Diet/Exercise/Health/Wellness Support Thread

Parent Cafe
7401

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<p>I tend to discount about 90% of the sports trainer mumbo jumbo about muscle groups and stuff (just like I discount the nutrition theories), but there seems to be near total agreement that the hips and lower back are inextricably linked and that compensating for issues with one almost always results in problems with the other. Your time of having to “favor” you back to avoid pain there has probably had an impact on your hips.</p>

<p>I think Stuart McGill has it exactly right. The key to protecting the back is developing the ability to stiffen all of the muscles of the core from the front, back, and sides of the abdomen to the “glutes” in the butt and to develop the range of motion in the hips so that we don’t have to bend the lower back to compensate.</p>

<p>He makes a point that may be important for you. When he’s trying to rehab someone with an existing back injury, he may have to resort to just five minutes of exercise many times during the day because five minutes is all the person can tolerate without pain.</p>

<p>I think that, as your back improves, you’ll make progress with the hips, too.</p>

7402

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<p>They are linked big time. A lot of muscle attaching in the lumbar and pelvic regions of the body. They all criss-cross and reak havoc…</p>

7403

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<p>Yeah. I don’t think anything has been quite as eye-opening as starting to really get this whole deadlift hip hinge motion. There is such a fine line between lifting with your hips and lifting with your lower back. I’ve really thrown myself into some of these exercises because I see that it’s not only really beneficial to get the hips working, but it is also the only way to strenghten the core muscles in the lower back that protect the spine. These muscles get so little use that exercising them even a little bit seems to make quick gains.</p>

<p>This little Dan John drill, standing in front of a wall and hip hinging to make the butt touch the wall, then moving out two more inches from the wall is really terrific. It gives a real cue for the position you want to be in for a deadlift or a dumbbell row.</p>

7404

<p>idad, LOVE that photo!! What an inspiration!</p>

<p>NorthMinn, those last ten pounds are so hard. It seems like my weight bounced around A LOT in the last few months. Just be patient. Try not to think of this as a diet. These are lifestyle changes. </p>

<p>I’m lying around feeling like I’m wasting away. Went off the narcotics on Sunday when the wall of nausea hit; Tylenol keeps things manageable. Saw my surgeon yesterday and had one drain removed. The other one comes out Thursday. Yuck. Still pretty swollen, although not enough to justify my 9 lb weight gain, considering how much skin they removed. Patience.</p>

7405

<p>idad: When I click on the link for the photo, I just get a blank screen. I wanna see the fat pants!</p>

7406

<p>Stretching and some weights this morning. After not-enough-sleep, I’m feeling very good. I’m bringing in my stuff for running today. A three-day rest can do wonders.</p>

7407

<p>idad, reading your posts shamed me into doing another one of those Ab work outs after I got off the computer! Skipped the inverse row cuz I still can’t do it at home and only did one of each of the side planks because I hate them, but I did do the rest. Today will be a running around day - I don’t know if I’ll be able to squeeze a walk in somewhere.</p>

7408

<p>VeryHappy:</p>

<p>The link is working fine for me. Try this one:</p>

<p><a href=“http://i218.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/cc14/hwc_1000/oneyearanniversaryhappyface.jpg?t=1297716347[/url]”>http://i218.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/cc14/hwc_1000/oneyearanniversaryhappyface.jpg?t=1297716347&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>mathmom:</p>

<p>I listened to a Stuart McGill podcast the other day while I was exercising and he went on and on about the wonders of the side plank. He said that it’s the perfect exercise because it is totally self-limiting. To do it, trains exactly the amount of core stiffness you need to brace your core, no more and no less, with no thought at all. Automatic.</p>

<p>He did say that he doesn’t really want people struggling to hold the plank or side plank for long periods of time. He wants perfect form, not sagging from exhaustion. So, he recommends an approach of 10 seconds of perfect form. Then, relax for a few seconds, then another 10 seconds of perfectly braced plank or side plank, then relax, etc. – building up endurance that way.</p>

<p>He also made a very interesting point about back injuries. He almost never sees someone who has “thrown their back out” while doing moderate exercise or sports or weight lifting. Instead, the actual moment of injury almost always occurs at one of two extremes:</p>

<p>a) Trying to lift something at the absolute limit of strength, where the load is right on the edge of what that spine can take and it buckles.</p>

<p>b) Doing something very easy, like bending over to tie a shoe or pick up a baby. Tasks so easy that the person doesn’t even think about it as a challenge and therefore doesn’t brace their core and position themselves and lift or move in a way to protect the spine. Without the bracing (which is largely subconscious), the spine is vulnerable to even very low loading or twisting or bending.</p>

<p>The second scenario is why it’s worth making core training a part of your routine. The more you do plank and side plank and all the rest, the more effectively you can brace your core and – probably more importantly – the more you will effectively brack your core, both consciously and subconsiously, when doing anything that involves the spine. I can’t bend over and pick up anything now without those plank and side plank bracing sensations popping into focus. It really is just practicing for everyday tasks.</p>

7409

<p>I think he needs to add a third extreme: when a cat tries to climb up a person’s leg while said person is lifting weights. :slight_smile:
DH swears that he read somewhere that 80% of all accidents inside people’s homes are caused by pets. It surely sounds legitimate to me.</p>

7410

<p>Something that my wife does when I’m lifting weights is asking questions. I usually ignore her until I’m done with a set. I don’t talk to people when they are doing sets - I wait until the set is over. I usually require full concentration as to what I am doing. This is for free weights. One the machines, it’s much less of a problem because the machine isolates the muscle and there are usually safeguards to reduce the chance of injury.</p>

<p>It is nice to have a weight room at home where you can close the door. That can keep pets and others out and you can crank up the music or video if you want to without wearing a headset.</p>

7411

<p>I sure got my butt kicked this morning! I had a 9 o’clock PT appointment (usually go at 8), so I decided to go to the 6am Bikram hot yoga class before PT, so I didn’t have to worry about fitting something in after work (it’s H’s birthday). I was counting on PT being more of the deep tissue work as opposed to another workout. Well, I was wrong. He had me do all this ab work and glute stuff for my injury AFTER I had done 90 minutes of really hard yoga! I told my paralegal that if I have any meetings today we better cancel them because I will never stay awake! Ugh. I sure am feeling fit, though, even if my running is in the toilet!</p>

7412

<p>idad: It might be that my office firewall is keeping your fat pants photo out of my view. I’ll have to look when I get home this weekend.</p>

7413

<p>MOWC:</p>

<p>Ouch. Back to back workouts would be tough. I did an hour and twenty minutes yesterday and that was all I had. Really too much. I would melt into a puddle of goo like the wicked witch of the west in one of those hot yoga classes.</p>

7414

<p>Just reporting that I spent 4 days at Disneyworld without gaining weight or eating a hamburger.</p>

7415

<p>Fantastic. And, you probably burned a ton of calories walking around Disney.</p>

7416

<p>In honor of idad I did a new core exercise. Set up the step bench with 2 brackets, slid a blue stretchy band with handles under it and placed my feet in the handles of the bands and laid down on the bench. Then you do bicycling movement while laying on your back. OMG!!! My abs were on fire!!! Someone at the gym showed me this one. I will be very sore tomorrow.</p>

7417

<p>Yay, missypie! I don’t gain weight on cruises. I think it’s because I stay active, even with all the food and booze!</p>

<p>Hot yoga sounds awful (and, in some respects, it is), but it’s amazing how you adapt to the heat. It never gets easy, but it DOES get to where you are pretty sure you are going to live through class. The heat really does assist you in going deeper into the postures and getting more benefit out of the class. For me, it is a very beneficial mental workout, too, because I have to keep my mind on what I am doing (I tell myself “Keep your focus within the borders of your mat”) and I keep things like work, relationships, what I’m going to eat etc. OFF of the mat! It becomes almost meditative.</p>

7418

<p>idad, thanks for the encouragement on the sideplanks. I can do them for about 30 seconds, but it would be interesting to see if it would be better to do more of them for less time. I remember when I couldn’t do one pushup and now I can do a dozen in a row.</p>

<p>I don’t generally have back problems but I once killed my back - all I had done was twist my body a little while reaching for something on a table. Luckily I think it was muscle spasms not disc issues, but I remember every time I sneezed for the next couple of weeks I almost died.</p>

7419

<p>Short run and weights in the office today.</p>

<p>Our office has the anatomical handles on the dumbbells while I have straight handles at home. I think that I can generally lift more weight with the anatomical handles compared to the straight handles. The different shape results in less stress to the tennis elbow area.</p>

7420

<p>Beautiful blue sky winter day here. Too much workout yesterday to do intervals or burpees, so I had to go for walk, even though it is 22 degrees with a howling wind and wind chills in the single digits. Took full-geek to an all new level adding [a</a> fleece balaclava](<a href=“http://www.landsend.com/pp/ThermaCheck100FleeceBalaclava~187940_-1.html?bcc=y&action=order_more&sku_0=::PWY&CM_MERCH=IDX_00001__0000000056&origin=index]a”>http://www.landsend.com/pp/ThermaCheck100FleeceBalaclava~187940_-1.html?bcc=y&action=order_more&sku_0=::PWY&CM_MERCH=IDX_00001__0000000056&origin=index) to the day-glo yellow running windbreaker. Polartech long johns, fleece sweat pants, and fleece quarter-zip under the windbreaker and windproof pants. Ski gloves. The balaclava covers everything but the eyes or can be pulled down to cover the chin, but leave the mouth and nose for breathing.</p>

<p>I was actually sweating. Had to stick to pavement. 2.2 miles. Slow pace as I was bundled up a bit too much for fast walking.</p>