Diet/Exercise/Health/Wellness Support Thread

Parent Cafe
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<p>easy back into training - 2.1 mile run yesterday, plus 30 minutes of stretch/weight/machine.</p>

<p>has set an appointment with a Podiatry doc for next Mon to have my heel checked out. Strangely, running on it seems to make it feeling better. The 20 day off w/o running got it so bad that I could barely walk. Two short runs now after getting back is getting me off the pain medicine. </p>

<p>MOWC, get better soon. BTW, I stop doing the KB swing. Such a heavy weight combine with full range of motion = too risky for injury for me.</p>

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<p>All my pains are going away after dipping in the pool. I hope it will continue this way. Of course, there are side effects, tons of chlorine, I smell badly, but it also cured my cold in no time, the shortest ever in my life. Just have to see what all this poisonous chlorine will do, but I am definitely addicted as many others around me in a pool. One of them is expected mother of twins. I imagine the great relief for her back. She is pretty regular.</p>

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<p>Didn’t know that chlorine was a cure for the common cold!</p>

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<p>I did not either!</p>

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<p>From Mark Bittman, on eating well:</p>

<p><a href=“When Diet Meets Delicious: The Mediterranean Approach - The New York Times”>When Diet Meets Delicious: The Mediterranean Approach - The New York Times;

<p>This is pretty much how we’ve been eating for a while, minus the unrestricted egg consumption.</p>

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<p>No. I am DEFINITELY not going to wear the Brooks running tights to Walmart! :)</p>

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<p>kmcmom:</p>

<p>Don’t sell yourself short. Walking up a one-mile hill is a tough bit of exercise for almost anyone. Just starting out, it’ll hammer you. I remember wondering how I could be so gobsmacked walking up the steep hills near my house. Then, I got my heart rate monitor and saw that walking up steep hills is a perfect recipe for driving your heart rate up. Still is. Now add in the snowshoes…</p>

<p>BTW, as we ease into spring and things get icy/muddy for your walks, you might think about a pair of [url=<a href=“http://www.ems.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3667589]MicroSpikes[/url”>http://www.ems.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3667589]MicroSpikes[/url</a>]. They go on easy and are just the ticket to prevent a nasty fall. Not good for pavement, but ideal for snow, ice, mud, wet grass, etc. </p>

<p>I live on a similar busy road. Not that busy, but a narrow, winding hilly road with lots of blind spots, no sidewalks, and constant 45 mph traffic. I’ve walked it a few times, but, it’s really not that great. Fortunately, there’s a cut through a patch of woods to a side road from the condo property and from there I can get out into a hilly wooded subdivision, including one road up to the top of hill with five mile views out over the valley. That’s where I get a quick walk when the weather’s nice.</p>

<p>With your back issues, I would make a major commitment to working on your core stability (planks, etc.) and hip strength/mobility. Both weaknesses (and we are all almost universally weak in those areas by middle-age) are major contributors to back pain. If your hips don’t bend, you bend your lower back instead. Ouch. Without core stability, you can’t hold your lower back straight when you turn or pick something up.</p>

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<p>MOWC –</p>

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<p>After reading this, I’m feeling a bit better about my 20 pound weight gain over the past 5 years since going through menopause. If you gained 28 pounds and you are a competitive runner, then I would imagine the weight you gained after you turned 50 was probably due to lower metabolism after menopause.</p>

<p>My husband still eats the same as always, but has hardly gained any weight over the past 10 years. His exercise habits haven’t changed either.</p>

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<p>Depends what you mean by “runner”. For most people, exercising under an hour or so – whether it’s running or biking or swimming or weight lifting or soccer – shouldn’t require any specific nutrition strategy. If you are eating well, you’ve got plenty of fuel reserves for an hour of exercise. The only issue might be fluids/salts if you are sweating like crazy, but a water bottle will take care of that for an hour workout.</p>

<p>So rather than ‘running nutrition’, I’d focus more on overall nutrition, remembering the old Dan John adage, “the goal is to keep the goal the goal”. If your goal is fat loss, then the advice from a running site to fuel your runs by carb-loading probably isn’t going to help you reach your goal.</p>

<p>One of the risks is taking a nutrition advice from extreme athletes and applying it to regular persons. For example, guys who read the nutrition stuff with the massive protein and supplements in weight lifting magazines that might work for a steroid-using power lifter beast to get really big, but don’t make any sense for a middle aged guy. Likewise, many runners read the nutrition plans of big time marathon runners and assume that a good idea for middle aged woman running a couple of miles three times a week.</p>

<p>I don’t think nutrition is that hard (in theory). Eat mostly whole foods from around the outside of the grocery store – meats, diary, fresh veggies. Avoid sugar like poison. Cut back refined grains as much as you can. Eat good fats, like olive oil and fatty fish. Never eat trans fats, like margarine. Eat adequate protein (1/2 to 3/4 gram per pound of lean body weight). If you need to gain weight, try eating more carbs. If you need to lose weight, try cutting back carbs.</p>

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<p>I happened upon a 31 second YouTube video of Arnold Schwarzenegger doing the dumbbell fly a couple of days ago by accident. The shot there at the end, wow.</p>

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<p>Beyond a certain point, endurance sports like running, swimming, or cycling are not that great for fat loss/control, at least in terms of results per unit of effort. When you first start, sure. But, after a while, the body adapts to become so efficient that it’s no longer burning all that many calories. Plus, high mileage doesn’t lead to increased lean muscle mass (it can actually cannibalize muscle mass at the extremes). The number one best friend for middle aged and older folk for weight control is lean muscle. As we lose it, our metabolisms go into the tank and we increase our risk of obestity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, osteoporosis, etc.</p>

<p>The easy answer is that you just need to run more. But, nobody here is going to run more than MOWC! If she gains weight running 500 days in a row, running multiple marathons every year, running alone is clearly not the whole enchilada!</p>

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<p>I’ve found that eating 80-100 calories of carbs before running 3-6 miles gets rid of potential kidney problems. I read some time ago that it’s good to eat an apple or similar amount of carbs before a run because the body needs a small amount of carbs for the brain and that it can’t metabolize that energy from fat.</p>

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<p>Congrats to kmc on another 5 lb party!!! 15 pounds is wonderful!</p>

<p>Be careful with the kettlebell…I threw my back out when I upped weights and I wasn’t doing something right! I avoid them like the plague now even though I loved them for about 6 months!</p>

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<p>I’m with you, NMinn. I’m risk averse, thus no kettlebell. If I bought it I’d want to be doing the swings.</p>

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<p>Better living through chemistry. Nobody can look like that without anabolic steroids.</p>

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<p>Aqua- the problem was a combination of metabolism and thinking I could eat the same as I always had. H and I used to polish off a REALLY large pizza by ourselves back in the younger (30s/40s) days. That just wasn’t cutting it in my 50s.</p>

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<p>Wow, does Yahoo snoop what I’m reading? Because this is what popped up on my home page (set to Yahoo news);</p>

<p>[Denise</a> Austin?s Top Tips for Fighting Belly Fat After 40 | Yahoo! Health](<a href=“Health | Yahoo Life”>Health | Yahoo Life)</p>

<p>:)</p>

<p>The general scheme “Eat less and move more” with a few personal twists seems to work.
I’m curious to see what’s in the book, but I’m debating whether my curiosity is worth 15 bucks.</p>

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<p>42 min run. 48 degrees. Comfortable to a touch warm dressed in my spider woman outfit. No, it’s not red, but I do look a lot like a spider wearing it.</p>

<p>ETA: Just clicked on the Denise Austin link. Now that is the way to wear red.</p>

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<p>Last night, I watched an incredible fitness video. The [Perform</a> Better](<a href=“http://www.performbetter.com%5DPerform”>http://www.performbetter.com) folks promote a series of conferences around the country for coaches/trainers each year. 900 people pay a couple hundred dollars for two or three days of presentations by top trainers, back experts like Stuart McGill, and so forth. Most of the coaches who present do a lecture and then a separate “hands on” where they teach a particular workout and have the attendees do the exercises.</p>

<p>Last night, I watched one of these “hands on” sessions with Mike Boyle going through his entire warm up workout. The first section of this was seven exercises that specifically target getting the major joints of the body to work better. This very simple stuff that all of us can do at home. So, if anyone is wondering what’s a simple warmup to do, this would be a great place to start. I don’t think the order matters much one way or the other. Click the links for YouTube videos of each exercise.</p>

<p>[#1:</a> Quadruped Hip Extension](<a href=“Quadruped Hip Extension on Elbows - YouTube”>Quadruped Hip Extension on Elbows - YouTube)</p>

<p>This one is to get the hips moving. The non-working leg needs to be up on a 4 inch pad just to provide clearance for the moving leg. The idea is to keep the hips square while extending the hip, no tilting side to side. Foot stays straight, not angled in or out. The other key is to keep the lower back neutral. If you can’t move your hip, the tendency is to fake it by arching the back (Poor hip mobility = back pain)</p>

<p>[#2:</a> ValSlide Hip Flexion](<a href=“Valslide Hip Flexion- FMS Corrective Level 1 for Hurdle Step - YouTube”>Valslide Hip Flexion- FMS Corrective Level 1 for Hurdle Step - YouTube)</p>

<p>This one is to get the hips moving forward with a stable core. The foot is on a [ValSlide[/url</a>] (or [url=&lt;a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Waxman-4704095N-2-Inch-Reusable-Sliders/dp/B001W6Q4VA/ref=sr_1_6?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1361996800&sr=1-6]KMART/Home”&gt;http://www.amazon.com/Waxman-4704095N-2-Inch-Reusable-Sliders/dp/B001W6Q4VA/ref=sr_1_6?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1361996800&sr=1-6]KMART/Home</a> Depot/Amazon furniture slider](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/TAP-VAL-Valslide/dp/B007A8NJG2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1361996895&sr=8-2&keywords=valslide]ValSlide[/url”>http://www.amazon.com/TAP-VAL-Valslide/dp/B007A8NJG2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1361996895&sr=8-2&keywords=valslide)) on a carpeted floor. You could also use a sock/towel on a wood floor. Core and back and torso stays flat, level, and still, just flexing the hip in and back.</p>

<p>[#3:</a> Quadruped T-spine rotation](<a href=“Quadruped Thoracic Rotation - YouTube”>Quadruped Thoracic Rotation - YouTube)</p>

<p>I call this one the “get limber enough to turn around and back the car out of the driveway” exercise! The upper back is designed to rotate. The lower back is not. The idea here is to lock the lower spine and just rotate the upper spine/shoulders. Even better than shown in this video is to rock back so the butt is touching the heels. This is even more effective at locking the lumbar spine. Rotate in to touch elbows, then out until looking at the wall.</p>

<p>[#4:</a> Assisted leg lower](<a href=“Band Supported Leg Lowers - YouTube”>Band Supported Leg Lowers - YouTube)</p>

<p>This one is a hip stability exercise with a hamstring stretch. Use a band or belt or rope to pull the fixed leg up, keeping the foot and knee straight, until you feel a stretch in the hamstring. Then, hold that leg while raising and lowering the other leg. Keep the hips square.</p>

<p>[#5:</a> Push up or push up hold](<a href=“Bottom Push-Up Hold - YouTube”>Bottom Push-Up Hold - YouTube)</p>

<p>This one is for shoulders and lats, plus core Either do a quick set of pushups. Or do pushups with a hold at the bottom (I found this really hard). One trick is to pretend like you are trying to rotate the floor under your palms outwards. This apparently gets the lats along the back of the shoulders working.</p>

<p>[#6:</a> Squat to stand](<a href=“How to Quickly Improve Your Squat. Hip mobility. Nick Tumminello - YouTube”>How to Quickly Improve Your Squat. Hip mobility. Nick Tumminello - YouTube)</p>

<p>This works everything. Hamstrings as you bend. Hips as you push your knees out. Squat depth. And shoulders as you raise the arms. A variation is to raise the arms one side at a time.</p>

<p>[#7:</a> Split squat](<a href=“Split Squat - YouTube”>Split Squat - YouTube)</p>

<p>Just a set of plain old split squats to work on the lunge movement. Weight on the heel of the front foot. Ideally, you want to be able to just graze the floor with the back knee.</p>

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<p>I was a little surprised at how bad some of the personal trainers were at these exercises. Makes me think there’s hope for an ol’ (formerly) fat guy after all… Or, at least, that I shouldn’t feel bad when this stuff kicks my butt! :)</p>

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<p>BB, I know Google does because they’ve been recommending kettlebell videos for me. Hmmm. </p>

<p>Rest day for me yesterday but off to the gym today - one hour of elliptical simply because I had nothing else to do this afternoon! Didn’t sleep well last night - sabadog usually goes to his crate at night but last night he was free range. Every hour or so he would come to check on me. I probably should have gotten up and put him to bed! </p>

<p>PlantMom, I like Mark Bittman too. Shopping the perimeter of the store has really cut down on junk purchases. Very close to another 5 pound party here, but kudos to you, KMC!</p>

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<p>Got an email from my Swedish friends with this link:</p>

<p>[Poll:</a> Nearly One-Fourth Of The Swedish Population Are Now Eating Low-Carb, Public Health Success](<a href=“http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/poll-nearly-one-fourth-of-the-swedish-population-are-now-eating-low-carb/10337]Poll:”>http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/poll-nearly-one-fourth-of-the-swedish-population-are-now-eating-low-carb/10337)</p>

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