm doing bench. I'm suspecting it may just be overtraining (and I'm pushing the OHP hard, my one rep max this week is 70kg, which I'm not sure I can do) but I'm not sure how best to fix it.

Current plan is to do an extra deload week, and do no upper-body work bar assistance reps in the first week, then a standard upper-body deload in the second week, then start the fourth cycle of 5/3/1. I'm also debating getting a shoulder massage, in case that helps. Any other suggestions?

If you do windmills do you get any catching/clicking in the joint? If so you might have a bone spur causing problems.

[Cyrrex]

Good point on the bone spurs.  On the same token, it can easily be an impingement, as these are extremely common shoulder issues.  I am fairly certain that I have had them in both shoulders, but now they are basically gone.  Pulling exercises are the way to combat these.  I have read in several places that for hardcore lifters, you should basically pull twice as often as you push.  For every set of presses, you should to two sets of pulls.  Same for the bench.  I won't say that I follow that advice to the letter, but I definitely make sure I do more pulling than I did in the past.  A lot more, and with 5/3/1 you are doing it on the same day as your pressing.  Any, my impingement issue are basically gone now, and I have no other explanation for it. 

[K9]

Thanks for all the suggestions; after flapping my arms around some more in every way conceivable I have come to the conclusion that I think I have sprained both my rotator cuffs, and I suspect the culprit is the dips that I was doing for accessory work alongside the OHP. If I have my upper arms extended away from my body at shoulder height, and my forearms pointing forwards at 90 degrees, then rotate my forearms up so they point at the ceiling, that is when I get the pain. Also if I try and force my shoulder back.

I think I'll do as you suggest; two weeks without upper body work and see where I'm at. Not sure how else to rehab a rotator cuff other than resting it.

[Cyrrex]

I'm probably not the guy to count on for sound rehab advice, being that my ultimate solution to my L5 disc rupture was to do everything the doctors and therapist said I should not do.  That said!  I would either rest, or pull, pull, pull like a motherfucker.  Lat pulldowns, chins, and DB rows (far better ROM than BB rows, which is what you need here).  I am an advocate of attacking the problem.  For me, rest usually just means delaying the problem until later, rather than solving it.  To each his own.

[Chimpy]

One of the things the trainer I have been working with has me do at the beginning of every workout is some rotator cuff exercises with bands. You might want to try something like that.

[DraconianOne]

Thanks for all the suggestions; after flapping my arms around some more in every way conceivable I have come to the conclusion that I think I have sprained both my rotator cuffs, and I suspect the culprit is the dips that I was doing for accessory work alongside the OHP. If I have my upper arms extended away from my body at shoulder height, and my forearms pointing forwards at 90 degrees, then rotate my forearms up so they point at the ceiling, that is when I get the pain. Also if I try and force my shoulder back.

I think I'll do as you suggest; two weeks without upper body work and see where I'm at. Not sure how else to rehab a rotator cuff other than resting it.

I have a shoulder problem at the moment that sounds very similar: it seems my supraspinatus is impinging the suprascapular nerve. It's not helped by the fact that I have tight muscles around my chest and back so it's not easiing up.  I only know this after finally going to see a local physio who assessed for me - after 6 months or thinking that a couple of weeks rest will sort it out. Nothing seems torn or damaged and treatment is massage and myofascial release (basically, tennis ball under the scapula against a wall and massage the serratus anterior).

So, if you're taking advice from people on the internet, mine is this: go see a sports physio who can actually make a hands on assessment and help you pinpoint the problem and give you advice on how to treat it and don't wait six months to realise it's not getting better on its own.

[Cyrrex]

I have begun going with my 8 year-old to a father/son beginner Parkour class once a week.  It's kind of fun, and a lot of the early focus is on learning how to jump, jump over, and land on stuff (or controlled falling, I guess). 

To compliment this, I have decided to incorporate a lot more "dynamic" squat training.  Something using lighter weights and more speed...and so I discovered Barbell Jump Squats!  Basically, it is just like it sounds.  For me, I first warmed up doing a few light triples of ordinary squats, then some heavy singles up to a fairly high max, and then back them off again until I got back down to a weight that I thought would be manageable for my first attempt at Jump Squats.  So I get the weight down to 55kg, and still have lots of energy left.  Basically, you just take the loaded barbell on your back, squat down ass-to-grass, and then just explode upwards and jump.  You need to land softly and go right back down to a super low bottom position, and then just repeat.  I found that I could do 55kg without any problem, but I am not going to push things up to far too fast, because you can imagine how this could go horribly wrong if you pick the wrong weight or if your technique isn't spot on.  And at some point, I obviously wouldn't even be able to get off the ground.

I imagine I look either retarded or awesome while doing them.  They felt nice, though, and it seems like this could be pretty beneficial if I want to be able to jump like a rabbit. 

[DraconianOne]

Welcome to plyometrics.

[DraconianOne]

Finally got the all clear on my foot after six months which is lucky because I started a Couch-to-5k program as rehab a month ago.  Celebrated with my first continuous run out tonight and turned in 5km in 24:30, (including the 5 minute walking warm-up.) That puts me on target to break my PR before December (which I set 9 years ago - although in fairness, that was also the last time I raced 5km).

[JWIV]

Finally got the all clear on my foot after six months which is lucky because I started a Couch-to-5k program as rehab a month ago.  Celebrated with my first continuous run out tonight and turned in 5km in 24:30, (including the 5 minute walking warm-up.) That puts me on target to break my PR before December (which I set 9 years ago - although in fairness, that was also the last time I raced 5km).

Hell of a time period - let alone coming off injury.

[DraconianOne]

Next step is to get the right side of 200lbs! 

So... hydration advice from the Boston marathon website... am I the only one who finds this Goldilocks approach a little

[lamaros]

Someone stole my bike.

On the other hand, it's spring and I'm now living near bondi.

[climbjtree]

Been going through a 3 week ball smoking course involving basically nothing but swimming and running. I have been losing weight and feel pretty scrawny, so I went and weight myself and had my body fat calculated today.

I dropped a little weight before the course started to make the running easier, and since I've lost 8 pounds. I went from 194 to 186, lost 6 pounds of fat and two pounds of muscle, and dropped from 12.9% body fat to 10.4%. Crazy! I will be so relieved to get this over with and pack on some muscle again.

[DraconianOne]

Someone stole my bike.

That sucks. Sorry to hear that.

a 3 week ball smoking course

A what now? Also, out of interest, what did you use to get your BF calculated?

[Cyrrex]

Yeah, I was going to say that a three week ball smoking course sounds like some kind of prison initiation thing.

[Nebu]

Welcome to plyometrics.

I've been following this routine adapted from a man attempting the pull up record.  I'm only two weeks in and can see results.  As I'm getting older, I'm finding that my joints don't tolerate high weight, low rep exercises well.  I've been going back to plyo to reduce my injury downtime. 

Hope it helps.

[01101010]

Welcome to plyometrics.

I've been following this routine adapted from a man attempting the pull up record.  I'm only two weeks in and can see results.  As I'm getting older, I'm finding that my joints don't tolerate high weight, low rep exercises well.  I've been going back to plyo to reduce my injury downtime. 

Hope it helps.

 

Holy shit my lats hurt just hearing about this... I may have to give this a try next month. 

[climbjtree]

A what now? Also, out of interest, what did you use to get your BF calculated?

I guess that's not a commonly used term? Oh well. I went with the caliper method - I want to say there were five or six spots that were measured between my chest and thigh.

[DraconianOne]

Never heard that term - would be interested to know more, especially if it's helping you drop that much weight!

Calipers - yeah, depending on which method, you'd take between 3 - 9 measurements. Tricky to get right but far better than those damn scales with the electrical impedence.

[K9]

Welcome to plyometrics.

I've been following this routine adapted from a man attempting the pull up record.  I'm only two weeks in and can see results.  As I'm getting older, I'm finding that my joints don't tolerate high weight, low rep exercises well.  I've been going back to plyo to reduce my injury downtime. 

Hope it helps.

I gave the pyramid exercise a go; thought Id be able to get up to the 7 rep or 8 rep set but failed out on the 6 rep set with both chins and pulls. Seems nicely condensed though, I may try sticking with this.

[MrHat]

Fucking hell.

Start exercising & swimming regularly and have had a mild pain in my right hip/groin for a while.

Go to doc, he tells me it's Adductor Tendonitis and gives me 800mg of ibuprofen 3x a day for 2 weeks and no strain.

Still hurts after two weeks.

God damn.

Just following up on this - still had pain in my hip, finally went to get an MRI - turns out I have a acetabular labrum tear and degenerative chodromalacia (explained as precursor to arthritis).  Arthoscopic surgery, yay.
 
Anyways, misery loves company.

[Ingmar]

The good news is that arthroscopic surgery is really easy as surgeries go (or at least mine was.)

[Chimpy]

So I succeeded in my goal of being able to run a 5k start to finish. Did a color run for charity yesterday and ran the whole thing. Did it in 27:55 which was just slightly slower than the practice 5k I ran on my own last Sunday when I did it in 27:45.

I guess that is pretty good for someone who never in their life before could run non-stop for more than a mile and a half.

Going to start swimming lessons next week. I never really learned properly and while I can stay alive, I would like to actually be able to swim properly. If I get comfortable enough I might try doing a mini-triathlon next summer. Either way, it comes out to like $10 a lesson at the Y which is right down the road from my house for non-members.

[DraconianOne]

So I succeeded in my goal of being able to run a 5k start to finish. Did a color run for charity yesterday and ran the whole thing. Did it in 27:55 which was just slightly slower than the practice 5k I ran on my own last Sunday when I did it in 27:45.

I guess that is pretty good for someone who never in their life before could run non-stop for more than a mile and a half.

That's really good - well done. I can't remember - was that the Couch-to-5k plan you used or did you do something a different plan?

Good luck with the swimming.

[Chimpy]

That's really good - well done. I can't remember - was that the Couch-to-5k plan you used or did you do something a different plan?

Good luck with the swimming.

I used a "Beginner 5k" plan from the Runkeeper app. It is basically the same as the couch to 5k plan. Increasing distance runs mixed with intervals.

[JWIV]

That's really good - well done. I can't remember - was that the Couch-to-5k plan you used or did you do something a different plan?

Good luck with the swimming.

I used a "Beginner 5k" plan from the Runkeeper app. It is basically the same as the couch to 5k plan. Increasing distance runs mixed with intervals.

Awesome work on the run and congrats on getting the first one under your belt.

[JWIV]

Over the weekend, I ran an even sillier distance than normal. I run about a 1:55 half marathon, but decided to completely take it easy and basically fuck around for my first full, and chilled with the 5 hour pace group. It more or less helped, as I avoided calf cramps until mile 18 (usually they show up at 8), so that was a bonus, though frustrating - I was hitting salt in the form of Utz potato chips every couple of miles and had hoped the easy pace would have let me go completely pain free.

That said - around mile 20, I ran into my wife who was working on her first half marathon (the half starts a few hours later than the full, but merges onto the same course around the halfway point), and decided it would be cooler to actually clock some mileage with her and sherpa her through the last 6 miles or so (due to kids and pace we've run together all of once) and cross the finish line together. So yeah, time was complete garbage, but first marathon is still done, and it ended up being a hell of a lot of fun.

[Cyrrex]

Trying to get back into the swing of things after nearly 3 weeks off from weight training while I was in the US.  I have never taken more than 6 or 7 days off before, so that was not fun.  Not only do I get antsy when I can't work out, but I came back markedly weaker on a couple things.  Very annoying, but it is getting back to where it should be.

Working now on strap-free deadlifts, because I want to be able to get my grip up to where I don't have to rely on straps for anything other than a max attempt.  I have managed to pull 200kg off the floor without straps now, which is about 10 to 15 kilos better than it used to be.  I have to credit 5/3/1 for this leap...even though I am not doing that program at the moment, the work I did with it between June and September clearly helped my grip.

In more interesting news (for me, anyway), I think I have found a new gym.  Friend of mine at my current gym had a free week's pass to a competitor's gym (he uses both places for some reason) that he let me have.  I hadn't used the card for a few weeks, because he was mainly going on about how great this other place's Crossfit facilities were (he is a Crossfit guy, although one of the more impressive specimens from that group), and that has never been my thing.  I had visions of the place being filled with middle-aged ladies doing light deadlifts on a timer or something.  Or whatever pre-conceived notions I had about what a Crossfit gym looks like.

So I go there today.  Most of the place is like a typical family gym, though with some MAJOR things going for it - dumbbells up to 53 fucking kilograms!  OMG!  A decline bench!  In general just more options to choose from and more space.  More hot wimminz than senior citizens, and this during the morning hours.  Nice, I am almost already sold.  I notice off in the back corner an entrance to the "Crossfit" area, but I do not go over to check it out until I am done with my workout (you better believe I rowed the shit out of those 53s).  So then I go over there.  Oh shit - it's a full on Olympic Lifting area.  Bumper plates, about 40 million pounds worth...all the way down to 2,5 kilo plates, are you kidding me?  Racks, racks, more racks.  Dudes dropping their lifts on the floor.  A full on professional style squat rack and deadlifting platform that practically screams "It's okay, son, you can drop your shit here!" back in its own little room.  Two platforms, actually.  Probably 20 barbells of every kind hanging on the wall, and they aren't remotely worn down (grip!).  Place almost empty, tons of room.

Blown away.  I am totally changing gyms.  I never thought I would be so lucky to find a place like this.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Okay, so mid-October I decided that enough was enough and I started going back to the gym.  My main goal is to lose weight and get healthy.  Since it's been a while and I'm so damn sedentary, I decided to start walking on the treadmill.  I call it "the trudgery" (and post about it on G+ if you've seen it there) because it's a freaking trudge to get this done, especially since the only way I can manage this is to go before work.  That involves getting up at 4am so I can go walk for 30 mins and then get home and ready for work.

So I've been going every weekday morning so far with only 2 days missed (which is damn good for me, tbh) and haven't had too much trouble getting up early.  But after last Wednesday, I started getting a pain in the outer edge of my right foot when I walk or put weight on it, or bend my ankle.  It's mostly in the space under my ankle and I'm not sure what's causing it.  I haven't stepped wrong, up until my foot started hurting I didn't have any problem walking, and I haven't hurt it in any other way that I can recall.  It hurt but I didn't have any problems doing the full 30 mins on Thursday and Friday either.  I take the weekends off and this morning, only walked 20 mins just to be safe.  The pain faded as I walked (and I felt like I could have done the full 30 mins, but I was tired, too) but then it came back when I was leaving.

So, no clue what I did but I'm thinking of switching to using the bike instead for a while, except that this pain isn't just from working out.  It hurts any time I walk.  I've taken Advil but haven't tried anything else yet.  And I don't want to stop either; I've done really well going every morning and it's helping (already dropped some weight) so I'd rather figure this out and not get sidelined so early into getting my routine going.

[JWIV]

Rhys - sharp pain is usually not a good thing.  That sounds like it's worth having a doctor check out.


I also just got back to the gym and am firing up my winter workout schedule (weights and spin for the most part). First day of weights was Saturday. I figured my arms might be a bit sore, but I just ran a marathon and even clocked about 20 miles of running while at Disney last week (ignoring all the walking around). So I figured my legs would be fine.

Yeah, not so much. DOMS ikicked in yesterday and only a bit better today. Running tomorrow for a work event is going to be hysterical.

[MrHat]

Rhys - sharp pain is usually not a good thing.  That sounds like it's worth having a doctor check out.

This.

I wish I had gone earlier this summer when my hip first starting hurting.  I was in the same situation - sedentary and had enough and started out moderately by swimming 3 times a week.  Turns out I have some major cartilage damage that is just manifesting itself after a small tear in my hip labrum.  Requires arthroscopic surgery to see if they can encourage cartilage growth.

I guess what I'm saying is I wish I had gone and done an MRI or seen an ortho specialist right off the bat instead of weeks of anti-inflammatories treating the symptoms.

[RhyssaFireheart]

It's not a sharp pain, but more like a twisted my ankle sort of thing that just persists.  I'd go to the doctor in a heartbeat if I didn't have to basically pay for it entirely out of pocket because of a high deductible.  If it doesn't get better soon though, then I'll just have to suck it up and go get it looked at.  It's feeling better today because I didn't workout, slept in instead.  Now I feel sluggish and have someone pounding nails into my temple from the feeling of this headache. 

[Ingmar]

It sounds like it might be plantar fasciitis, which is an extremely common injury that people get right at the start of an exercise program, especially heavier folks. Worth getting your doctor to take a look, because it can really derail you for a while.

Does it hurt more right in the morning after you wake up, like right when you take your first few steps out of bed? If so that's a pretty sure sign.