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<p>That’s interesting. Maybe something to do with the pounding? If he likes hard cardio in a totally non-impact way, you guys might be candidates for an Airdyne in the home gym.</p>
<p>Can he do the race walking?</p>
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<p>Yes. I kind of expect that to happen, which is why I’m paying attention to my weight. The steadier drift downward has been going on for a while now and it’s terrific. But, what I don’t need to see is the synthroid to kick in and really start dropping weight while I’m merrily rolling along at 1800 calories a day. I don’t want the bottom to suddenly drop out. I don’t think many people lose 80+ pounds during the 15 months before they are diagnosed with signficantly low thryroid. It’s usually the opposite.</p>
<p>I think the renewed weight loss over the last month or so has been two-fold: more lean muscle from four months of this workout program and I’ve been watching the carbs a little more consistently with almost all of my carbs coming from fruits, veggies, beans, etc. Most weeks, the only bread I eat is one 6-inch flour tortilla with fajitas and the assorted croutons/saltines in soups and salads. The bread I had this week was the first in a month. I also think the early months of the strength training program were masking weight loss with increases muscle and some water retention/inflammation of sore muscles.</p>
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<p>Yep. Just getting the DBs into position and back is the limiting factor on weight for me. It starts to get your attenion up around 25+ pounds. Using a stability ball as my bench helps a little because I can roll the ball down to the small of my back which puts me in a semi-reclined position. I’ve also started putting the DBs on two little 9 inch stools, one on either side of the stabilty ball, so I’m not having to pick the weights up off the floor and put them all the way back down. I use the stools for whatever pair of dumbbells are called for a set. That 9 inches saves a lot of wear and tear bending to put heavy weights on the floor over and over.</p>
<p>Marshall’s and TJ’s have the perfect stool on sale right now. Little folding plastic stools, 9 inches tall, rated to hold 300 pounds, with just a little v-shape in the top rolls a dumbbell to the center. I had been using some little wooden step stools, but they were starting to get a little wobbly.</p>
<p>BTW, if you’ve got built up DBs on those standard dumbbell bars and lock nuts, the handles and locks weigh 3.6 pounds. So 25 pounds of plates make them total 28.6 pounds. I finally decided to stop confusing myself and think of those as 30 pounds and the next ones as 35 pounds (even though they are really 33.6 pounds).</p>
<p>The ones that we have (about 25 years old) weight 2.5 pounds which is more or less perfect for 2.5 pound increments.</p>
<p>Those 1.25 pound weights really add a lot of flexibility too. You don’t have to have four matched weights with those really light ones.</p>
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</p>
<p>Sounds like time for a trip to the doc and a prescription for some PT…</p>
<p>Camelbacks- You see some ultra-runners with them, but they tend to be annoying. They are also hard to clean and can get sort of gross. You have to put this expandable frame inside the bladder and let it air out. I see more of them on cyclists.</p>
<p>Tnaks, MOfWC! I poked around some runnning sites looking for a handheld bottle with a strap. I will try a belt as well, but I think it might annoy the heck out of me (just like the windbreaker that I have to take off when I get too hot and to tie around my waist). What drives me absolutely bonkers is the sound of water sloshing around when the bottle gets half-empty. I might have to tinker with the bottles to make them less “musical”.</p>
<p>I agree - camelbacks are gross. Washing them is a nightmare.</p>
<p>[Platypus</a> plusBottle Collapsible Bottle](<a href=“http://www.lifeviewoutdoors.com/hiking-and-camping-gear/bottles/collapsible-bottles/platypus-plusbottle-collapsible-bottle.html]Platypus”>http://www.lifeviewoutdoors.com/hiking-and-camping-gear/bottles/collapsible-bottles/platypus-plusbottle-collapsible-bottle.html)</p>
<p>Would this help with the sloshing? And the spout would end the put-top-on-while-moving issue.</p>
<p>Novelisto, thanks - I actually looked at these at REI, but they are HUGE. 1 liter is 1/4 of a gallon and weighs 2 lb when it is full. A 1/5th of that (roughly 200 ml) would be ideal.</p>
<p>Target has one that’s 16 oz. (approx 400 ml) Pretty reasonable price too…you get 2. </p>
<p>[flexible</a> water bottle : Sports : Target Search Results](<a href=“http://www.target.com/s?keywords=flexible+water+bottle&searchNodeID=1038604&ref=sr_bx_1_1&x=0&y=0]flexible”>http://www.target.com/s?keywords=flexible+water+bottle&searchNodeID=1038604&ref=sr_bx_1_1&x=0&y=0)</p>
<p>Of course, running with a heavy weight (of water) in your hand might add stress to an elbow joint. Would it be better to put such a thing in a back-pack so the weight is more balanced?</p>
<p>10 minutes of 30:30 today.</p>
<p>:30 KB Swings
:30 rest
:30 Box Jumps
:30 rest
:30 KB Swings
:30 rest
:30 Box Jumps
:30 rest
:30 KB Swings
:30 rest
:30 Box Jumps
:30 rest
:30 KB Swings
:30 rest
:30 Box Jumps
:30 rest
:30 KB Swings
:30 rest
:30 Box Jumps
:30 rest</p>
<p>Didn’t feel like doing a whole lot. I’ll jump back into my strength routine tomorrow…</p>
<p>16 miles. Hot and sweaty, and my hip bothered me. I was definitely tired today… But all is well now. A bottle of Longboard, some smoked salmon, and a hot bath.</p>
<p>Novelisto, I will definitely research the bottles from Target. Thanks. The problem is not the weight (1 lb is ok), it is the fit - a 1L bottle is too big to grip comfortably.</p>
<p>[Running</a> Hydration Systems](<a href=“http://www.runningwarehouse.com/catpage-hydration.html]Running”>Running Hydration Packs, Belts, and Bottles - Running Warehouse)</p>
<p>I think mine is the Amphipod 20 ounce. Nothing fancy, but it does the trick. The waist ones work OK, but they can be annoying. I think the key is to wear it low on your hips and not really at your waist.</p>
<p>Worked out on the weight machines at the YMCA. I have an objective test for knee health and that’s the leg lift machine. At full knee health, I can life 110 pounds at least ten times. Today I was able to lift 75 pounds three times which is not the worst (the worst is if I have trouble with 65 pounds) but it’s not too far from the worst.</p>
<p>In general, I can walk around, up and down stairs, etc. without much trouble but the weight test is basically telling me that I should take it easy on tennis and running until the knee gets stronger.</p>
<p>I was invited to Sunday morning doubles in the morning but I’m going to have to decline though I may go just to drop off racquets if one of my stringers is there. My guess is that it will take about four weeks of taking it easy to get to about 85 pounds at which point I can workout a little harder in tennis and running. Getting a few pounds lighter will help with the running too and may help with the tennis a little. So I just need to be patient with this injury.</p>
<p>Fortunately I’ve had a lot of practice with injuries in general.</p>
<p>I’d say that the arm is about 98%. I now only get twinges with free-weights and I plan my exercises to keep the duration of the twinges very, very short (on the order of a second).</p>
<p>BC: I don’t know the nature of your knee problems, but the classic “patella tendon pain” (i.e. front of the knee) is widely thought in sports training circle to be a symptom of tightness and lack of flexibility in the hips (and also ankle). In other words, the root cause is the attachment points at the other end of the mucles connected to knee. hops Scout may have to translate some of this:</p>
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<p>The way to improve this kind of knee pain is an aggressive program of strengthening and increasing the flexibility of the hips and butt. It’s not an issue of being ‘strong’ in the conventional sense. In fact, athletes who train heavily in the weight room in the most conventional ways are often the most stricken with hip tightness – hockey players, football players, etc. It’s a huge issue for distance runners and really for every sport that focuses training on the quad muscles at the front of the leg.</p>
<p>Continuing from Boyle:</p>
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<p>While you are forced to ease up on the combined running and tennis, you might want to consider a dedicated program of exercises to work on hip flexibility and the glute “butt” muscles.</p>
<p>A good place to start is the Cook Hip Lift:</p>
<p>[YouTube</a> - Cook Hip Lift](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4I9F9rIqwM]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4I9F9rIqwM)
[YouTube</a> - Cook Hip Lift](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zni_6hzqkEE]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zni_6hzqkEE)</p>
<p>A feeling like a hamstring cramp is a sure sign that the glutes need work (both MOWC and I both know the hamstring cramp feeling very well!)</p>
<p>From there, you can go to an infinite number of variations, including feet on a stability ball, or weight bench, or this one:</p>
<p>[YouTube</a> - Power Wheel - Leg Curls](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWqCNNMJYFg]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWqCNNMJYFg)</p>
<p>The knee pain that limited me early on is compeletely gone now. I think that slowly getting the hips to actually move has been a key part of that. The whole deadlift move is specifically targeted at these hip/glute muscles.</p>
<p>More on this concept:</p>
<p>[THE</a> JOINT-BY-JOINT APPROACH](<a href=“Functional Movement Systems”>Functional Movement Systems)</p>
<p>And more than you could ever want to know from physical therapy guru Gray Cook himself (see Cook Hip Lift above):</p>
<p>[Expanding</a> on the Joint-by-Joint Approach](<a href=“Functional Movement Systems”>Functional Movement Systems)</p>
<p>If I were suffering with either knee pain or lower back pain, these would be concepts I would start diving into. I didn’t get it at first, but turning yourself into Gumby with flexible joints at the ankles and hips is huge in protecting the knee and the lower back.</p>
<p>And, if you really want the full course, listen to this podcast with Gray Cook explaining this concept. Gray Cook’s “lecture” starts at about the 15 minute mark:</p>
<p>[The</a> Strength Coach Podcast: Episode 46.5- Gray Revisits The Joint by Joint Approach](<a href=“The Strength Coach Podcast”>The Strength Coach Podcast: Episode 46.5- Gray Revisits The Joint by Joint Approach)</p>
<p>The most common sports where I see patella straps are running, tennis and basketball. There may be others but many of those sports wear long pants so you don’t know if they are wearing straps or sleeves.</p>
<p>Running produces a lot of impact stress and stiffness in the legs and hips and you have to keep up the stretching. I do stretch before running and I have more comprehensive stretching routines but I don’t do them that often.</p>
<p>In tennis, the classic ground-stroke puts almost all of your weight on one knee where you then do from 180 to 270 degrees of rotation with almost all of your weight on one knee. You also have severe lateral stress from side-to-side movement (the image of going to volley a sharply angled ball in doubles is a good example). Tennis doesn’t have the level of impact stress that running does. The serve is another case where you load almost your entire body weight on one knee and then rotate through 270 degrees in a very short period of time.</p>
<p>In basketball, you have impact, rotational, lateral and jumping stress. The jump shot puts stress on the knee going up and landing. The turnaround jumper requires you to launch yourself with rotation so that you wind up 180 degrees from where you started. Spinning around someone guarding you puts a lot of rotational stress on your pivot foot. Driving for a layup where you change direction at the last moment while launching yourself on one leg puts a variety of stresses on the knees.</p>
<p>In my case, there’s more damage from tennis than anything else. I can often remember the move towards a shot that most likely caused damage that takes two or three weeks to heal.</p>
<p>In professional tennis, you see patella straps, especially on the womens tour. The women are generally flexible and strong and have professional coaches and trainers but you see patella straps from time to time on various players. Some players use them more than others. Many have gone over to the tape-style over the strap. I imagine that those are more comfortable.</p>
<p>Nadal’s problems with his knees are quite well-known and probably cost him several titles. His knee problems have declined by playing fewer tournaments and by losing weight (muscle). It may be that his tennis game lost a little effectiveness by losing some strength but he has made up for it in better skill and technique.</p>
<p>I’ve been around running long enough to know the sorts of things that can cause chronic problems and generally how to avoid them if they show up. Shoes and inserts make a huge difference for me and I track wear closely to ensure that they aren’t a problem. I do my stretching stuff - a short routine before running and longer routines at home when I have time. I’m not that worried about the running aspect; especially with the weight going down. For tennis, I just need to watch my shoes, rest when I need to and to use the sleeve until the problems go away. The pain is caused by wearing away of cartilege and the resulting bone-on-bone pain. When I measure knee strength - it’s more of a measure of knee-health - basically what I can do without pain. The strength is probably there but I can’t make use of it.</p>
<p>One of exactly three people I saw on my run today was a creepy possibly drunk guy who found it appropriate to leer at and hit on me. Repeatedly. Running away from him counts as exercise, right?</p>
<p>On a happy note, however, I promised myself a Starbucks frappuccino if I actually went for my run in the rain today. And they’re still half off! I’ll get the healthiest one imaginable (the caramel one is only 110 calories if you ask for skim milk and no whipped cream), but it’s a treat nonetheless :)</p>
<p>My goodness. Where are you running??</p>
<p>Teenage_cliche, running away from “preverts” (that’s a term borrowed from the show Medium) does count as exercise! Treats after accomplishing something are perfectly OK - they give finisher medals to everyone in marathons, don’t they? ;)</p>
<p>OK, I feel really, really stupid! Stooooopid!!! After our marvelous spring here in Seattle, I totally forgot about that shiny orb the sky and what it can do to one’s skin. The orb just happened to come out when I started my run, and disappeared behind the clouds just as I finished. No wonder I felt like a falling apart jalopy at the end of my run. I got… sunburned. Ouch. I spent a week lounging on a beach in Maui without a single sunburned spot…</p>