<p>Well, Day 1 for me. Ate thoughtfully all day (yeah!), set up a Livestrong account and the myplate tracker, and went to the warm water therapy pool and did an hour of laps (slow, slow, slow), water jogging, and resistance work using paddles and other equipment. I’m pretty wiped out tonight – suspect I’ll sleep like a baby – but I could feel my joints loosening up greatly. I could also really get a feel for how much less range of motion I have in one ankle vs. the other. That’s a bit worrisome. </p>
<p>I’m really trying to not (re)injure myself this time, and I think that the therapy pool is going to help with that if I can keep coming 2-3 times a week. I’m waiting for the weight training book InterestedDad recommended to show up in the next few days before starting (gently) with the weights. </p>
<p>I’m a little shocked at how hard swimming was, though I guess I shouldn’t be, since I haven’t swum laps in years now. It is sort of like riding a bike – I haven’t forgotten – but I could really see how one side is much stronger than the other. I’m sure I looked like I was drunk the way I was continually veering into the lane marker or wall (depending on the direction of swim.) Aqua jogging also seemed like work – which is good – and had the benefit of letting me run around the deep end by some huge windows with amazing views of the nearby mountains. It doesn’t get prettier than that, especially as the sun set.</p>
<p>I didn’t think I’d like the late afternoon workout time, but it turned out very well. I just got everything together in the AM, set it by the door, and then set an alarm to make sure I didn’t forget to go. (The therapy pool’s hours are pretty restricted.) It made for a nice ending to the afternoon.</p>
<p>That sounds fantastic. Especially in the early going, the pool will be great exercise. I think it tends to tail off after a while because, while there is resistance, you are not supporting your bodyweight. Still fantastic cardio, though. I bet swimming intervals would be wicked demanding.</p>
<p>My wife lost a great deal of weight with swimming as her primary exercise. The fact that it’s hard is good. Any workout that isn’t challenging probably isn’t giving you much benefit. That’s the trap of doing the same routine over and over and over. The body acclimates and you’ve got to ramp up the intensity to keep forcing the body to adapt in new ways.</p>
<p>I had restricted flexibilty in one ankle, the result of numerous sprained ankles. It became a noticeable limitation in doing a proper squat or lunge. A real Catch 22 – the poor flexibility made it more suspectable to recurring sprained ankles --which I have done twice now, walking. And, the frequent sprains limited the flexibility some more. It’s just been a long slow process of restoring some flexibility. Knock on wood, that should make it less susceptable to being sprained again, but I don’t want to jinx myself.</p>
<p>Some stuff that you may be able to do without aggravating your shoulders and wrists:</p>
<p>Bodyweight squat (one legged if you want more difficulty)
Bodyweight lunge
Hamstring raise
Various core exercises like the V-crunch, windshield wiper, etc.</p>
<p>You could save a few calories with a Bobby Flay trick. Just dip the top side of the fish in the breading. Sautee that first until it’s really pretty, then flip it and stick it in the oven to finish cooking.</p>
<p>He does this with scallops dipped in ancho chili powder. Gives the top of the scallops a really nice crust.</p>
<p>But, I’d probably bread the whole thing!</p>
<p>I went *old school *after my workout. Pan fried pork chop (just coated in flour) and lima beans. Not real low cal, but I needed some meat after three fish dinners. I hit my LiveStrong calorie goal for the day to the exact calorie. Not a single calorie over, not a single calorie under. Go figure.</p>
<p>Thanks for the cooking tips - definitely will use the strategy in the future! I used about 1/2 of the breading mix and only one egg to cook 6 pieces of fish. Also no butter and much less oil to pan fry it. I hate to waste my ingredients! So my fish dinner was relatively healthy. :)</p>
<p>Sounds like me for the past two years. I had a sprained wrist back in Spring or 2009 - fortunately it was on the left hand but it was so annoying and kept getting re-injured.</p>
<p>Got tennis elbow on the medial last spring and it’s 99.9% gone now. I’ve also had flareups with the lateral recently with shoveling snow and clearing the roof. Goes away fast.</p>
<p>Aerobics and stretching are good. Running is good. Doing weight machines that don’t aggravate injuries are good. The weight machines can isolate muscles so that you don’t need to use your shoulder or wrist. It probably allows you to do a lot of lower body exercises and abs. Upper-body stuff is probably tough unless you can just do one side of the body (the side that is still working well). If it’s the wrist on one side and the shoulder on the other, then you may be out of luck.</p>
<p>My exercise this morning was to lift a new computer off the table to put it on the floor. A few of us built it yesterday - the thing is a monster. I was able to grab the bottom with my right hand and the back top with my left and bring it down to the floor. That would have been very painful a few months ago.</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone, for the suggestions for how to deal with my injuries.
They aren’t that bad but I do always seem to have one little nagging thing after another. Unfortunately, both arms are compromised since it’s my left wrist and my right shoulder. I’m extremely flexible, which is the source of most of my injuries --it’s easy for me to overstretch ligaments which take a long time to heal. I’m determined to be more careful about letting things heal and once it does, I’m doing more muscle building.</p>
<p>Bunsen - I will save that recipe for D when she comes home - I love sea bass, but halibut is also very, very good. Thnx!</p>
<p>Ah, injuries. We are at an age when ANY new repetitive action can result in an injury. Last Christmas I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with my thumb - excessive use of Kindle. </p>
<p>Downright balmy out today. 20 degrees. I was sweating during our morning walk.</p>
<p>Much to my surprise, I’m not sore today from yesterday’s workout. I thought I would be because I’m starting to lift some heavier weights (for an ol’ formerly fat guy). For example, I did 36 reps of deadlift yesterday with 72 pounds. Not heavy by deadlift standards, but a pretty heavy thing for my stiff ol’ back to be lifting. And, these split squats are just brutal when you start adding weight.</p>
<p>I guess the lack of soreness means I have no excuses. It’s gotta be quick 20 minute interval set of dumbbell swings and burpees. Svetlana would say, “burpees are forever”.</p>
<p>Bunsen - I just got an email from Jeff Salvage with upcoming clinics. He will be in Albuquerque, Chicago, St. Louis, Virginia Beach, Denver & Ottawa. He is also looking for people who would be willing to host a clinic. He is really very good. If your husband is really interested in improving, going to a clinic is a great way to start. I think it is a fun mini-vacation. I went to one on Long Island with Dave McGovern two years ago and we just stayed in NYC and I took the train each AM to attend. We had a great time. Having attended clinics presented by both, I would recommend Jeff, although Dave is knowledgeable.</p>
<p>Well, that should take care of the soreness! A nice intense little Zuzana-inspired burpee interval workout:</p>
<p>Set the interval timer for 2 minutes x 10 sets. Start a new set every time the interval timer beeps:</p>
<p>5 dumbbell swings on one arm (25 lb)
5 dumbbell swings on the other arm (25 lb)
5 burpees</p>
<p>Rest until the timer beeps (about 60 seconds of exercise and 60 seconds of rest)</p>
<p>I made it through 10 sets and then did my daily chinups and pullups – eight of each. 25 minutes total. Now, that’s “high intensity interval training”. 100 dumbbell swings. 50 burpees. Ouch. Once a week for that one, thank-you very much.</p>
<p>Can anyone using Livestrong’s (free) “Myplate” food tracker tell me if there is a way to enter a partial serving of a food? I can see lots of entries for a cup of non-fat milk, but if I only use a half-cup, I don’t see how to record that.</p>
<p>arabrab: just click on the item you want and it will appear in the “What did you eat” box. Next to that box is the “How much” box. Click on that box and enter the fractional (or multiple) quantity you want.</p>
<p>Hops, what do you figure your max heart rate is?</p>
<p>I recorded an average of 84% of max and a peak of 100% – although my heart rate monitor has been acting a little flaky, giving me a lot of 100% readings when I really don’t feel like 100%.</p>
<p>You have to be really patient with the LiveStrong site. It’s really slow. Basically, start typing a food then wait for the list to pop up. Select something from the list and wait. It will appear as the item you ate and next to it will be a box where you can enter “how much”. There’s a drop down box where you can select from the available units of measure (servings, oz, cups, pounds, pieces, whatever). Select “cup” and enter “.5” or select “oz” and enter “4”.</p>
<p>Try to double check the items you select, either from the box label or common sense. Most of them have simply been entered by other users and there are some VERY optimistic calorie counts. Finding accurate data for meat will drive you nuts. Somehow I don’t think the 12 oz rib eye steak I like is really 250 calories! And I know the fried pork chop I had last night is more than the 207 calories one listing of one listing for fried pork chops!</p>
<p>idad, the simple estimate puts it at being 198. I cannot remember the more accurate formula at the moment and a quick search doesn’t help me as there are apparently 40+ formulas for “max heart rate” and such. I know the simple estimate is not very accurate and I was thinking about that during my workout. While I was at 190 for a couple of minutes, I could have carried on a conversation… that shouldn’t be happening at 90%+.</p>