Category: fitness

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Getting my Courage Back

I tore my left ACL (knee ligament) in the early summer of 2004 attempting a flying side kick.  Yes, yes, that wasn’t the wisest of things for an overfat woman in her mid thirties to try.   I know, I know.

I didn’t even realize the ligament was ruptured until the lack of stability was causing me problems a couple of years later.   I got an MRI and was cautioned that surgery would indeed help and probably solve my stability issues, but that it wouldn’t solve any issues of pain I might have — in fact, I might have more trouble in that area.

Pain, I’m used to.  The lack of stability was not something I’m okay with.  So I got the surgery and wound up having the medial meniscus repaired at the same time.  (We didn’t know it’d been torn until they opened my knee up).  Lack of mobility freaks me out, and recovery from the surgery has to rank up there with the scariest experiences in my life after a couple of incidents where my children were severely ill or injured.

It’s been a year on since I’ve had the repair done.

I still never do anything much that requires jumping or torque on my knee, even though that ligament is probably stronger than the one I was born with.   Because I’d had to spend so much time being cautious on stairs and uneven ground, it’s become an ingrained habit.  In the winter, I walk on ice as if I were in my eighties rather than half that.

I’m starting to plod rather than leap.  I’m not light on my feet.   This isn’t a weight issue.  I’ve been quite light on my feet at considerably heavier than I am now  –probably not as strong, either!   Hell, I’m not even doing dance moves that I used to.

I’ve been playing a little with plyometrics and doing (careful!) jumping exercises on my stairs.   Thing is, it’s a hit or miss, catch as catch can type of thing.  I think it would be useful to develop a definite program with gentle progression and make it a habit.

If I get used to certain moves, maybe I’ll be getting my physical courage and faith in my body back.

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Swim today.  You know how not all workouts feel glorious?

This one did feel wonderful.  I had my groove on.  Other than counting laps, I didn’t think about anything while I was swimming.  Usually I work out stuff I’m going to write, or try to chew on a problem to see if I can solve it.  Today, because I’m teaching a class in Word, I had to get my swim in quite early in the morning.  I don’t think my brain had turned on yet, even if the sun was up.

I shared a lane with a guy who likes to do pullups on the starting blocks at the end of every few laps.  I notice that’s a popular thing for some swimmers to do.  Tempted to try it to see if I can.  With the support of starting half in the water, it might be possible.  And fun, if I manage it.  I doubt I’ll make that much of a part of my swimming routine, though, other than variety.

I had a good class yesterday.  The students were interested and involved.  God, I love it when that happens.  I suspect part of it was that I really like that particular class  (Advanced Excel).   It’s moderately geeky, and there’s more room to play and explore than with the other classes.

What was really nice was that I think I’ve convinced one of my students to experiment more.  Every time he’d ask, “What’ll happen if I do <foo>?”  I’d reply, “Try it.”

Sometimes it was because I didn’t know, honestly.  But sometimes it was because I really like to get my students into the habit of exploring.

Today I’m teaching Intermediate Word.  For me, it’s not as exciting a class.  I mean, I like it well enough, and it’s a nice change from endlessly teaching Excel (which is the bulk of what I do for teaching).  But it’s kind of routine unless I get a group for whom the material is somehow exciting.   Then it’s a lot of fun, but that’s true of any class.

‘Course, any teacher will now tell me that figuring out a way to generate excitement and enthusiasm up front is the way to go with this.  And they’d be right!  There are some games I sometimes come up with that even the adults like.  I’ve used one where every time I misuse a term and a student spots it, they get a point.  Believe it or not, this gets them paying attention.  You’d think it wouldn’t but it does.  I came up with it one day when I taught after being up all night in the hospital with a child.  It was for me to stay focused, but it generated some interest for the class, and the mutual focus wound up making it an excellent class.

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What's Fit?

A person capable of swimming a mile has achieved an above average level of fitness.

— Percy Norman Swim Club

Hmmm…

I have to say I have to frown a little at this one. Not that I’m not still excited that I finally can swim a mile. I freely admit I get a big ole kick out of it. I worked a long time to do it, and that it’s my usual swimming workout is kinda cool to me. It was a big <ahem> milestone.

It doesn’t stop me from hurting when I’m on my feet all day. Hell, it doesn’t stop me from hurting when I’m in the water on my bad days. My joints are so bad right now my hands hurt while I was swimming, never mind how my hips, knees and ankles feel walking home from the gym. This means I’m not exactly gonna be able to hike a few miles even if I need to.

I see fitness as being able to cope with random emergencies and get through one’s day comfortably. When I have flares like this, it does interfere with my day, by damn! Forget running away from danger.

Does this mean I can’t get “fit”? To a degree, that’s about right. I really can’t.

But I do what I can. “Can” is swimming a mile (and used to be swimming 400 yards), or walking two or three (and used to be a couple of blocks). “Can” is lifting heavy weights a few times a week. I can prevent muscle atrophy. I can get my heart pumping harder for a half hour or so to keep my cardiovascular system healthy. I can lift heavy stuff to maintain my bone density. I’m certainly far fitter than I would be if I did not attempt to move on a regular basis.

Do I find it discouraging that I’m never going to get to the point where I can run an easy 5K or be able to go all day like a lumberjack?  Kinda.   I just try to ignore that, though, and keep on with what I’m doing because I know that working out is what I need to do.

1My maternal grandmother

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Need Inspiration?

Yesterday I talked a bit about getting fit when you’re starting without much of a fitness base?

You gotta check out this Stumptuous Fitness Model!

No, it ain’t a bikini contest.  This contest was about people who chose health and fitness, but aren’t looking to be figure competitors or even skinny.  It’s quite awesome.  This fitness model is fifty, doesn’t look like the Bowflex grandma, and is miles cooler.

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Kaizen

I exercise seven days a week and I go reasonably hard compared to what I used to do ten years ago (the occasional walk).

Actually I exercise a lot compared to what I did five years ago, too.  It didn’t automagically make me skinny, but by golly I am more fit!

The thing is, that article?  Buddy, I stand by it.  It is honest, no kidding, a great way to get started.  Little, incremental goals have an enormous positive effect over time.

The Japanese use this concept in the workplace (they call it kaizen, which is usually translated loosely into English as “continual improvement”).  The thing is, these are not great, dramatic leaps of improvement, but daily, incremental tiny little things.

To give you an idea:

When I started swimming in July ’06, I was swimming 400 yards in 20 minutes, and that was my cardio.  Walking?  Bite me!  That made my feet hurt and my calves cramp up.  (Yes, I was walking every day in Oct ’03.  I stopped working out for about a year.  Not making that mistake again.  I lose fitness fast, dammit).

Now, I swim a mile in ~45 minutes.  Ideally I’d like to be able to swim a mile in half an hour.  That’s gonna be awhile, I think.

When I started lifting in July ’06, I was squatting 30lbs.

I’m squatting 85lbs now, and have gotten a lot more serious about lifting.  I’ve got my eye on squatting 100lbs as my next mid-range goal.  I’m years away from the ultimate goal of squatting my bodyweight.  That’s okay.  I like to keep my eyes on the little goals.

Thing is, I have little goals for every single workout.  In the weight room, I’m either increasing a rep each workout, or I’m increasing weight.   In the pool, I’ll either try to swim for a longer distance, or a shorter time.

So where does this end?

It doesn’t.  It’s an open-ended system.  These tiny little goals are enough to keep me interested, and they’ll change and refine over time.  I’m 39.  There’s certainly a limit to where I can go physically.  But I don’t really look ahead to find that.  In five years (barring accident or debilitating illness) I’ll probably look back on what I’m doing now with a lot of pride in how far I’ve come.

But right now, I’m looking at the next rep and the next five pounds, or the next 100 yards.  It keeps things small an immediate.

That means that adding a minute to a walk when you’ve gone from ten minutes to eleven minutes is really good.  If you consistently challenge yourself with little goals — just that next step, or that next small habit change, they add up.  If you can walk a block before your calf cramps up, looking at my workouts might be discouraging.  Thing is, that was me, no kidding.  And I got here by small, incremental goals.

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Walking and Treadmills

I couldn’t face another lap in the pool today, so I took a walk instead.

I almost blew off any working out today. Slept in quite late again today after getting my son off to school. I decided to go ahead and get some exercise because it’s gray and nasty. Being tired is okay. Gray and nasty means that depressed might follow, and I liked the nap alternative a lot better than the probability of depressed.

I pushed myself enough that I was sweaty with only a sweatshirt in 36F and rain, so I went reasonably hard. I’m lucky I have decent places to walk. I actually considered going to the gym and using the treadmill, but that’s just too weird for me when it’s over freezing and I have a place outside. And you’re not looking at the world’s biggest fan of the outdoors, either, I like outdoors well enough, but I’m beginning to think I’m a city girl at heart and like “nature” for vacations and stuff. Mom used to call me a houseplant.

But even so, to walk? I’ve got a perfectly good sidewalk in front of my house and I can walk for miles on it. I could see a treadmill in really horrible weather, but weather that’s so bad I’d want to use a treadmill would be weather I’d want a treadmill at home and not a gym because I won’t want to be driving.

I’m actually considering throwing in a half hour walk every morning on top of my other workouts now that the weather has gotten nicer. When I was working at Hogwarts, I probably did walk about a half hour to forty-five minutes throughout the day, what with taking the bus and stuff like that. And that was on top of weights three to four times a week and swimming at least three times a week.

Couldn’t hurt, I suppose. I’ve heard the “magic number” for getting quite fit and easy weight control is five hours of exercise a week. That would be about right if I started throwing in the walks. God knows it would mean exercise variety, which is never a bad thing. Also, I am concerned that I’m not getting much weight bearing work besides the lifting. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of swimming, but I’m also concerned about keeping my knee muscles strong. ACL surgery was no damn joke, and I want to protect the rather painful investment by making sure I’m keeping the supporting muscles strong.

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Swimming, Motivation and Mood

God, the pool was busy today. Hadda circle swim, which I don’t much like. Even so, it’s better than not working out, so…

Swam an 1100 today. Not much, but I’ve decided to work back up to the mile a little more slowly. I didn’t feel like death warmed over in the pool today, but did feel kind of weak.

It amuses me a little. Last year when I was rehabbing my knee, I can recall trying to make myself feel better about swimming a 700, then consoling myself that it was okay because at least it was better than where I started.

I’m still very glad to be moving again. I hate how I feel when I can’t work out. It’s not that I’m that hard core or anything. Those Crossfit people make me look like a complete wuss. But going to it daily, getting my heart rate up, moving, lifting some heavy stuff just makes me feel better in general — body and mind.

I have a little over a mile to go on my Virtual Swim. That means I’ll have swum 18 miles since the beginning of the year. Not too bad. I need to pick a new distance motivator, I suppose. I know it sounds dorky, but it’s one more thing in my toolbox to ensure that I do get my butt in the pool regularly. Getting demotivated is way too easy for me, so any little challenge, thought, mental trick or whatever that it takes to get me to work out that day is a Good Thing.

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Back in the Weight Room

Today’s Workout

Calf raises 85 3 8
Stiff-legged deadlifts 85 3 8
Squats 85 3 8
Bench Press 65 3 8
Lat Pulldown 80 3 8
Seated Row 70 3 10
Inverted Situps body 3 10

Nothing too exciting or impressive, but even so, it may have been too much. I felt like I was going to throw up after the squats. I don’t care about the macho bullshit about “Visiting Mr. Bucket” when working out. That’s just taking it too far for general fitness.

The gym was nice today, though. Everyone was serious. A trainer was teaching one of his clients to do free squats. She was eyeing the leg press and he gently guided her away from it. I was surprised. *I* got taken to the Smith machine (HAWK! PTOOI!) at my intro lesson!

Moodwise, I feel so much better it’s hard to describe.  Oh, I’m tired and even have a bit of a headache.  I just think lifting heavy stuff makes me feel calmer, more confident, happier and more relaxed.  I’m sure there’s a physiological reason for it.  I’m glad it happens, too!

I’m looking at my workout and wondering how long it’s going to take before I’m working out with 100lbs on the squats.  That’s an interim goal for me right now.  If I had a spotter, I’d try for a 1RM and see if I can squat 100 (which I probably can), just to say I can do it.

Actually, I’m looking forward to the time when I’m benching 100 regularly, but I’m a good 6-8 months away from that at the moment.

I’m also looking at my workout and thinking I need to add a couple of upper body and a couple of lower body exercises next week.  I’d like to this week, but if I feel like throwing up after squats, then I need to build back up slowly.

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Re-hab

I hate re-habbing after an illness or injury, I really do.

Thing is, I wind up having to do it from time to time.  Last year this time, I was flying high from being allowed to walk after an ACL and medial meniscus repair.   God, being able to go where I wanted without the crutches felt so damn good, especially after the tedium of the endless leg strengthening exercises I had to do every damn hour.  I’m lazy.  Gimme a good hour in the weight room three times a week any time over that nonsense!

I’m rehabbing right now.  I had the flu last week and didn’t work out because, well…

The flu?  Not “bad cold” but the flu?  You go down and you stay down until you can get up without feeling dizzy.  If you can work out, it’s probably a nasty cold.  The flu knocks you on your ass.

I was able to swim half a mile Saturday.  That’s okay.

I swam 1000 today.   Wednesday, it’ll be 1100, and on until I’m up to a mile again.  Yes, I’m rehabbing a little slow, but I’m weaker than American coffee right now.  I could beat myself into the ground, but I’m not going to.  If I were training for something specific I’d consider it.  If my energy levels bounce back sooner, why, I’ll be swimming that mile sooner.  That’s okay, too.

The only serious thing I’m doing is making sure I push myself some at each workout — enough so I get a benefit, but not so much so I’ll hate it and quit.  It’s the not quitting part that’s important.  It’s the not letting a break in routine cause my natural sedentary tendecies to win out and let me get depressed and weak and ill again.  It’s real easy for me to talk myself into not working out, I’m sorry to say.

I know there are plenty of people who want to be all hard core.  That’s cool.  They should, and enjoy it.  But you don’t have to do that to get fit.  You just have to be consistent and push yourself some more each time — not necessarily a whole lot, but some.
I’m trying to decide what the weights should look like tomorrow.  I know I won’t be able to do what I’d been doing before I got sick, but I’ve no idea how much I really should scale back.  I’m swimming half the distance, but I don’t think I really need to go back to half the weight I’d been using.

I’ve got to work on a project that’s due next Monday.  It’s going really well.   I was reviewing it and realized I’d put more into it than I thought I had.  This made me really happy!  So, it’s really a matter of writing a section, getting some pics for it, then going over it with my Editor Eye.

Heh… It’s amazing how a few workouts improve the mood.   If I owned a drug company, I swear I’d do everything in my power to discourage working out, ’cause it’d likely put me out of business.

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Martian Death Flu

You know how working out is supposed to boost your immune system, and make you strong and all that smack?

I have a case of the Martian Death Flu.  You know the one, where air molecules  bumping against your skin hurt like crazy and your joints are on fire and you have a hacking cough and a fever that trips up and down teasing you so that you think it’s gone away until you get the shivvering chills again and your head aches and the idea of food is appalling and you feel yourself getting weaker by the hour and…

Yeah, that one.

I don’t get sick often so this is getting on my nerves.  I want to train, but… Well, Rule One.  I’m weak enough I’m not sure I could squat with an empty bar and keep my balance.  So, I wait.

Not only that, I think it would be a bit inconsiderate to go to the gym and pass this along to other people.

But I’m feeling cranky and ill and moody and want a mood lift.

And I have work to complete for a client.  Thank God I’m disciplined about research and outlines.   But writing when your think is broken and you can’t brane?  I know there’s this famous idea of people turning to writing when they weren’t well enough for other work, but I guess I’m a crap writer.   I write best when I’m well.

Oh, and open message to all you macho assholes who go to the gym and train while dripping snot into tissues and horking lung butter into your hands:

STOPPIT!!!!

It’s really inconsiderate.  Just sayin’.  Use a mask if you’ve just gotta train, please? (You wanna hurt your own body, go for it.  It’s spreading your illness around to other people that’s my concern).  I’m right up the road from a fancy, schmancy research hospital that’d be delighted to give you a mask if you ask for one.  Really.  But you can buy ’em cheap in drug stores, too.  I know they’re dorky lookin’.  But I’d respect it.  Honest.