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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 was diagnosed with Celiac Disease a while back. For those who don't know, that means that your intestines have what is essentially an allergic reaction to gluten. The vilii in your intestines shrink, making it harder to take in nutrients. Gluten exists in wheat, barley, rye, and triticale, so it's in a lot of foods. Since cutting out gluten I've felt a little more energetic, been able to lose a few pounds and keep them off, and my stomach doesn't hurt all the time. It's made such a difference in how I feel that it hasn't been that difficult to cut gluten out. It's by far and away the best thing I've done for my health in a long time. If you think about it and it seems that you have a lot of stomach issues, get checked by a doctor. It might not be celiac, it might be something else. But getting it taken care of can have a positive cascading effect on a lot of other areas of your life.
I've been swimming 4-5 times a week since the start of September, which has been really fun. I've finally found a form of exercise I enjoy and am happy to keep doing on a regular basis. I've been going mostly during my lunch breaks at work, but occasionally afterwards as well. I much prefer going during the day rather than at peak time, not least because after 6 o'clock it seems like a bunch of lads rock up to treat the pool as their social club, and just screw around. Leaves much less room for swimming when there's 6-10 burly blokes bumbling around the water.
I've been working my way up to a kilometre (50 lengths) within 20 minutes, which I think is a pretty good target for breaststroke. To say when I was first going 200-400m was really tiring me out, I'm hitting 800m pretty easily in the past couple of weeks. I managed a kilometre the other day as well, though that's because I was there after work and had more time to rest between blocks of 10 lengths. Once I can consistently hit the ol' km, I'm going to switch to front crawl. My technique for front crawl is much sloppier, so I think it could be rough going to begin with.
Lastly, I've noticed that I've shed a bit of fat around my belly since I started swimming. I've always been slim, but I was definitely accumulating something of a beer gut, and it's been nice to see that slowly disappearing. I'm gradually adjusting my diet and may be adding more, varied exercise to my routine to try to get the rest of the chub gone. One thing about my pool being right next to the sauna/steam room/hot tubs at the gym is that I see a lot of very in-shape guys walking past, and it's giving me something to strive for.
My right rotator cuff had been a bit sore for the past couple of days, but I must've slept on it wrong because it's straight up painful through some of my arm's range of motion today. Supposed to workout today, but I think I'll rest.
Also, I accidentally lifted 20lbs (235lb total) over what I meant to my last deadlift session for most of my sets. My grip almost immediately went out on my first set and it wasn't until I reviewed the tape to check my form a couple of sets later that I realized I had 35lb plates on instead of 25lb plates. A bit of an ego boost, I guess! Although not super happy with my back looking kind of rounded. I set myself up as described here but I'm thinking maybe my hamstrings are too tight which drops my hips and causes the rounding...
If you're getting close to your max on deadlift you probably won't be able to avoid some rounding in your back. Not to discourage you from troubleshooting form, because always troubleshoot form, but if your form is good maybe you're just lifting close to a PR.
Yea, I was definitely moving a bit more weight than I expected. The rounding in my back with lower weight is less egregious, for sure. I try not to nitpick my form too much, as that could just lead to discouragement. Still, I wanna remain healthy!
I'm pleased with progress since the hip replacement 5 weeks ago. Current routine is:
4 hours/week water resistance aerobics;
1.0 hours/week elliptical trainer (current distance 2 km in 30 min. at ~800 kcal/hour);
1.0 hours/week stationary bicycle (current distance 6 km in 30 min. at ~500 kcal/hour);
1.0 hours/week water-resistance rowing machine (current distance 5 km in 30 min. at ~500 kcal/hour);
2 hours yoga/week.
I got clearance from the surgeon yesterday to weight-lift; current hip prosthetics shouldn't have the same risk of loosening under strain as the old ones.
Besides weight loss, I'm aiming to get back to activities I haven't been fit for in a while, e.g. backpacking, bicycling, and open water kayaking.
I've got the whole winter to get ready, but there's no grand strategy in any of this, other than seeing what I can tolerate and do safely, striving for a little more speed and intensity every week.
I want to get a good swimming routine going, but my shoulders are just as arthritic as everything else, and swimming strokes are still profoundly uncomfortable. There's no good surgical fix available, so it's just an infuriatingly slow process of trying to work up more strength and flexibility. I'd rather not return to eating several grams a day of anti-inflammatories, since there's evidence they can make arthritis and injuries worse by delaying healing.
Deadlifts, I'm assuming? I, too, suffer from weak grip! I've mentioned it in the previous fitness thread, but I'm looking to get some grip trainers. Also, if you have a pull-up bar...or any bar anywhere that's taller than you..you can do dead hangs to improve grip.