Nice work, you live in aus don't you? One of the boys from my gym just went to nationals as well. How did you go?
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Nice work, you live in aus don't you? One of the boys from my gym just went to nationals as well. How did you go?
Hi Salty - where are you from? How did your boy go?
I didn't win but felt like I was having an easy time of it and was really shocked when I heard the decision. Last year the scoring was sensitive but consistant - I don't know what you made of it but this year it seemed really difficult to understand what the judges were really looking for. Every bout seemed to be scored differently.
I only registered about 3 clean hits but her punches really scored well so I'm not sure if I was just hit with a lot that I didn't feel or something else was going on. Someone said to me that if you step back to make your opponent miss judges behind you will think you've been knocked back by punches.
It didn't work that same way for her though. In the second round I put her on the ropes twice - pushed her back with my punches and they scored that round it 8 zero her way?! She never got me on the ropes at all and had a habit of falling foreward so sometimes ended up with her head leaning on my chest.
I guess that might have made it look like she was putting a lot of weight behind her punches but in reality I got through it without any marks or bleeding at all which I often get pretty easily in normal sparring. Felt like I travelled there for a bout which felt three times easier than anything I get in sparring to loose without understanding how or why.
From what I remember she would start with a big left hook which (after the first one) I could see coming and follow it with a right hand. All I had to do was step diagonally back to my right with my rear foot as she threw that combo and I would see it miss by a mile and step back in to counter.
I watched the video quickly after the bout but didn't get a copy. At some stage I'd like to see it again in case I did something really dumb I'm not aware of.
One stupid thing I know I did is I cracked my neck. I have a habit of doing that and was not feeling like I was under any pressure so I just did it without thinking which I guess might have made the judges think she had shaken me somehow. I could slap myself every time I think of that but I had no idea of was doing it!  ::**
Anyway more boring crap I just want to log here so feel free to zone out at this point Salty!
Chiro Visit today Friday 4th of January
My back is better than before but there's still one intercostal which refuses to be adjusted on the left hand side. My upper back is tight on the left side and my lower back is tight on the right. She adjusted my lower back both ways and the right did move but not as easily.
She did say that it's unlikely my upper back will ever be loose but she also said that's because of my post Schermanns disease which stops tightening the back after about age 21. So theoretically the way I see it is I should be able to get my back as loose as it was when I was 22.
I am eager to loosen the intercostal tightness I have on my left hand side which I'm pretty sure was caused by me forcing a twist to the left with a stick on my shoulders too far and too long which was meant to help train me to throw a hard cross without a pivot.
I did that under orders of an ex coach who took the lack of movement in my upper back as something muscular I could improve by trying to force it without understanding that we're limited in this movement by our bone structure.
I haven't done this for a long time and that intercostal doesn't want to move so just not doing the original aggravating exercise is not going to be enough. The only advice I could get from the chiro was to lie on a tennis ball with it positioned slightly left of my upper spine (the tight area) as this is known to help allow the ribs to open up again when then have been closed by rotational movement as mine has. I'm going to start doing that every night or morning until my next chiro appointment in 5 weeks and see if she can get it to move next time!
People have told me that the upper back does not normally effect the lower back but I'm wondering if in my case because I have post Schermanns disease which causes excessive tightness and rigidity in the upper back that it can. Perhaps tightness in my upper left hand side of the back is causing the tightness in the right side of my lower back?
I'm from WA, the bloke from my gym lost his first round match to a queenslander, quite frankly he got killed by this guy after watching the fight. From what my trainer said pretty much any jab which looked like landing they scored and all other punches were about 3 hits to a point. It would be mighty annoying thinking you've dominated a round but the stupid refs don't even score you a point. I think you really have to get their head snapping back to score consistently, but in reality thats pretty hard to do. Congrats on getting to the nationals though, i guess next time you'll be ready for that kind of scoring. I hope your back sorts itself out as it's a real shame to happen to anyone let alone a dedicated sportsperson.
Yeah that's the impression I got from the scoring last year but this year I found none of my jabs scored and I landed a lot of them. The judges of my bout didn't like jabs but I know other fights seemed to be scored differently. I admit I didn't load up on her as much as I probably should have but I hit hard enough to push her back and I don't remember having my own head snapped back and I don't think she threw many jabs.Quote:
Originally Posted by Salty
One thing that did seem to work for all the judges was the fighter who went in with an inpenetrable guard, using guard more than movement for defence. I don't think with my back issues that will ever be a tactic which will work for me. I'd rather move and make punches miss completely but if that means they think I've been hit anyway it's obviously no good.
I'm not going to bother going to the nationals again. The SA team had to pay it's own travel expenses and it all ends up being a really expensive exercise. I'd rather compete against opponents i know are going to make me feel like I'm under pressure.
It's stupid I know but I think a good opponent pulls more out of me and that's what I really want to experience even if I end up having half the number of fights as a pro I'll feel like the experiences are more real.
CC for the encouragment Salty - I'm sure your boy will do better next year :)
You had to pay your own way? wow that is dedication! Yeah defently just stick with it, even if the scoring system is buggered up. If you do go to nationals im hoping maybe i will see you next year if i am lucky :)
Salty that's really nice and I really appreciate the encouragement but I'm finished with the amateur system.
I'm a 27 year old woman and i can't waste the last few good competitive years i have left on amateur boxing the way it is.
Last year I won the state title and a girl from my state who'd won the national title in my division before decides she wants to compete. She hadn't fought at all that year and she knew 54 was my division so she says she'll fight at 52 kg. I doubted she could get much skinnier since she was skeletal as it was and taller than me.
We had a bout around 4 weeks before the nationals against each other as a warm up for the nationals. I weighed in a bit below 54 kg - within my division and she weighed in at over 55 kg. I won easily - the bout was scored something like 31 points to 16.
After that she realized she couldn't make 52 kg so she decided she wanted my division. Despite that fact that she couldn't even make bantamweight when we fought and she couldn't beat me Boxing SA had a vote and decided she should be allowed to go as a bantamweight and I would have to move up a division to fight the featherweights. I was told I had to give up my weight division to a girl I mopped the floor with who hadn't even proven she could make 54 kg.
I was 'allowed' to go since Boxing SA didn't have money to fund our travel and since she'd just gone on holiday to Queensland (missing several state trainings to do it) she couldn't afford to go.
It shouldn't have been a case of me being 'allowed' to go. I earned it and i earned a fair shot at the title. As did all the other girls there in my division that were also ripped and many of the guys as well.
I've learnt to expect difficulty with management in local competitions etc but I didn't expect the nationals to be that crap too. I've totally had enough.
Maybe I'll go and watch as a spectator one year so I can heckle the judges :) I am pretty noisy :)
Chiro Note
The chiro explained to me that part of her diagnosis of my post Schermanns disease is the presence of things called Schmorl's nodes on my x-rays. I googled it and found out a few interesting little facts i thought I'd share in case anyone has any thoughts:
Schmorl's nodes are considered to be vertical disc herniations through the cartilaginous vertebral body endplates. They can sometimes be seen radiographically, however they are more often seen on MRI, even when not visible on plain film x-ray. They may or may not be symptomatic, and their etiological significance for back pain is controversial.
Schmorl's nodes were observed on MRI in 19% of 400 patients with back pain, and in only 9% of an asymptomatic control group. Plain film x-rays only revealed about 33% of the nodes identified on MRI. They also found a high incidence of nodes in the teenager group who had complaints of lower back pain and an increased level of participation in contact sports.
In younger patients, it seems to be more common because the annulus is strong and intact, and thus nuclear material herniates through the weaker endplate. As the annulus degenerates with time and age, transverse or posterolateral herniations are more common.
Patients with symptomatic Schmorl's nodes had pain on percussion, and manual compression of the vertebra (taking punches on guard?) was involved. Back pain was exacerbated by axial loading and extreme lumbar ROM (bending?).
Symptomatic Schmorl's nodes represent a fresh fracture of the vertebral endplate, which allows vertical disc herniation and nuclear migration(I don't get this - does that mean they disappear over time since they say it's a 'fresh fracture' rather than an old one?).
Yochum3 states that Schmorl's nodes may be caused by numerous factors: trauma; hyperparathyroidism; osteoporosis; Schuermann's disease; osteomalacia; infections; and neoplasm. (great could mean just about anything!)
Week Summary for Jan 5th to 12th
Eventually I want to work out the fastest time to load my heart rate monitor data on here because it's a little more informative - especially for comparing one week to the next but for now typing it in will have to do.
Morning Conditioning Workouts:
Mon - Walk/run to uni. I think it took about 1 hr 20 mins. A decent 20 min warm up then until I reached uni I did intervals of a 2 min run, immediately followed by a 1 min faster run (to work on my kick) and then 1 min walk. Was up hill all the way.
Tuesday - An easy workout similar to Monday's, covering the same distance. 2 min run intervals, 30 second walk intervals between.
Wednesday - off to sleep in
Thursday - Walk warm up, 40 min tempo run (hard), walk cool down.
Friday - walk warm up, 20 min run, 20 min walk, 20 min run, walk cool down. I've designed this workout since seeing MD's post about how 2 shorter aerobic intervals with a 20 min break between them burns more fat than one long one. It might not work because I'm still walking but we'll see.
Night Boxing workouts:
Boxing every night Mon through to Friday and Saturday morning. Not sure when Judo starts again. Whether or not I go back to judo will probably depend on how likely it is I can get paired up with someone my weight just to be on the safe side for my back.
Plyometrics to warm up for 20 mins Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. It's a hard 20 minutes and keeps my heart rate up very high but it feels good to do something like this because i haven't been able to for so long!
Monday - Partnerwork with Kristine. Footwork has gone to shit after having a few weeks off. Did a lot of simple partner work drills to work lateral movement. Starts feeling slightly better by the end.
Tuesday - Partnerwork and sparring with Kristine and coach Paul. Coach Paul is 6 foot 6 and while he doesn't use all his weight he does this thing where he leans on you to push you away and then takes a huge step back out of range so short shits like me have no hope. I might be sussing a few ways to handle this but still need to develop them a bit. If anyone has any ideas you can PM me - that'd be great!
Distancing also needs some work since I've had a break but it's gradually coming back to me.
Wednesday - trained alone doing shadow and bag work and footwork. Sore so it was a light session.
Thursday - It was 41 o C and since the gym doesn't have airconditioning it was very quiet. Total of 5 people trained. Two women who are good friends and just train in the gym for fitness and bring their teenage sons along, me, Kristine and Theo. So apart from Theo all the dudes in the gym are officially sissies when it comes to training in the heat!
Kristine and I worked on drills for footwork and distancing and finished with body shots holding a round pad for each other. I'm not sure I like that pad. I don't think it allows you to visualize where on a human body a body shot should be aimed. What do other people use? Suggestions anyone?
Friday - Paul gave me and Kristine a lesson on holding pads for each other. This is good. We hold the pads in front of our own faces so we catch the punch or get hit so really the way we do it makes us improve our boxing skills even as pad holders. I'm hoping we can get good enough at this to really kill each other :)
It occurs to me that catching a punch feels easier than holding a guard and you don't have to move your hands much to do it. I wonder why we don't train this much in our gym since the focus has always been guard number one, parries with movement number two and we're only barely made aware of the idea of catching a punch.
Saturday - Session with coach Paul and Kristine in the morning. Emphasis on footwork and guard. I have to say i think this is the first time I've been taught the guard in a way which makes it work without having to raise my hands too high.
Part of the success goes to the way Paul got Kristine to use the pad to train it as an exercise where the tensing and relaxing can become automatic rather than a flinching type thing. It also worked because I was reading some old technical notes the night before from my time training in Japan. I read something about putting your horns foreward and thought of that when practicing the guard. It seemed to reduce the whiplash I usually feel.
Also remembering Scraps idea of the heel being the brake I let my rear heel ground itself to help me brace. I'm trying to remember this in my footwork when I want to change direction quickly along with Paul's idea of making sure you move your head in the direction you want to move to allow you to more faster. Those things all helped a lot and made my guard comfortable!
It's freaky how differently the Japanese gym did things but in a way there's only a little which contradicts what I'm taught now. I think the emphasis was on power then and it's defence now. Now I have gained the habit of attempting to move to avoid being hit whereas before in Japan we really did have a kamakazi style - all attack - a ruthless attack but not enough self preservation. Now I need to fine tune my defence and get the power i used to have back. part of that will involve my back therapy of course but I'll be so happy when I have consistant power again!
As far as weight training goes i kinda dropped the ball a bit. I think i need to do that in the morning as again i thought I'd do it at the gym at night but we keep running out of time. I've been through this before - why didn't I remember that it just doesn't happen! I did get in one Abs and Gluts workout on Wednesday and noticed my right side is weaker in many ways than my left. I think it's time I looked seriously at my uneven weaknesses and uneven flexibility. Realistically i can't expect my back to be the best it can be without first evening things up a bit!
OK I've been a bit slack so now have to update for 2 weeks rather than one.
Basically have managed to stick to the same cardio sessions and add a few more resistance workouts for my back and shoulders or my core.
Some days I get to fit both in but I think usually it's just going to have to be one or the other and I'll alternate since I run out of training time.
Cardio is going well and feeling good. i have not increased the mileage yet but the pace is picking itself up naturally and the workouts are not really tiring anymore. After this week if my body is still happy i might up the mileage and make some sessions a little more intense.
Plyometrics are happening about 3 times a week and since I include normal, clapping and one-handed pushups in my routine I think that's plenty of resistance for my chest. I won't bother doing any chest weights.
I am including squats and lunges in the plyometrics routine as well and am paying particular attention to my form when I do this because with squats in particular i have a tendency to lower myself incorrectly. Right now I guess I still have to focus on what I'm doing and going down for the squats is quite slow but it's getting easier.
Boxing is going well although i have to meet up with Rods lot at some stage to see how I go sparring Omar again. I think I've improved at least in physical condition and I'm curious to see how I go against him.
I have been sparring Kristine and Brent. Brent is a guy in my gym aiming to fight - he was meant to have his first bout last year but injured his thumb. It's going well - Brent has a way of keeping sparring intensity high without adding much power which is good for me because he has some weight on me. I have some experience on him so sparring seems to work well for both of us - technically at least.
Kristine is getting damn good at pad holding and since we know each other's moves, signals and mistakes off by heart now this is proving to be great for both of us to iron out some of those little things you need a slap in the head with a pad for before you understand when your dropping your hands etc.
I am working on getting power back in my right cross. So far I can see 2 things that are out sometimes and am beginning to 'feel' them so hopefully i can correct them. One is that I over-rotate with my right cross instead of directing the punch foreward through my opponent it moves across my body a little too long and goes off to the left. Two - i like to throw a heavy hard jab - my jab can often be just as hard as a cross which is nice - but I still want a cross and I might need to focus on making the jab faster to better set up the cross.
I missed 2 boxing sessions last week to finish a job application and had some short ones the week before to make time to interview prospective new flatmates. I've found a new flatmate who is great (last one bought a house) and hopefully will be faster at writing up the next lot of job applications so hopefully my training won't be interrupted much more for a while now.
Still training to go pro and physically feel good at the moment. Time will tell though - really need to focus for the next two months to work out whether or not that's going to happen. Need to iron out a few little things my coach has brought up which will hopefully not be a big problem.
Another goal I have for the end of the year is a holiday. I'm thinking the Reggae marathon in Jamaica. Or the half marathon - either way I intend to run in a race somewhere exotic.
If I can do the full marathon fast and safely then I'll do that - otherwise I'll go the half. I won't do the extrem number of kms I used to do but in hindsight I don't think I needed to do that much to get the same results. I think I can run and do myself less damage than i used to do. Hopefully do no damage because I well and truly flogged my body for a long time before it gave up last time so i like to think it has some resilience. Either way it's one more thing to look forward to which keeps me motivated for ALL of my physical conditioning training.
In my old age I've learnt the hard way that for me at least I can't run without core work and back strengthening to keep me going and plyometrics make me faster.
I have been stretching a little but really need to get that into my routine more and I keep forgetting to do the fitness tests I planned. Will have to pick my game up with those!
Feb 1st chiro appointment
Overall I think things are a little better.
She did not need to adjust my neck at all which is a good sign. Maybe I've managed to relax a little more and relieve some tension lately.
Still couldn't adjust the left upper side of my back but she gave me another idea of how to loosen that up. I will have to try both the tennis ball (which she already told me about) plus the same lying stretch she gave me ages ago with the new addition of a rolled up face towel under my upper back.
She found knotted areas where the feeling had gone out of the muscle because they are chronically tight. These corresponded to the most built up muscular parts of my back and the part that she can not adjust - in the upper back, on both sides but especially the left. She checked the sensation in the skin over these areas to make sure it wasn't anything else. I'm not sure of what to do since massage, accupuncture and suction cup therapy have not been able to loosen them up either! They are in my rhomboids. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know!
She found the spot in my lower back on the right side was still tight and needed adjusting. I'm secretly convinced this might have something to do with my upper back being tight on the left side. I have been trying to watch how i am sleeping but am probably still relaxing that right knee out to the side since my muscles are tight in a way which encourages it. I find when I'm sleepy I'm not able to be as conscious of what my body is doing which doesn't help either!
She also sold me a pair of more cushioned inserts to put in my running shoes. they are almost exactly the same shape as the inserts which came with the shoes just a bit softer with very slightly more arch support and cushioning under the toes. So far they feel good. They are Sorbothane insoles which are supposed to absorb 94 % of impact shock and are accredited by NATA (whoever they are!).
Another thing which twigged after watching how feral my right cross is looking lately (taped sparring) is another benefit of Scrap's resistance band work. I can't believe it never dawned on me before that it actually works to help straighten punches rather than just encourage the muscles to relax and help build speed. I still have bands at home set up to use but I think I might move them to the gym where I will use them more regularly as a programmed part of my boxing training.
I often say I'll do a bit of this or that at home but in reality i have 2 hours a night at the gym plus cardio 4 mornings a week minimum and the last thing I want to do at home is more exercise because there I'm in relax mode.
I also noticed I have other bad habits and poor 'flow' of movement and tempo when sparring heavier people and I'm not sure quite how to fix that. Since most people I spar will always be heavier I want to learn to fight my best fight no matter who I'm in the ring with rather than develop bad habits. Still have to study my sparring vid a bit more to work it out and see if I can't do better in a few weeks time.
So tonight I have off training as recommended by the chiro but will be training both Saturday and Sunday with Kristine since she's leaning towards doing one less session during the week as she's been very busy weeknights since starting her new job. I like that I now have the option to go to the gym any day as it gives me some leeway if things get hectic during the week as well.
one more thing that the chiro mentioned which I realise now I've been doing wrong is looking sideways while doing weights rather than straight ahead. I have been checking that my back is straight by looking in the mirror to my right side whenever I do back weights and often push ups or plank holds as well. I have to just minimize that to an occasional glance and stay facing the front mostly to avoid messing with my neck and back.
OK weekly summary time
Didn't train Friday because had chiro appointment and assumed that I'd be training in the gym on both Saturday and Sunday as previously arranged with Kristine. Unfortunately something came up and she had to cancel on me today so I only managed 5 boxing trainings this week.
I am thinking about Scraps resistance band stuff in a new light though so plan to spend a bit of time looking at that tonight and do some core work. After that I want to go and try Hitmandonny's 'changing the oil' sauna and water drinking thing at the aquatic centre. I might go for a swim as well but haven't been for a couple of weeks because for some reason they cut the pool opening hours on us in January to times which were not convenient. Hopefully that was just temporary and I can start going back again soon.
Today I got up early and I brought my long run back. I woke up in a sweat after having a nightmare about having to go back to my former job working at Mc Donalds and really needed to run off some nervous tension! Actually it is currently a 30 min walk to warm up before a 1.5 hour run but I'll gradually build it up to a solid 2 hours and then hold it there for a while so i can build speed. This is adding an extra cardio session but I think it'll be ok. No soreness yet and it's the afternoon now - I didn't even need to sleep afterwards so i can't have worked too hard!  :P I finished the last 7 mins 30 secs fast, 30 secs slow just to let the muscles remember a slightly faster pace than I ran with for most of the run too.
Did my weekly cook up yesterday - a beef stirfry with pearl barley and lots of veggies and cashew nuts (very happy with this one) and a chicken rice and veggies thingy. Last cook up was a creamy pasta with bacon and chicken plus some other rice, veggies meal which I forget - anyway still going through them so I'll have 4 different meals to choose from for a while. I think the past one is a bit too high in carbs relative to veggies but am reasonably happy with the rest. I also decided to put a limit on my indulgence in my dark chocolate addiction. I read recently that dark chocolate is high in antioxidants which help reduce the rate of aging etc by scavenging free radicals - same as vitamin C but even more. I have since decided I LOVE dark chocolate with 85 % cocoa but was sometimes having a whole 100 g block in one sitting. So I bought a few blocks, broke them up and rewrapped them separately in 25 g portions so I'll have only one portion a day.
lol. Dark chocolate is an acquired taste, I made the switch from milk chocolate last year and never looked back.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sharla
Ok I have 2 weeks to update again. Sunday afternoon I did do the core work and go to the sauna as I sadi I would. Tried to stretch while I was in there which was goo. I like it! :) that's a good idea of hitmandonny's!
First week was pretty bad.
I kept up with my running but couldn't do much else because was really busy with a uni report I had to get ready. I didn't recover well from the running workouts either because I didn't have time to get enough sleep.
It's easy for me to run when time limited because I can make it my method of transport at a negligible time cost but I really need enough sleep, stretching and the strength workouts to make it safe.
Got the biggest, ugliest blister I've had in a long time too. I think it's my feet getting used to the new orthodics. I think it got infected. I had to soak it in warm salt water and then the skin on top fell off easily so I peeled it off, put some antiseptic ream on it and it's now healed up nicely.
Week 2 is slightly better but not great because I got asked to apply for a job Monday morning and had to write up my application Monday night to hand in Tuesday.
Wednesday and Friday I went back to Judo. Boxing Thursday and Friday night (1 hour after Judo) and Saturday morning - going tomorrow as well.
Thursday night was a short session because I got my elbow banged and had to stop and ice it. Used that time to plan a training program with Kristine which I'm really glad we've done. It'll allow me a structure to plan my other training around.
Judo has been awesome! Have a gi on loan to me so I didn't have to buy one. The coaches have also taken my back into consideration and are watching carefully now to make sure I get paired with other small people who know how to be good ockies.
Friday was a technical session for Judo and I was really impressed when the head coach asked me what I wanted to get out of Judo. Better posture and balance were 2 things I mentioned and he gave exercises aimed at that all session. I liked this session more than I've liked others because we went through things a little slower so I could keep up with the techniques we're learning more easily than the other nights. :)
I could use my arms fine for Judo because it was mosting pulling actions but Friday night boxing I basically went on the bag and only worked my right arm. It didn't like the jarring of a jab action. Thismorning it's better again though. Did sparring. Chose a third of the ring to work in to force each other to work moving sideways more than back and it helped show us what we need to work on.
Homework tonight is to think of drills for tomorrow. I'm taking in bands like Scrap has shown before so we can train ourselves to pull our punches back without dropping them.
Attempting to continue this in User CP Blog section but not sure how readable it is ........
OK I'm back to this system since it just seemed a little obtrusive to have all my training blog entries listed individually in the Blog section. I think I like this system a little better anyway.
So I've put myself on a no internet for personal use ban. It was meant to be a 3 week ban but I'm sick right now anyway so I'm on today and will start the 3 week ban from the beginning again tomorrow.
It worked well before I got sick. Instead of procrastinating I found myself using my computer to work which was a minor miracle!
So I haven't really kept up with my training blog much so I'll just put the highlights here.
Might be competing in July but not sure since this cold has put my training back another week and things were already really difficult to juggle between uni work and training without more setbacks!
Ironically I think I could have fought off the cold before it set in but I had a late night harvesting an experiment at uni - root washing - getting wet and cold and then came down hard with thsi cold. Typical - i work late to try to get on top of uni work and come down with a cold which sets me back a week anyway!
Ok the highlights:
- I've realized I kinda have an itchy trigger finger. My back foot skips foreward when I'm stepping foreward with the jab. This might explain the fact that I have video footage of myself actually getting airborne in sparring a few weeks ago without even knowing! I was trying to land an overhand right and it did land but still - there's no way a punch can have any power behind it without having at least one foot to anchor it. That's my desire to be tall acting out in the extreme! Sooooooo stupid lookin!
- My solution to this is to think of dropping the heel as putting a break on so sometimes I'm going to attempt to lower the heel of my grounded foot - having said that I think if I overthink it i'm likely to develop a new bad habit.
- So my solution might be to use Scrap's bands which standing on a wobble board - I haven't tried it yet but I'm thinking I'll be forced to balance the foreward momentum of the punch by using the suspension in my legs. Will post again with how it goes.
- Went to the chiro this morning - she said my right Quadratus Lumborum is tight and gave me a stretch to deal with it. I might look for a few more too. I think that's all messed up with my Psoas because I feel the tightness in the front of my hip too but I'm guessing stretching the both together will have more than an additive benefit.
- Have started swimming with my old swimming club twice a week again. This is partly just because swimming is good for you, partly because their winter pool is at the aquatic centre which i have membership for and partly just to get a bit more social interaction since my PhD work seems to be quite solitary and all consuming lately.
- I've also started running with the road runners again just once a week for their speed trainings. I suck compared to my former self but it feels good. I'd like to add another morning or two with them at some stage when I've worked out how to juggle it.
- I made a list of all things which I think contribute to good health. On that list was destressing since we all know stress can have deliterious effects on your health through increased blood pressure, suppressed immune system etc etc. Then I thought I'd list all the things which you can do to achieve those things which are good for your health. I started listing things you do to destress and found that it was identical to things you do for good health stuff like - sleep, exercise, meditative stretching and maintaining good nutrition etc etc. So now eliminating stress has become my primary health goal.
- I've decided that my main source of stress is worrying about my income. So to take that out of the equation I've decided to see if I can budget to survive on the doll. It's pretty damn tight but my way of cutting down my expenses might be good for me anyway. I don't live a frivolous lifestyle as it is so pretty much the only place I can save money is on food.
- No more little trips to the cafe for lunch, no more diet coke fixes or buying coffees. I don't think I'll be shopping at my local supermarket either but instead getting up early to get to the markets to buy a lot of cheap fruit and veg.
- This will mean eating less meat and being more creative with my vegies and herbs and legumes to keep my meals nutritous. I'll still have meat in most meals but just halve the quantity. Ironically this will be cheaper, healthier if I do it properly and better for the environment even! I feel like as an agricultural scientist who believes in sustainable farming systems I'd be a little hipocritical if I didn't factor that in.
- One thing I'll need to be careful of is getting female athlete triad which is when women overtrain and diet and loose the ability to absorb Calcium etc. This is common with long distance runners and I've had this before. So I'm going on the pill to prevent this and just hoping it doesn't make it too difficult to keep close to competition weight. Funny thing about the pill is it makes me grow tits which I don't usually have which I'd normally like except as far as boxing's concerned it's a dead weight!
- I've had mum's car for six weeks which she's away on holiday and it's been great but I won't be buying one because it's expensive. ronically I did read in a health magazine the other day that there is more negative ions in the air outside than inside. These are apparently used to form seratonin which is a feel good hormone so being car dependant and not getting outside to cycle for transport etc might've been putting a slight dampner on my mood!
- The chiro did say that cycling might be bad for my back but I guess I'll have to look at how I can improve my cycling posture and keep using bag racks to avoid carrying anything on my back. It's winter here now and I WILL get rained on which sucks but I don't have many other affordable options really!