Lifestyle physical health/fitness thread

Lee

@ Thick Club
is a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnus
I iced it at 4 am when it was hurting me and stretched + took painkillers, stretched again this morning and the pain has subsided substantially. Nowhere near what it was yesterday which is an excellent sign. A few days off max is all I'll need I think :).
you don't say lol - icing and painkillers are always going to reduce pain but that doesn't mean they're addressing the underlying problem. I sorta had to practice what I preach here because my back has been a but sore lately. Strangely enough I think it has less to do with throwing around heavy stuff and more to do with all the cycling I've been doing. 2-3 hours a day sitting in that position with no lumbar support, often whilst wearing a backpack has proven very uncomfortable. I've took a few days out and ordered a weightlifting belt which I intend to wear while cycling and on some of the more dynamic lifts.

Ninahaza said:
i'll post pictures as well along with lee to help get the ball rolling, but lee's pictures will put mine and everyone else s to shame so why not just post mine before his. just kidding lee, i know this is not a competition. no, seriously, i hope no one feels intimidated by any pictures posted in this thread for any reason. Fitness is not a competition and the only person you'll truly have to answer to in the end is yourself.
I'm sure that wouldn't be the case but I won't be posting any posing pictures in my upcoming post anyway - I don't want to measure my progress based on how defined my abs are or by how big my biceps are. but you know that already. I don't mean to belittle those who do care about that sorta thing but I'm done with that phase - I just want to be as strong (in all applications of the word) as possible now.
 

alamaster

hello
is a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Past SPL Champion
be careful, i was ill for a few days didnt eat very much, hit the gym for the first time in a week today, dropped 5-10 kg on squat and bench press feelsbadman :(
Ouch :/ Yeah, gotta take it easy this week, overdoing it is never fun
 

Ninahaza

You'll always be a part of me
is a Forum Moderator Alumnus
I'm sure that wouldn't be the case but I won't be posting any posing pictures in my upcoming post anyway - I don't want to measure my progress based on how defined my abs are or by how big my biceps are. but you know that already. I don't mean to belittle those who do care about that sorta thing but I'm done with that phase - I just want to be as strong (in all applications of the word) as possible now.
No worries lee, for that is one of the things I admire about you. Anyways, I think for me its how early and fresh all of this still is. I mean, yeah I played sports from my childhood days and all throughout highschool, and I exercised, but I only started reallly taking exercising seriously at the beginning of 2011. Its still wierd to think that I've only been doing this for a little under 2 years. Less than 2 years ago I was one very obese guy. I think I like the pictures because again this is still very fresh to me. Sometimes I can't really believe it when I catch a glance at myself in the mirror. I think when I can say those very same words as you lee (that you've been ripped for 5 years) I wont be bothering or caring too much about pictures anymore. in fact really after the new 3 year goal I set after my previous 1.5 year goal I just finished, I had no plans of continuing updates, so I would be very surprised if I kept up with the pictures anyways by the time I can say I've been ripped for 5 years.

Really whatever is behind my current level of dedication, whether it be pictures, updates, etc, I just hope I can continue to maintain it because I would love to see how I look like after 5 years. I've been able to maintain this level of dedication so far, and really thats all I can ask of myself, despite what might be currently motivating me

Edit: I still plan on making the changes I brought up last page, its just that I have quite a bit on my plate thanks to school, so its going to take a little longer than I mentioned
 

Lee

@ Thick Club
is a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnus
Journal Post #1: Operation Rebirth

was hoping to do this when my laptop arrived and I could upload a slew of pictures and videos but delivery problems blahblahblah so posting from iPod

never actually posted anything like this before despite having been a keep-fit enthusiast for almost a decade so I'm not sure how this goes...s'pose I'll just post what I do and then my goals

Exercise stuff

each morning I wake at 5am and jog down to a spot near my house where I do supersets of chin-ups/press ups whilst wearing a 20lb weight vest for 30 minutes. here is a visual aid:



then I shower and go to work for 8 hours, watching the clock tick down to the point that I can get on my bike and make the 30 mile round trip to the nearest gym (did I mention I live on a mountain?). The whole trip takes about 150 minutes accounting for all of the hideous inclines and makes up the bulk of my daily cardio training.

while in the gym I do exclusively compound movements and timed holds. visual aid number two:

[YouTube]HPzY-n0c72A[/YouTube]

[Clean and Jerk at 180lbs, the third set of what was originally a 5x5 workout but I've since decided to knock it down to 3x5 because my form was suffering too much in the later sets...you can see that in this video a bit too I think]

will expand more on my lifts and stuff in a future update. Stalwarts of the old thread will know I had an icky elbow injury most of the year and I've only actually got back in the gym 5 weeks ago so my lifts are fluctulating quite a lot right now and not worth making a record of

once I cycle back home it's usually like 2200 so I do some auxillary work for like 15 minutes (namely abs and forearms) and then go to bed.

I do this on a two days on/one day off circuit with my rest day normally spent exploring and hiking in the nearby hills. here's a pic I took on such an outing



Brit smogoners might recognise it as the market town of Keswick - I'm like 5 miles from there so gimme a shout if you're ever around there

Diet

I've gained just under a stone since I started doing the above routine 5 weeks ago so as you've probably guessed I eat a lot. I do 1/2GOMAD, eat a whole bunch of nuts and peanut butter and, because I live in such a rural setting, fruit, vegetables and eggs are like ridiculously accessible. I take whey protein and finally caved in and started taking creatine capsules two weeks ago*

Goals

Short-term goal is just to settle back into my heavy lifting and fully regain confidence in my injured elbow. After that I'll start keeping track of my lifts and seeing just how far I can go with them. Distance running is my passion so I've never gave up on picking that back up some day (bad knee) and I'm hoping that the cycling, hiking and deadlifting
will in time strengthen it to the point that I can get back to running a bit more regularly. Let's see what happens eh? *

Hopefully my next update will have a bit more substance but posting from an iPod is the biggest pain >_<
 

Lee

@ Thick Club
is a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnus
stupid iPod randomly inserted a few asterixes that would be way too much hassle to remove, don't bother looking further down for an ammendment or anything, I assure you they are completely random
 
at first i was like, "oh just a stone? doesn't sound like a lot", then google told me a stone was 14 pounds ._.

you're better at gaining weight than i am D:<

how's creatine going for ya?
 
interdasting post lee. just wondering how tall are you?


how's creatine going for ya?


While i lay here on the floor all swollen, heavy and thick. Drowning in my tears, with teaspoons and empty creatine containers all around me, creatine, its got me, im hooked, theres no turning away, iv become so strong i fear myself, scared of how much iv taken, scared of what iv become, a monster that cant be destroyed. I know one day im going to have to quit or il die, but the gains, they just keep coming, pound after pound, kilogram after kilogram. Im trapped in this cycle, unable to walk away
 

Lee

@ Thick Club
is a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnus
5 foot 7, Nos, 175lbs.

creatine is going good, haven't felt too much difference on my powerlifts but there seems to have been a notable increase in my endurance - really helpful for cycling. no visible water retention yet either heh
 

DM

Ce soir, on va danser.
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnus
started p90x again
got the .iso files for the dvds years ago
and wrote down the workout plan in order to do them
went though it once but after i finished i stopped like an idiot
started to go at it again on labor day
kinda skipping some cardio
but schools in nyc for me
so i walk a lot
I have the workout plan spreadsheet, if you want me to email it to you.
 
1: Personal Story
Don't mind if I do.

I’m kind of in the middle of a healthy lifestyle change/cut. I started late April/Early May, not too sure of the exact date. Basically, I’ve always been fat or “chunky.” My BMI was always in the overweight category. I never really gave a shit though. I always accepted that I’m a fat ass and didn’t really care enough to do anything about it. I’d thought about becoming healthy in the past, but I felt like it was pointless. I guess I resorted to the incorrect assumption that in order to be healthy you had to pretty much eat lettuce and water, and run like infinity miles a day. I really didn’t want to give up one of the few things that I enjoyed doing (eating), since I don’t have too much that can cheer me up. Out of high school I was 5' 11" and weighed 225 lbs, but around Feb of this year I tipped the scales at 240. I still didn’t give a shit though. Like I said, I’ve been fat my entire life. The main reasons why I decided to change were because: 1) I was always out of breath, 2) because I sweat a lot for no reason, and 3) I’d been starting to feel a lot more horrible than usual. When I say “horrible” I’m pretty much referring to nonphysical things. I’d rather not go into details so sorry if you don’t understand due to me being so vague.

For the past 2.5 years I ate fast food at the very least once a day, every single day of the year, with only a few exceptions on Christmas day when pretty much every fast food place is closed. These fast food meals were somewhat sizable. I pretty much consumed enough calories for about 3-4 days in one sitting. The typical meal was a Large burger, 2-3 dollar menu burgers, some fries, and 2 large carbonated beverages (bcos refill). At carls jr, which is probably my favorite fast food place, I’d get either a Double western, or a 6 dollar mushroom cheeseburger. Then 2-3 spicy chickens with cheese, depending on how hungry I was. Either onion rings or fries with ranch. And some dr. pepper. Even when I ate shit like subway I’d eat 3 footlong subs. Typically one meatball with no veggies, 1 turkey, 1teriyaki chicken with everything except tomatoes and extra mayo on them. This was for one meal of the day, but I’d usually only get 2 meals a day.

I tried looking online for ways to cheer up, and everyone recommended exercise as an activity that generally makes people feel better. So I decided that cardio was enough to help me with these problems so I went running one night. I can’t fucking stand people looking at me so it had to be at night, in the dark. In a somewhat abandoned road near my house. That didn’t really go too well at first. I was extremely un-fit and I felt like I was about to fucking die after running about 2.5 blocks. I knew I’d probably improve over time, so I kept at it. I actually like the somewhat near-death feeling of being super out of breath. My starting routine was a little more than 2 miles a time 3 times a week. Used to take me like 25 minutes. At this point I still had the same diet. Then my knee started hurting so I couldn’t run or make as much progress as I would like. So this gave me time to think about how I could decrease my short-of-breath-ness… and the answer was extremely obvious. I had to stop eating so much delicious trash food.


Fast forward to the present and I can’t run anymore due to my knee hurting. Currently my left knee is acting up. It doesn’t hurt while walking, but I can’t put any sort of pressure on it otherwise it starts to ache. I COULD still run if I wanted to, the pain isn’t that much of a factor, but I don’t want to cause any permanent or sever damage. Instead of running I took up jump roping. I can maintain a decent pace nonstop (besides when I mess up obv.) for an hour a day about 5-6 times a week depending on how I’m feeling. Since I’m at a caloric deficit and pretty much have no idea what I’m doing, I’ve started to incorporate a small amount of strength training as a means to judge my diet. I know that if I start to get too weak, it will be because I’m not eating enough and my body is using what little muscle mass I have for energy. I know I’m not going to build any muscle if I’m at a caloric deficit, but like I said It’s only a way for me to gauge my caloric intake.


Right now I’m on a caloric deficit and eat extremely healthy in comparison to what I’ve done my entire life. I don’t have a super strict diet that I follow to a tee, but I eat roughly the same things throughout the week. I work during the summer (June – early September, roughly) I’d skip breakfast or only drink a pint of milk. For lunch I’d have a turkey sandwich with a lot of mustard on it, then I’d have pretty much whatever the fuck I wanted for dinner. I burn a lot of calories at work since it’s rather physically strenuous job (construction), so for dinner I could eat pretty much anything and still be at a ~400-500 kcal deficit by the end of the day. Even though that was the case, I tried to get some decent quality calories. More grilled chicken, absolutely nothing fried, no sugary drinks, and lots of fruits/nuts to munch on during break. Most days I only get in 2 meals/ blah blah blah “6 small meals” fuck that shit. As a person who consumed 4000+ kcal meals at a time, portion control is pretty much nonexistent for me. It just so happens that I was/am doing intermittent fasting without actually knowing about the supposed benefits. I really like the feeling I get after eating as much as possible, so I’m not too hungry between meals. I never liked going to bed on a full stomach so I’d typically stop eating after 6 pm.
Now that I’ve started school, I don’t need as many calories so I’m watching what I eat a lot more. I eat tons of kale, broccoli, spinach (I actually really like these veggies) along with 1 or two chicken breasts. This will make up at least one meal a day most days of the week. The second meal depends on what I ate at school. If I ate a grilled chicken for lunch, I’ll eat a giant bowl of cereal. If not I’ll make a salad or something. There are better options than breakfast cereal, but I just can’t beat the convenience of milk + stuff in a box.
I always drank lots of water, even when I was more of a fatass. Especially at work. When I’m working I easily drink about 2 gallons per shift. Now that I started school again I still get more than a gallon a day. I’m constantly drinking water at home, and I usually carry around a water bottle at school.


I’m currently at around 173ish lbs, so I’ve lost near 70 lbs. I don’t really give a fuck about the weight though. It’s just a number, and to be quite honest, I’d rather be heavy than light as fuck. I don’t know what my EXACT weight is or should be. It really depends on when I weigh myself. In the morning I weigh less and I do during the day, and it actually varies quite a bit. This Sunday the scale said I was 171.4

My fitness has improved more than I would have ever imagined. I used to get winded climbing a flight of stairs, and now I can maintain my heart rate at 160 bpm for over an hour. My resting heart rate is about 47 which is pretty good from what I’ve read online. When my knee’s stop being gay I’ll incorporate even more cardio to my lifestyle, I actually really like it. Not only that, but I pretty much need to do it now… lol. Every single time I’ve taken more than two rest days I feel pretty much borderline suicidal. So it worked. Exercising really does improve your feels, to some extent.

I still sweat like the fat ass pig that I am. I guess there’s nothing I can do about that. Probably just fucked up genetics.

I've been following the fitness stuff on smogon for a while now, even before I started this "thing" that I'm doing right now. I never posted since I didn't have much to contribute, but since Jesus wanted some stories and I don't have anything better to do, I thought I might type something up. I was eventually going to PM ninahaza anyway, since I feel like our stories have a lot of similarity, and reading his thread/posts gave me motivation at times.
For some reason I get the feeling that I'm going to regret posting this.
 
Good shit, blakblastoise. dropping 70 lbs is quite the accomplishment and 47 is a lower rhr than mine!

I'd say if you've lost that much weight then keep doing what you're doing. it's good that you found something (jumping rope) that doesn't fuck with your knees, but it also never hurts to start lifting weights so I suggest you look into it once you've dropped a little more weight or even right now.
 

Lee

@ Thick Club
is a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnus
Inspiring stuff blakblastoise, have you looked into the source of your knee pain at all? I know it's no lt uncommon for overweight runners to develop knee pain but it's disappointing to see you still having problems with it now you're at a healthy weight (serious kudos on that btw, like wow). And it's odd that jump rope doesn't trouble you but running does - that alone makes me think that a good pair of running shoes would do you wonders. Go to a specialist store and tell them about your knee pain; take it from a fellow cripple - proper footwear can make a huge difference.

this was just my attempt at throwing out something constructive, you seem to have everything under control right now...are you looking to take things even further or are you content to be where you're at right now? (that would be totally understandable but you seem to have acquired a taste for exercise so I'm curious where you see yourself, physically, a few years from now)

ps. lower back pain is fading, ordered some stem adjusters for my bike so that I can sit in a more upright position while I cycle. will lay off it until they arrive, everything should be fine with this one I think (thank god given my track record with injuries)
 
Inspiring stuff blakblastoise, have you looked into the source of your knee pain at all? I know it's no lt uncommon for overweight runners to develop knee pain but it's disappointing to see you still having problems with it now you're at a healthy weight (serious kudos on that btw, like wow). And it's odd that jump rope doesn't trouble you but running does - that alone makes me think that a good pair of running shoes would do you wonders. Go to a specialist store and tell them about your knee pain; take it from a fellow cripple - proper footwear can make a huge difference.

this was just my attempt at throwing out something constructive, you seem to have everything under control right now...are you looking to take things even further or are you content to be where you're at right now? (that would be totally understandable but you seem to have acquired a taste for exercise so I'm curious where you see yourself, physically, a few years from now)
No, I haven't looked into my knee pain seriously. I have looked for things on google, but I've not consulted a specialist or asked anyone about it. It's getting better on it's own. I didn't have knee pain while I was running 3 days a week. Eventually I increased my total distance to 3.5 miles per session, and I still had no problems. The problem came up when I tried to go a little too far and started to run without rest days in between. At this point I was 2.5 months into it, so I figured my body was getting used to running but I guess I wasn't ready for that yet. It was kind of wierd how it happened, on the third day of running without rest days. The second day was fine, nothing out of the ordinary, then on the third day my right knee started to ache a little as I was approaching ~3/4 mile. So I finished the mile, and decided I should try to walk a little to see if this was too much. After about 10 walking steps, both of my knees started hurting a lot, even more so than when I was actually jogging. I had to walk back home, and it was somewhat painful, but I figured it couldn't be THAT bad since I didn't think I was doing too much running. When I woke up in the morning my left knee was fine, but the right knee was slightly swollen and hurt. I had a slight limp so I was like, fuck it. I guess I do need to rest. I took about a week off from doing any jogging, but I still had to use the knee quite a bit since I was working. Eventually the pain went away and I was back to normal. So I started running 3.5 miles 2-3 times a week, and I was fine. Then the left knee randomly became sore when I woke up one day, so I figured it would go away just like what happened with my other knee. The left knee doesn't really hurt as much as the right did, so I kept running 2.5 miles 3 times a week. I kept this up until the knee caused me to stumble a little while carrying around materials at work. I was 16 ft in the air, and someone was working on the ground below me, so I could have potentially killed someone If I'd dropped what I was carrying. This is when I realized I should probably call it quits, at east until I started school again. However, that didn't really go as planned. after 3 days of no running I felt horrible. so I started looking for things I could do. Bicycling and jump roping came up, so I figured I could try jumping rope since it was "low impact." Jumping rope doesn't bother my knee as much, although I do feel it still, I'm not putting as much pressure on it. My right leg does a little more work, but that doesn't bother me. I've been jumping rope for about 1.5 months and my knee still isn't 100% I can feel that it's getting better every day, so I'm not too concerned about it.
As for the running shoes, I use some random Nike's I got on sale for 30$, but I saw the same shoes at a different store for like 70. They're nike scramble trail running shoes. I'll look into seeing a specialist about some better shoes.


I don't really have a goal set, but I wouldn't say that I'm content with what I've done in 6-7 months. I'd like to be able to run again and see how fast I can do a mile. The last time I had healthy knees my mile time was around 7:30ish, but I'm not sure since I don't run on a track or a treadmill. I'm only guessing the distance based on what google maps says. Getting below 7 min would be pretty cool I guess.
Physically speaking, I'd like to keep off the fat that I've already burned off. I guess I wouldn't really mind putting on some more muscle, but right now I’m still focused on cutting more. That's kind of something I was hoping to get help with here. I've been at a surplus of calories all my life, and now I'm doing a cut, but I have no idea what it's like to maintain. To be honest maintaining sounds a lot harder than cutting. I think trying to bulk might get me back into my previous eating habits. I'm scared that I'll start eating way too much again since I'm not sure I'll be able to keep my calories at a 300-500 surplus which is what people seem to recommend when trying to build muscle. Then again I didn’t think I’d be able to cut either so we’ll see how it goes when the time comes.
 

Ninahaza

You'll always be a part of me
is a Forum Moderator Alumnus
Lee, great journal Post #1. i think its time i started to consider journal posts as well. i dont think i've ever revealed much as far as my routine and some of my stats go. journal entries and bios where the 2 things i was really excited about. also can i just say what a stacked routine you have going lee, props for maintaining it. it really warms my heart and inspires me to see how serious you are about fitness/personal health. i think if i ever had a friend like you growing up i would have never been obese for a single day in my life (i'm assuming you are the type to try and get others into exercising right lee?)

anyways 2 things that also came to mind:
1) lol i felt sorry for you when i read that you did that entire update from your ipod. it annoys me to no end when i have to type up just a simple response on my phone (unless its facebook), so i cant imagine a whole journal entry.
2) lee i am sure you have guessed by now how much i love the scenery of the country side.

even in this picture i had to take turns looking at you beastin it up there and taking a moment to enjoy the background.

Physically speaking, I'd like to keep off the fat that I've already burned off. I guess I wouldn't really mind putting on some more muscle, but right now I’m still focused on cutting more. That's kind of something I was hoping to get help with here. I've been at a surplus of calories all my life, and now I'm doing a cut, but I have no idea what it's like to maintain. To be honest maintaining sounds a lot harder than cutting. I think trying to bulk might get me back into my previous eating habits. I'm scared that I'll start eating way too much again since I'm not sure I'll be able to keep my calories at a 300-500 surplus which is what people seem to recommend when trying to build muscle. Then again I didn’t think I’d be able to cut either so we’ll see how it goes when the time comes.
Good stuff and great job btw Blakblastoise. I just wanted to comment on the last part of your latest post as i've been cutting or maintaining a cut for well over 90% of my journey so far.

I'm not entirely sure what you have in mind when you say maintain a cut, but if your concern is that after you are done cutting and have reached a place where you are happy, maintaining those results will be harder than it was achieving them, then i can tell you from personal experience that you'll find it easier to maintain those results :). you also have to keep in mind that maintaining results doesn't necessarily mean you have to stay at the deficit you had going during your cut, so just that makes the cut itself actually the hard part of the 2. the only times i had problems were the times when i stopped exercising altogether, which led to me slowly eating whatever the fuck i wanted again (i did this for a month straight once, what a great time but what a disaster to any sort of maintaining i had going). i dont know what you plan to do after you reach the results you are aiming for, but unless you just stop exercising completely and start eating without thought behind it, then maintaining shouldn't be the hard part.

also about your concern with bulking. I just went on my first "serious" bulk almost 3 weeks ago and i had those very same concerns, especially the one about eating at a surplus leading back to old habits. i dont know if what I've come to find out in these past weeks is actually the common outcome with people who share the same concerns as the both of us, but, well let me put it this way. apparently i am not even eating enough, let alone going back to old bad eating habits. i cant believe i have to make an effort to hit my surplus, and i am only at a 250 calorie surplus ffs (i'm starting out slow).

i am actually thinking about just working out less instead of eating more since i am having to make an effort to reach my surplus, which leads me to this question for you guys
Is it beneficial enough for me to stay with my current routine? or does it not make enough difference if i decided to just reduce the number of days i'm at the gym instead of increasing my food consumption to reach my surplus. if this question is not clear enough or more details are needed, let me know
 

Lee

@ Thick Club
is a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnus
#eat nuts nina, a handful is like 100~ calories. even a pint of milk is like 250 calories, it cant really be that hard! working out less shouldn't really be an option.

blakblastoise; i'd say wait a bit longer. you sound uncertain and somewhat fragile so just wait until you're a bit more secure. you've done incredible to get this far, don't jeaprodise it by rushing into something. but at the same time don't put it off too long - like jesus said, you might just surprise yourself.

and alright, i'm drinking a whisky as i write this so you know shit is about to get real ~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i have a goal (this should probably go in my first journal post and i suppose i'll edit it in sometime). after almost four years of pussyfooting around my bad knee i'm gonna go on the offensive - i've signed up to compete in a 5k on December 15th. Just a small race, devoid of any real prestige, but just the right level for me at the moment i think. right now i can run a few miles once or twice a week without seriously aggravating my condition which is something i'm hugely proud of because 2 years ago i couldn't even walk up the stairs in my house without stopping for a rest midway and i'd been told by several medical professionals that my running days were over. but thankfully thousands of hours of physiotherapy, a cornucopia of supplements and drugs, years of rest, habitual icing and heating and a very gradual re-introduction to low-impact training seem to be paying dividends and i feel confident enough to do this. entering my first race in nearly four years has gotten me a little misty-eyed so i've dug into the past and it's heartbreaking to see the progression of my injury in the old fitness thread.

this one was first

and then this

surprisingly upbeat but im sure its a facade

and then there's a sequence of 'oh guys i think i'm nearly there!' posts followed by 'ah fuck' posts and then i eventually stopped posting in the thread for a while because i got quite resentful of all the people posting about their running and shit.

i also went through my old rehabilitation diaries and thought i'd share them here. nobody else, irl or otherwise, have seen these and they were never designed to be shown to other people so they won't always make sense but you should be able to get the gist.

6th Jan

3 x 12 Leg Extensions with 1 ankle weight
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.2 weight

7th Jan

[rest]
asda walk

8th Jan

3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.2 weight (am)
Chippy walk
3 x 12 Leg Extensions with 1 ankle weight
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.2 weight (pm)

9th Jan

[rest]

10th Jan

3 x 12 Leg Extensions with 1 ankle weight
Asda walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.2 weight

11th Jan

Ritz cycle ride (sleeve)
3 x 12 Leg Extensions with 1 ankle weight
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.3 weight

12th Jan

park cycle ride (sleeve)
3 x 12 Leg Extensions with 1 ankle weight
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.3 weight

13th Jan

Asda walk
3 x 12 Leg Extensions with 1 ankle weight
Chippy walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.3 weight

14th Jan

[REST]

15th Jan

Morrison's cycle ride (sleeve)
3 x 12 Leg Extensions with 1 ankle weight
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.3 weight

16th Jan

Went to pub to watch match (associated walking)
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.4 weight

17th Jan

Forest Hall shops cycle ride (sleeve)
3 x 12 Leg Extensions with 1 ankle weight
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.4 weight

18th Jan

Asda walk
3 x 12 Leg Extensions with 1 ankle weight
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.4 weight

19th Jan

park cycle ride (sleeve)
3 x 12 Leg Extensions with 1 ankle weight
1 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.4 weight [sharp pain on attempting the second set, take a day off and then move back down to 1.3 weight until I can -comfortably- complete three sets of 15. Also monitor cycling carefully as that may have been a factor]

20th Jan

[REST]

21st Jan

Chippy walk
3 x 12 Leg Extensions with 1 ankle weight
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.3 weight

22nd Jan

Tosh cycle ride (sleeve)
Asda walk
Chippy walk
3 x 12 Leg Extensions with 1 ankle weight
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.3 weight

23rd Jan

Blackett's cut walk
3 x 8 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.3 weight [difficulty on third set]

24th Jan

Asda walk
[attempted squats...too much pain. No more cycling...no other explanation? Hopefully a rest day won't be required but take one if you feel it to be neccesary]

25th Jan

3 x 12 Leg Extensions with 1 ankle weight
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.3 weight

26th Jan

park walk + random walking in preparation of Exeter trip
3 x 12 Leg Extensions with 1 ankle weight
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.3 weight

27th Jan

[Exeter]

28th Jan

[Exeter]

29th Jan

[Exeter]
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.3 weight

30th Jan

3 x 10 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights
3 x 10 x 10 secs seat-raises
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.3 weight

31st Jan

3 x 10 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights
3 x 10 x 10 secs seat-raises
Chippy walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.3 weight

1st Feb

Asda walk
3 x 10 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights
3 x 10 x 10 secs seat-raises
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.3 weight

2nd Feb

park walk
3 x 10 Leg Extension with 2 ankle weights
3 x 10 x 10 secs seat-raises
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.3 weight

3rd Feb

3 x 10 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights
3 x 10 x 10 secs seat-raises
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.3 weight

4th Feb

[REST]

5th Feb

Asda walk
Chippy walk
3 x 10 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights
3 x 10 x 10 secs seat-raises
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.4 weight

6th Feb

3 x 10 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights
1 x 10 x 10 secs seat-raises
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.4 weight

7th Feb

3 x 10 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights
Asda walk
[too sore, likely as a result of illness]

8th Feb

3 x 10 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights (x2)
3 x 10 x 10 secs seat-raises (x2)
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.4 weight

9th Feb

3 x 10 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights
3 x 10 x 10 secs seat-raises
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.4 weight

10th Feb

Asda walk
3 x 10 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights
3 x 10 x 10 secs seat-raises
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.4 weight

11th Feb

[REST]
Asda walk

12th Feb

Asda walk
3 x 10 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights
3 x 10 x 10 secs seat-raises
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.0 weight

13th Feb

2 mins attempted running
3 x 10 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.0 weight

14th Feb

3 minute run
Asda walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.0 weight

15th Feb

3 x 10 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights
3 x 10 x 10 secs seat-raises
[almost immovable, take a few days off and then begin 6 days on/2 days off routine. Need more rest time I think]

16th Feb

[REST]

17th Feb

[REST]

18th Feb

3 x 10 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights
Bus stop walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.0 weight

19th Feb

Asda walk
3 x 10 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights
Chippy walk
1 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.0 weight [stiff pain, felt as though I hadn't warmed up regardless of how much I tried. Don't know what's going on - desperate to get into a rhythm again. More time off? Cut the leg extensions?]

20th Feb

[REST]

21st Feb

[REST]
Bus stop walk
Asda walk

22nd Feb

Bus stop walk
Chippy walk
[REST]

23rd Feb

Grainger games circular walk
Bus stop walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.0 weight

24th Feb

Working Links walk
Bus stop walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.0 weight

25th Feb

3 x 10 quad roller/1 x 10 ITB roller
Asda circular walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.0 weight

26th Feb

Asda circular walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.0 weight

27th Feb

Asda circular walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.0 weight

28th Feb

college course + asda walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.0 weight

1st Mar

[REST]
college course walk

2nd Mar

college course walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.1 weight

3rd Mar

Asda circular walk
Bus stop walk
3 x 10 quad roller/1 x 10 ITB roller
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.1 weight

4th Mar

college course walk
Bus stop walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.1 weight

5th Mar

Asda walk
Chippy walk
Bus stop walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.1 weight

6th Mar

Asda circular walk
Bus stop walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.1 weight

7th Mar

college course walk
[feels quite rough but nothing too worrying. Might be best to have 2 rest days occassionally instead of 1 if it seems neccesary. Every second week perhaps?]
[REST]

8th Mar

[college course walk]
[REST]

9th Mar

college course walk
Chippy walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.2 weight

10th Mar

college course walk + Asda walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.2 weight

11th Mar

college course walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.2 weight

12th Mar

Blackett's cut walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.2 weight

13th Mar

3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.2 weight

14th Mar

Asda circular walk
[REST - thinking 5 days on, 1 day off might be the way to go. The 6th day always feels a step too far...this is the second week running where I've felt groggy on the 6th day]

15th Mar

3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.3 weight

16th Mar

Asda circular walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.3 weight

17th Mar

Asda circular walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.3 weight

18th Mar

90ish min walk
[too exhausted/in pain from walking to do squats]

19th Mar

Barbers walk
Asda walk
Tosh walk
[too exhausted/in pain from walking to do squats]

20th Mar

Went to Kyles (associated walking)
[REST]

21st Mar

40ish min walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.4 weight

22nd Mar

Construction course
[fell asleep]

23rd Mar

50ish min walk
[attempted but too sore, obviously as a result of walking too much. Try to limit walking as best as possible for the remainder of the course]

24th Mar

30ish min walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.3 weight

25th Mar

50ish min walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.3 weight

26th Mar

Forest hall shops walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.3 weight

27th Mar

3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.3 weight

28th Mar

Roofing course
120ish min walk

29th Mar

Asda walk
[REST]

30th Mar

Roofing course
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.4 weight

31st Mar

Gateshead college walk
[fell asleep]

1st April

Rising Sun 1 walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.4 weight

2nd April

90ish min walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.4 weight

3rd April

Out with Kyle [associated walking]

4th April

60ish min walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.4 weight

5th April

3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.4 weight

6th April

Asda walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.4 weight

7th April

Half Farne cycle
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.4 weight

8th April

150ish min walk

9th April

Asda walk
[REST]

10th April

Asda circular walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 3.0 weight

11th April

Rising Sun 1 walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 3.0 weight

12th April

[too much pain, obviously as a result of cycling. no more cycling]


looking back over this reminds me of how horribly dark that period of my life was (and this was only an extract) because no matter how hard i worked, how disciplined i was, or how gradually i attempted to progress i never saw any benefit. just repeating cycles of getting slightly better and then getting a lot worse. and the underlying theme, looking back, was how dreadfully alone i was for the whole experience. by this point i was already well into the injury and had began to resent the pity and sympathy and everytime somebody asked 'how's the knee' or 'how are you getting on' i'd just respond 'fine' and attempt to move the conversation away because i didn't want to talk about it and had a very 'how the fuck do you expect to understand what i'm going through' attitude. it was easier to talk online and there were a few smogoners who were there for me (mormoopid and stathakis jumping to mind) but i guess the best way to summarise it is by saying that i was a christian before the whole thing and now i'm not so sure anymore. and if anybody links me to that goddamn footsteps in the sand poem i will actually punch them in the face because my footsteps were just a single left foot hopping along the sand with a lame right foot trudging behind.

but ehhhhhhhhhhhh i suppose i'm a stronger man for it now, and something somewhere obviously worked because i'm cycling 150 miles a week now without an unbearable increase in pain and i can run decently fast now and, provided i dont go above around 10 miles a week, feel no worse for it. but a part of me feels i went through way too much to accept anything less than full rehabilitation so i'm going to keep moving forward, just as i have done since this whole ordeal began. one step at a time. and this upcoming 5k will hopefully mark the end of one chapter and the beginning of another.

my target is just to ramp up my running over the next two months and then complete the race without seeing too much of an increase in pain. but i'd be lying if i said i wasn't caught up on my time. i've literally dreamt over the years about my first race back and the thought got me through many hard times and there's no way i plan to wreck that fantasy by rolling to the finish line in twenty-something minutes. Sub-17. that's all i'll settle for.

okay so yeah, this is my real journal post. if you read all of that then thank you but i think i wrote it mostly for my own benefit...wish me luck
 

pookar

Banned deucer.
just wanna drop a quick post in here, maybe for some suggestions

ive been playing basketball around 2-3 times a week, shootaround and full court games. 1-2 hours each time i go. its good cardio and i need to get my stamina up higher, because im doing intramurals and planning on keep doing intramurals for basketball/etc. Im 6'2 165, so im a little light and id like to work my legs so i can jump higher and probably passively increase stamina by stronger muscles. some balanced upper body workouts because defense and rebounding is so blegh with basically only natural strength vs players who workout.

tl;dr looking for basic leg and upper body exercises to add muscle. thx
 

Ninahaza

You'll always be a part of me
is a Forum Moderator Alumnus
#eat nuts nina, a handful is like 100~ calories. even a pint of milk is like 250 calories, it cant really be that hard! working out less shouldn't really be an option.

blakblastoise; i'd say wait a bit longer. you sound uncertain and somewhat fragile so just wait until you're a bit more secure. you've done incredible to get this far, don't jeaprodise it by rushing into something. but at the same time don't put it off too long - like jesus said, you might just surprise yourself.

and alright, i'm drinking a whisky as i write this so you know shit is about to get real ~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i have a goal (this should probably go in my first journal post and i suppose i'll edit it in sometime). after almost four years of pussyfooting around my bad knee i'm gonna go on the offensive - i've signed up to compete in a 5k on December 15th. Just a small race, devoid of any real prestige, but just the right level for me at the moment i think. right now i can run a few miles once or twice a week without seriously aggravating my condition which is something i'm hugely proud of because 2 years ago i couldn't even walk up the stairs in my house without stopping for a rest midway and i'd been told by several medical professionals that my running days were over. but thankfully thousands of hours of physiotherapy, a cornucopia of supplements and drugs, years of rest, habitual icing and heating and a very gradual re-introduction to low-impact training seem to be paying dividends and i feel confident enough to do this. entering my first race in nearly four years has gotten me a little misty-eyed so i've dug into the past and it's heartbreaking to see the progression of my injury in the old fitness thread.

this one was first

and then this

surprisingly upbeat but im sure its a facade

and then there's a sequence of 'oh guys i think i'm nearly there!' posts followed by 'ah fuck' posts and then i eventually stopped posting in the thread for a while because i got quite resentful of all the people posting about their running and shit.

i also went through my old rehabilitation diaries and thought i'd share them here. nobody else, irl or otherwise, have seen these and they were never designed to be shown to other people so they won't always make sense but you should be able to get the gist.

6th Jan

3 x 12 Leg Extensions with 1 ankle weight
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.2 weight

7th Jan

[rest]
asda walk

8th Jan

3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.2 weight (am)
Chippy walk
3 x 12 Leg Extensions with 1 ankle weight
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.2 weight (pm)

9th Jan

[rest]

10th Jan

3 x 12 Leg Extensions with 1 ankle weight
Asda walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.2 weight

11th Jan

Ritz cycle ride (sleeve)
3 x 12 Leg Extensions with 1 ankle weight
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.3 weight

12th Jan

park cycle ride (sleeve)
3 x 12 Leg Extensions with 1 ankle weight
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.3 weight

13th Jan

Asda walk
3 x 12 Leg Extensions with 1 ankle weight
Chippy walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.3 weight

14th Jan

[REST]

15th Jan

Morrison's cycle ride (sleeve)
3 x 12 Leg Extensions with 1 ankle weight
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.3 weight

16th Jan

Went to pub to watch match (associated walking)
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.4 weight

17th Jan

Forest Hall shops cycle ride (sleeve)
3 x 12 Leg Extensions with 1 ankle weight
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.4 weight

18th Jan

Asda walk
3 x 12 Leg Extensions with 1 ankle weight
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.4 weight

19th Jan

park cycle ride (sleeve)
3 x 12 Leg Extensions with 1 ankle weight
1 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.4 weight [sharp pain on attempting the second set, take a day off and then move back down to 1.3 weight until I can -comfortably- complete three sets of 15. Also monitor cycling carefully as that may have been a factor]

20th Jan

[REST]

21st Jan

Chippy walk
3 x 12 Leg Extensions with 1 ankle weight
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.3 weight

22nd Jan

Tosh cycle ride (sleeve)
Asda walk
Chippy walk
3 x 12 Leg Extensions with 1 ankle weight
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.3 weight

23rd Jan

Blackett's cut walk
3 x 8 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.3 weight [difficulty on third set]

24th Jan

Asda walk
[attempted squats...too much pain. No more cycling...no other explanation? Hopefully a rest day won't be required but take one if you feel it to be neccesary]

25th Jan

3 x 12 Leg Extensions with 1 ankle weight
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.3 weight

26th Jan

park walk + random walking in preparation of Exeter trip
3 x 12 Leg Extensions with 1 ankle weight
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.3 weight

27th Jan

[Exeter]

28th Jan

[Exeter]

29th Jan

[Exeter]
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.3 weight

30th Jan

3 x 10 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights
3 x 10 x 10 secs seat-raises
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.3 weight

31st Jan

3 x 10 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights
3 x 10 x 10 secs seat-raises
Chippy walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.3 weight

1st Feb

Asda walk
3 x 10 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights
3 x 10 x 10 secs seat-raises
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.3 weight

2nd Feb

park walk
3 x 10 Leg Extension with 2 ankle weights
3 x 10 x 10 secs seat-raises
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.3 weight

3rd Feb

3 x 10 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights
3 x 10 x 10 secs seat-raises
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.3 weight

4th Feb

[REST]

5th Feb

Asda walk
Chippy walk
3 x 10 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights
3 x 10 x 10 secs seat-raises
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.4 weight

6th Feb

3 x 10 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights
1 x 10 x 10 secs seat-raises
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.4 weight

7th Feb

3 x 10 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights
Asda walk
[too sore, likely as a result of illness]

8th Feb

3 x 10 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights (x2)
3 x 10 x 10 secs seat-raises (x2)
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.4 weight

9th Feb

3 x 10 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights
3 x 10 x 10 secs seat-raises
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.4 weight

10th Feb

Asda walk
3 x 10 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights
3 x 10 x 10 secs seat-raises
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 1.4 weight

11th Feb

[REST]
Asda walk

12th Feb

Asda walk
3 x 10 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights
3 x 10 x 10 secs seat-raises
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.0 weight

13th Feb

2 mins attempted running
3 x 10 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.0 weight

14th Feb

3 minute run
Asda walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.0 weight

15th Feb

3 x 10 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights
3 x 10 x 10 secs seat-raises
[almost immovable, take a few days off and then begin 6 days on/2 days off routine. Need more rest time I think]

16th Feb

[REST]

17th Feb

[REST]

18th Feb

3 x 10 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights
Bus stop walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.0 weight

19th Feb

Asda walk
3 x 10 Leg Extensions with 2 ankle weights
Chippy walk
1 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.0 weight [stiff pain, felt as though I hadn't warmed up regardless of how much I tried. Don't know what's going on - desperate to get into a rhythm again. More time off? Cut the leg extensions?]

20th Feb

[REST]

21st Feb

[REST]
Bus stop walk
Asda walk

22nd Feb

Bus stop walk
Chippy walk
[REST]

23rd Feb

Grainger games circular walk
Bus stop walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.0 weight

24th Feb

Working Links walk
Bus stop walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.0 weight

25th Feb

3 x 10 quad roller/1 x 10 ITB roller
Asda circular walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.0 weight

26th Feb

Asda circular walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.0 weight

27th Feb

Asda circular walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.0 weight

28th Feb

college course + asda walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.0 weight

1st Mar

[REST]
college course walk

2nd Mar

college course walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.1 weight

3rd Mar

Asda circular walk
Bus stop walk
3 x 10 quad roller/1 x 10 ITB roller
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.1 weight

4th Mar

college course walk
Bus stop walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.1 weight

5th Mar

Asda walk
Chippy walk
Bus stop walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.1 weight

6th Mar

Asda circular walk
Bus stop walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.1 weight

7th Mar

college course walk
[feels quite rough but nothing too worrying. Might be best to have 2 rest days occassionally instead of 1 if it seems neccesary. Every second week perhaps?]
[REST]

8th Mar

[college course walk]
[REST]

9th Mar

college course walk
Chippy walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.2 weight

10th Mar

college course walk + Asda walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.2 weight

11th Mar

college course walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.2 weight

12th Mar

Blackett's cut walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.2 weight

13th Mar

3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.2 weight

14th Mar

Asda circular walk
[REST - thinking 5 days on, 1 day off might be the way to go. The 6th day always feels a step too far...this is the second week running where I've felt groggy on the 6th day]

15th Mar

3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.3 weight

16th Mar

Asda circular walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.3 weight

17th Mar

Asda circular walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.3 weight

18th Mar

90ish min walk
[too exhausted/in pain from walking to do squats]

19th Mar

Barbers walk
Asda walk
Tosh walk
[too exhausted/in pain from walking to do squats]

20th Mar

Went to Kyles (associated walking)
[REST]

21st Mar

40ish min walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.4 weight

22nd Mar

Construction course
[fell asleep]

23rd Mar

50ish min walk
[attempted but too sore, obviously as a result of walking too much. Try to limit walking as best as possible for the remainder of the course]

24th Mar

30ish min walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.3 weight

25th Mar

50ish min walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.3 weight

26th Mar

Forest hall shops walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.3 weight

27th Mar

3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.3 weight

28th Mar

Roofing course
120ish min walk

29th Mar

Asda walk
[REST]

30th Mar

Roofing course
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.4 weight

31st Mar

Gateshead college walk
[fell asleep]

1st April

Rising Sun 1 walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.4 weight

2nd April

90ish min walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.4 weight

3rd April

Out with Kyle [associated walking]

4th April

60ish min walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.4 weight

5th April

3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.4 weight

6th April

Asda walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.4 weight

7th April

Half Farne cycle
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 2.4 weight

8th April

150ish min walk

9th April

Asda walk
[REST]

10th April

Asda circular walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 3.0 weight

11th April

Rising Sun 1 walk
3 x 15 one-legged squats with 3.0 weight

12th April

[too much pain, obviously as a result of cycling. no more cycling]


looking back over this reminds me of how horribly dark that period of my life was (and this was only an extract) because no matter how hard i worked, how disciplined i was, or how gradually i attempted to progress i never saw any benefit. just repeating cycles of getting slightly better and then getting a lot worse. and the underlying theme, looking back, was how dreadfully alone i was for the whole experience. by this point i was already well into the injury and had began to resent the pity and sympathy and everytime somebody asked 'how's the knee' or 'how are you getting on' i'd just respond 'fine' and attempt to move the conversation away because i didn't want to talk about it and had a very 'how the fuck do you expect to understand what i'm going through' attitude. it was easier to talk online and there were a few smogoners who were there for me (mormoopid and stathakis jumping to mind) but i guess the best way to summarise it is by saying that i was a christian before the whole thing and now i'm not so sure anymore. and if anybody links me to that goddamn footsteps in the sand poem i will actually punch them in the face because my footsteps were just a single left foot hopping along the sand with a lame right foot trudging behind.

but ehhhhhhhhhhhh i suppose i'm a stronger man for it now, and something somewhere obviously worked because i'm cycling 150 miles a week now without an unbearable increase in pain and i can run decently fast now and, provided i dont go above around 10 miles a week, feel no worse for it. but a part of me feels i went through way too much to accept anything less than full rehabilitation so i'm going to keep moving forward, just as i have done since this whole ordeal began. one step at a time. and this upcoming 5k will hopefully mark the end of one chapter and the beginning of another.

my target is just to ramp up my running over the next two months and then complete the race without seeing too much of an increase in pain. but i'd be lying if i said i wasn't caught up on my time. i've literally dreamt over the years about my first race back and the thought got me through many hard times and there's no way i plan to wreck that fantasy by rolling to the finish line in twenty-something minutes. Sub-17. that's all i'll settle for.

okay so yeah, this is my real journal post. if you read all of that then thank you but i think i wrote it mostly for my own benefit...wish me luck
Lee I wont lie that was a bit depressing to read man. I can't imagine a situation like that even if I tried. Well I'm sure if I tried I could but it would be nothing more than a nightmare, and quite frankly that's exactly what it sounds like you went through.

Well I'm glad that you are seeing better days man, and good luck with the welcome back race, and I hope it turns out to be exactly that for you, a very sweet and long derseved welcome back. Just dont fall to the ground and breakdown into tears
 
As lee said pookar, I'd try to do a full body workout three times a week and focus on isolating calves regularly if a better jump is what you want. Workout on days where you don't have basketball and try to get a lot of sleep and plenty of calories in.
 
After a reevaluation of my priorities and motivation from Lee's posts I've decided I will use every opportunity I get to do strength work focused on baseball instead of just cardio. Currently 6"2 150 lbs so I'm fighting to ectomorph problem, but if I look back on today and realize there was potential in me I didn't use I'll never stop giving myself crap for it.

The key things I can improve with exercise are swing speed, throwing strength, and acceleration for range. All of these will be extremely important because I like 3B and outfield most so what I want out of this exercise is arm endurance (triceps / biceps / forearms / shoulders) so I don't hurt anything with hard throws, and more power from lats / core / legs so I can throw and swing harder, and get quicker jumps.

My plans for these goals-

Arm endurance- complete this, it'll be a nostalgic task. In 4th grade they had every class see how many push-ups each kid would do- I did 20, the smallest girl beat everybody with 50. I sat outside at school everyday doing 100s of push ups until I could beat that in one run. This is one of the childhood memories I look back on a lot.

Lat Power- I will work primarily with weighted pull-ups and with the rowing machine at my school's gym. The rowing machine will hopefully build up my lat endurance because I really need it to get the most out of my pull up workouts- it's easy to do sets of knee push-ups for an hour (I used to do this every few weeks to throw a curveball to my pecs when I was trying to gain weight and it gave me the best next day soreness) but it's currently impossible for me to do lats for an hour using a pull up bar. Ultimately I want to either be able to do that and / or do 50 lb pull ups for 8 reps down the road.

Core Power- I'm trying to work all of the abs and obliques here so this will be mainly start out as weighted crunches, side crunches, and bicycles. When I'm stronger I hope I can move on to hanging leg raises, windshield wipers, and dragon flags.

Leg / Hip Power- I'd appreciate help here a lot because as of now I'm really unfamiliar with this so I'm sticking to lunges and maybe I'll look into frog jumps. Whatever helps with acceleration and throwing is what I'm looking for. I do have a 20 lb tire sitting around (it's from a drift race I went to so I got it as a souvenir) so I do have some ideas like maybe jogging with it, doing take offs tied to it, or hurling it to train like Ichiro. Just have to find somewhere where I don't look like an idiot doing it.

Diet- 6 doses of 25 g of protein spread throughout the day. Wasn't gonna go forgetting this part.

Baseball- All kinds of drills. I can't leave this out of here because it's just as important to me as the other goals but I won't make a tl;dr with details.


I'm raring to go for this because achieving all of those goals and getting quicker legs under me would be an incredible feeling. Historically I know the hardest part will be being patient with my goals but hopefully I'll be able to get through it. Thanks to everyone in this thread for your own stories- they inspired me to start on mine and hopefully as I update on this it'll inspire someone else. As always I'm jogging everyday for cardio endurance and my goal of putting in a hot lap for a 10k Turkey Trot at the end of November still stands, gonna try to do that in 45 mins (haven't timed myself on a real run yet).
 

Stallion

Tree Young
is a Tiering Contributoris a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Three-Time Past WCoP Champion
I've dropped a few kilo's (mainly fat thank god haha) since I've started my circuit training 2 weeks ago, and I've even added my own exercises to replace/in addition to the circuit to make things more difficult. The only bad thing is that it doesn't really hit arms all too well, so I've been adding just a couple of sets of biceps and triceps (and delts) every second workout or so. I'm thinking about playing american football next year where explosiveness is a must, does anyone have success with a training regime for a sport like that? I'd imagine it'd be useful for basketball too if I do decide to play another season again.
 

Lee

@ Thick Club
is a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnus
yee, you're too kind. i know nothing about baseball but that's an interesting looking program you've got there. 100 push-ups is an underrated and under-utilised target but i know NatGeo was gunning for it so i'll send him this way and maybe he can share his experiences. my eyes lit up when you mentioned you had a tyre, that is like my dream equipment! i'm surrounded by farms so i can't imagine it being too difficult for me to get one but, like you said, it's finding a place to use it - when you start dragging, flipping and tossing tyres around the landscape you're working on is going to get trashed pretty fast and not many landowners are cool with that...ugh, some day. as for leg power, i'll have to go with the standard answer of squats - they really are the gold standard and in spite of being a leg-based movement they promote all-round body strength so definitely worth doing if you can get the equipment needed. keep us posted, i like your plan - it's refreshingly different but reminds me of some of my own workouts in places too so i'm interested to see how far it takes you!

update on my return to running: my calves are sore and i keep getting stitches. why oh why did i say sub 17? that is all.
 
stats: 15m, 138 lbs [beginning weight: 165], 5'7

hello, i posted here a long, long time ago (back in february) about help running and stathakis gave me the great [note: not being sarcastic here, the best way to get into running is to run] advice of "just run, come back when you can run 45 minutes straight". well, i did "just run" but all i could get to was 30 minutes at a time during the month or two that i tried. i ended up slowing down and eventually stopping entirely due to my incredible laziness this summer, but it did help me lose 15 lbs and give me a ton of self confidence.

anyway, i joined our high school cross country team in late july and my first 5k was a pitiful 34 minutes and some change. it was fuckin tough, but that along with my new dietary habits brought me down to my current weight and i found a hobby that i genuinely enjoy! last saturday i ran a PR of 22:01 at our meet, still placed in the bottom half of the race. still really excited, though, because 22:01 is way faster than i thought i could ever go. felt like shit afterwards, but PRs will do that to you at any distance.

couple of questions, now:
1. think it's possible for me to hit sub-20 by year's end? our training is pretty light at xc practice as we are a really small school (~850). usually we'll do tempo runs 2-3 days/week (7:00 mile pace for 1 minute, recover jog for 2 for maybe 4-5 miles?), long run of about 10k once a week, and either a meet or a timed 5k once a week. after the season is done, i was considering upping my mileage slowly (i'd say we get about 20-25 mpw now, so throw in another 1 or 2 miles every week until i'm at 40 or so) and doing some more intense HIIT / tempo work (6:00 pace 1 min / 10:00 pace 2 min 6 miles with a break halfway until i don't need that crutch).

does this sound good as far as a training regimen goes?

2. my weight has kind of plateaued and while i am not fat at all i am still...soft? not sure of the word here, but i would like to trim the excess fat if you will. is it viable to cut back my running to m/w/f and do starting strength or something tu/th/sat while eating at or just below maintenance calories to become more trim? and yes, i do realize that i would be sacrificing xc stuff for this. xc is fun but we're not winning any trophies. improving times is fun and i'd love to be the fastest of my school, but on the other hand i've been increasingly sick of my inability to slim down a little more (i can post pictures [either before/after or just me now] if you'd like)

thanks in advance, i love this place. even though i don't post much i lurk the physical fitness threads and you guys are awesome!
 

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