Fitness Weekly Discussion

I’ve always had bad knees and getting them to function properly has been a challenge. But the stars have aligned lately with a lack of leg injuries and strength training paying off. Now I can do squats again!

This is too important to screw up. So this time I’m making sure I keep my joints strong. I got the brilliant idea to do 10 squats every time I smoke weed. So like 50-60 squats a day.

Now my wife and I talk in code about doing squats together, in front of the people who don’t want to hear we’re going to go smoke a bowl. And my legs are stronger than ever!

I just finished a 6-week army running plan that was designed to take a soldier from a 16-minute two mile down to 14 minutes (BTW I'm not a soldier ,and I'm in my 50s). I don't think I started the program being able to do 16 minutes, so I'm pretty sure my time of 15:32 yesterday is an improvement! Compared to my previous half marathon goal, I'm finding the recovery very quick, so I'm going to do a long run today!

I'm tempted to do the plan all over again, but first I'm going to try the Garmin plan built into my brand new running watch. I want to see for myself if it's any good.

As I'm finishing up rehab on my shoulder, I learned something neat from my physiotherapist: Just because you have pain or some other problem in one area (say, your bicep), the issue isn't necessarily right there. It could be a secondary symptom that is a consequence of the primary issue which is elsewhere. Because the muscles and tendons of the human body are quite interconnected, like the fabric of clothing, tension or inflexibility in one area (e.g. chest or back) can pull the nearby connected muscles (e.g. bicep) out of place, or cause them to do their work in a wrong, or strained way.

After my physio explained that, it of course makes so much sense. I was thinking I could just stretch or strengthen the area where I felt pain or tension, and that would deal with that area, but, in fact, one also has to ensure the nearby areas are also free from tension or knots, etc.

I have been doing calisthenics consistently for a while now, reaching a point where it's visible in my physique and I get compliments and questions about the routine and diet from my from coworkers.

It all worked out when I fixed these 3 things before even doing any exercise:

1. Diet: I cook all my meals, no microwave/pre-made meals at all, all the ingredients are raw, and I mostly follow a Mediterranean diet, nothing special, snacks are replaced for heathy food like Greek yogurt, nuts and fruits, I don't count any calories or supplement with protein powder, creatine or any other type of stimulants.
2. Sleep: 8 hours, simply going to bed at the same time and waking up consistently, the quality did improve after using some items like wax earplugs and a sleep mask.
3. Mentality: This might sound silly, but I had the realization that to look like an athlete there are two options, steroids or becoming one, I won’t ever do steroids, the side effects outweigh the benefits, now each time I feel like skipping training I ask myself "Would an athlete skip it?" the answer is always no, so I go.

1 and 2 are a must, if you don't have the energy and rest you won't go or have enough endurance to complete the training, 3 will gradually come if you are simply consistent, and being consistent it's really important

Now I'm trying to get more into more advanced skills, the book Overcoming Gravity has been amazing, I got a ton of knowledge from it, how to avoid plateaus, rest well and optimize progress.

Hello my sweet TFPs! I've been trying to keep active, doing workouts and some cardio. I am planning on taking it up a notch and just did a speed skate workout. Absolutely killed me but was good. I'm really wanting to get really good at skating. I'm planning on joining a roller derby flight school, they train the basics for eight weeks, then you can move up and train for derby for eight weeks. But apparently you don't have yo move up out of basics so a friend recommended I just stay in basics for a long time and just get really good there, so that's kind of what I'm planning lol.

It's just been really nice to have someone so enthusiastically in my corner and really being able to help me get more active. We're planning on hanging out and playing soccer and just doing random sports and things. The stars just kind of aligned for us to be in one another's lives right now lol. So I'm grateful at this chance to work with someone. I want to makeup for lost time and make sure I keep my body active and moving. It's so important especially as I age.

I'm feeling really good about what I've been doing and what I'm going to start, so it's nice to be on this positive upswing after having so many low months.