7
votes
Fitness Weekly Discussion
What have you been doing lately for your own fitness? Try out any new programs or exercises? Have any questions for others about your training? Want to vent about poor behavior in the gym? Started a new diet or have a new recipe you want to share? Anything else health and wellness related?
I'm in my thirties and can't remember a time when I was actually fit. I've always been a bit chubby, stopped playing sports before high school, never had a workout regime, etc etc. So recently I picked up a 15lb kettlebell and that tongue in cheek comrade training book. Really looking forward to getting starting and forming a routine.
This year I started counting calories and increasing my activity slightly by doing a little more cardio and weight lifting in my day to day in addition to my job where I hit about 20k steps a day. The precision counting calories requires can be annoying at times and it's an all-day, all-the-time thing you have to do if you want to succeed. And it was working for me, I felt great and was watching the weight fall right off.
After 3 months of sticking to it, in March I thought maybe I had better eating habits down and tried to go without counting and it started off really good at first, by the time I was done tracking my weight I was at 190 from 205, and lost another eight pounds and hit 182 before it started slowly coming back after loosening up my healthy habits and eating more, drinking more (it's summer time, I'm just having fun) and not exercising as much.
So here I am mid-July, back at 190, right where I left off in my data sheet but still set back from my furthest point. My fiance has now taken an interest in counting calories and carbs after visiting her "keto" mother and diabetic grandmother this weekend, so her being on board has given me the incentive to start up again as well. I've started hitting the gym at my work during brief downtime again too, but I can only do like 3 reps every couple of hours or so which sometimes feels pointless, but it also feels like something.
I'm always amazed at how little food 2000-2600 calories is. It's hard not to feel like we've been fed such propaganda by food companies and governments regarding things like the food pyramid and sugar over the years; it's no wonder Americans (like myself) are so fat and unhealthy.
All that said, if anyone that has tips on staying focused on something so long term I'd love to hear them.
Do any long distance flat footed runners on Tildes have feedback on Altra shoes they would be willing to share?
For background, I've progressed in my training to be right at around a 2 hr half marathon but struggling with some shin pain (feels like my calf muscles are pulling on my shins unequally or something? This goes away after 2-3 miles in but makes it hard to get started) and also some toe bruising from, I assume, the narrow toe box I have currently.
I'm running in Xero Prio shoes right now on 99% asphalt/concrete but I'm feeling they are not ideal. From what I've read, Altra are also zero drop but have cushioning and a much wider toe box. Does anybody else with extremely flat feet have any noticeable success with any of the Altra lines? I would love to try a pair but my local running shops only seem to carry their trail running shoes or the older versions of the Escalante/Paradigm/etc. and nothing current.
Edit: I should also mention I'm not locked into Altra - I've admittedly not done extensive research into other brands so any other recommendations are greatly appreciated!
I too am flat footed and have the Altra FWD Experience shoes, while they are not zero drop I find them quite comfortable. I don't run much though, instead I walk all day at my job and I wanted something comfortable and better than my previous shoes. I'd recommend trying them on at least. I could feel the relief near instantly it was wild. Not to shill, but REI was really helpful for me guiding me to the right pair. I was dead set on a certain pair of zero drops but I could tell the sales person knew something about the FWD Experience that I didn't and I'm glad I trusted them.
Is there a reason you're only looking at zero drop shoes?
I've seen people on reddit say that certain Altras worked well with their flat feet. Other common low-drop companies in the US are Topo and Newton.
RunRepeat does some pretty serious tests and made this list for flat feet: https://runrepeat.com/guides/best-flat-feet-running-shoes
Most people on reddit now seem to recommend neutral shoes for flat feet instead of support shoes. I'd probably recommend going to a running store and trying on different shoes. Don't listen to the pseudo-scientific crap the salespeople will feed you. Just find what is comfortable. Try out max cushion shoes, firm shoes, high drop, etc until you find something you like. Don't go in with the intention of buying so that you don't fall for their misinformed bullshit and so you can check for deals online (I like supporting local businesses but local running stores often have no idea what they're talking about in my opinion).
More importantly, you have shin splints. You usually don't solve that with shoes alone; especially not if it is only happening at the start of the run. Try to strengthen your calf muscles. Perhaps focus on the tibialis anterior muscles.
Shin splints can also be from overuse. How many miles a week are you running and what is your typical pace? You might just need to rest for a bit and then build up slowly.
Thanks for the shopping advice! I'll definitely start planning some trips to some stores to see what is out there.
I had considered shin splints before but this pain seemed different than when I've had them in the past. The pain goes away mid-exercise and stays away until the next time I go running, that was my main thinking for it not being shin splints. But bodies change over time so it could just be that I'm feeling the pain in a slightly different way now. I did take a break for about two weeks after some oral surgery and it seemed to improve but quickly set back in even with me gradually increasing duration.
I typically run about 15-18 miles a week - split across 3 days with at least a full day of rest in between. My pace is around 9 min/mi when I'm targeting race pace but I don't always aim that high - sometimes I go a bit lighter at 10 or 11 min/mi.
Do you have any suggestions for calf exercises? I do some bodyweight training on my non-run days and calves are the one muscle missing from that regimen. I typically do try to do some lower leg stretching before a run but I'm always worried of overstretching something :/
Shin splints is just a generic term for lower leg pain while running that encompasses everything from stress fractures to exertional compartment syndrome.
As far as exercises, maybe toe raises and toe/heel walking. I'm not an expert in that area and really just providing a (very slightly) educated guess/starting point.
In any case, I have way too many running shoes but even I wouldn't recommend shoes as a fix for pain. They can sometimes be a quick fix (especially when switching away from Xeros), but usually there's something deeper going on.
I just hit a new PB on inclined bench press: 175lbs! That’s almost body weight for me. Granted, this was a one rep max. I can however do 3 sets of 3 reps at 165lbs. This week I also started using the 40lb dumbbells for Arnold presses. I can’t do reps with them like I could with the 35lb weights, but I’ll get there.
I’m not super “progression” motivated when working out. It’s just fun to go to the gym. But it’s nice to see the numbers go up.