Sharla's Log

[Sharla]

Thanks Wes I hadn't thought about forearm training but I guess I'll have to look into it. There's always something activity or diet wise I haven't included in my training yet which I should - one day I'll catch up!

I don't think I'm prone to Carpel tunnel but i had noticed odd stiffness in my wrists occasionally so i think i might want to look into prevention just to be on the safe side.

Ok to update my log:

My training plan has changed yet again! Basically because of my uni workload over the next few months meaning I won't finish my days in time for night trainings. Also my membership for the aquatic centre expired and while I'm not sure of whether or not I got the job i was going for yet i don't want to fork out the money to update it.

They do have some casual positions coming up for work over summer at the pool which might be my solution since hopefully I'll be able to work hours which won't interfere too much with my uni work and I'll get free membership. I think i'll be absolutely stuffed at the end of every day but i'll manage especially since it's so close to my house.

Another thing I've noticed I have to be strict with is my stretching time. It's the first thing I do so if I have to do some other exercise afterwards I'll run out of time to do it if I stretch too long. However my 1 hr stretch sessions have turned into 1 hr 30 or 1 hr 40 min sessions. It just seems there's always another spot to stretch. I think ultimately I'll never finish a session feeling one hundred percent loose and stretched - at least not for a few more months anyway.

I've also discovered I have a fobia of doing weights without a cardio warm up so doing them from home means I need to run first. This week I haven't done any resistance training because after my stretching and run i run out of time. I have been cycling to and fron uni 5 days too so I guess that maybe counts as something (but not really).

I could get hold of my mums' windtrainer and start cycling as part of my warm ups again. I also have an idea or two of Scrap's I'll put into practice once I have the equipment sussed. I need to think about the best way to do that and keep my eye out for the right stuff at a reasonable price though so that could be a few weeks.

I'm still nutting it out but I plan to allow 3 hours to workout in the mornings - 1 hour stretch, 1 hour cardio, 1 hour resistance, ab work and skill and balance stuff.

Aims for the next few months:

• Improve hip stability and balance (I always feel my hips tilt too far forewards)
• Reduce all my flexibility limitations
• Strengthen my weakest links - i think my lower ab & hip muscles involved with balance mainly to begin with
• All that will hopefully help me build a base which will make it easier for my body to tolerate long distance running because I want to get back into that again and if when my PhD hell is over with I'll look into club activities like boxing and judo again and make some decisions.

The reason i think my lower abs might be weak is when being shown how to do a proper dolphin kick the other week I found i wanted to do a sit up in the water and I found it impossible to bend at my hips to kick my legs.

While sorting out papers stacked up in my room I found something I had printed out from a website Donny recommended. One of those things I fully intended to get to but didn't - now I think he was really onto something.

It is an ab exercises which also gently stretches the iliopsoas and does not allow you to bend the wring way called an "assisted heel slide" so I'm going to look into doing that and see if I can get it working correctly.

The other thing i've resolved to do before but will be more serious about now is to drink more water! I have now found things on the web which link lower back pain to dehydration since the iliopsoas will contract in response to dehydration!

In a way it's not unlikely for me since I'm a coffee addict and brought up on a farm with bore water never drank a lot of it. Plus before hurting my knee when i thought i was unbreakable I relied a bit too much on dehydration to make weight for fights sometimes.

I might not have known a few extra aches and pains could really be related to that which is scary because while everyone tells you to drink water no one ever teaches you to recognize the symptoms of dehydration other than feeling thirsty which can be misinterpreted as other cravings sometimes - like food in my case.

So I think i'd give myself maybe 6/10 for this last week - a bit crap - need to get my arse into gear and keep on track. I think my organization skills are developing though so hopefully it will get easier after a while. I'll be getting up at about 4:15 am to allow me 3 hours exercise before uni (leave at 8 am to get there at 9) so that will be the biggest challenge this week.

I might need to impose a weekend curfew on myself which sucks but I'm a daylight person and prefer to go out during the day than at night anyway.

[Sharla]

It's Tuesday and while the week started off well (got up ar 4:30 Monday and Tuesday without pressing the snooze button) it looks as though tonight will be a late one which means my early start tomorrow will be extra difficult as will fitting in any training.

I'm at uni late finishing off some work so I can say it's done in a meeting with my supervisor tomorrow. There's never any sort of explanation accepted for something taking longer than expected so it's just more appealing to kill myself finishing it than to listen to him chuck a hissy fit over it.

I will say that I am beginning to feel the difference with the stretching and with different stretches. After a good stretch my back just feels good and I'm beginning to feel like my hips are not always tilted forwards. Probably nothing to most people but it's a great victory for me.

I'm also getting an idea of what does and does not put pressure on and tighten up my lower back. I'm becoming pro stretches where my back is fully supported and against ones where it is encouraged to arch.

I have realized that Scrap whilst modestly showing me a couple of stretches in September had taken all this into account fairly well. Plus his ball hamstring stretch seems to - if i understand the theory - stretch the ilipsoas and work the correct abdominal muscles mre effectively than the heel slide exercise I found on the web!

I am nutting out ways to incorporate safe strength training now since when my hip muscles do start to release my midsection feels strangely weak. Perhaps I am paranoid - i have not pushed it yet - but I feel if i was to do real challenging resistance work straight after stretching I might reverse the effect of the stretches.

Perhaps I should have one week of stretching and very limited resistance work + cardio and gradually bring the resistance stuff back in once the stretches have had time to work.

[hfahrenheit]

keep at it.

[Sharla]

keep at it.

Thanks

It's always nice to get encouragment!

Unfortunately I'm a bit embarassed about how the last two weeks have actually gone.

I haven't achieved much training wise at all.

Basically I haven't been able to juggle my uni workload, job hunting and applications and my flatmate seems to be going through the breakdown of a long term relationship at the moment too. I can't just walk out and leave her to cry and i've been equally pathetic lately when things have gone wrong at uni.

I gave up my weekend cleaning duties last weekend to spend the full weekend preparing grain for a major experiment. I had boxes coming made by an engineer delivered on Monday but when they arrived they were not even box like.

It turns out that my ability to glue what is basically shallow trays in sets with one transparent and one opaque black is better than what this 'engineer' could do so I'll be doing it myself.

Nonetheless I had a good sook when I'd slept at uni on Saturday night to prepare my grain after going to a job interview in the morning and worked all day Sunday just to spend Monday night working out that while I could dribble acetone on the glue in some parts I couldn't take apart many and the acetone marks up the acrylic anyway!

I'm still working out where this leaves me with uni work and training etc so I have no plan. Plus there's a chance my flatmate is going to buy a one way ticket interstate to go back to family if her relationship caves in properly tomorrow - then i can add flatmate finding or moving to my list of to dos!

I think ultimately i'll have to arrange a fitness program aimed at destressing which doesn't take a lot of extra time out of my day. I still want to get back into a training routine because I think I'm happiest when I have one. Not sure what an interim program might involve just yet but I will update my log if i think of one!

Of course any suggestions would be great!

What do other forum members do for training in these situations?

[Salty]

I'm stuck in the same situation except not nearly as bad as you. Uni exam time has me stressed out and I tweaked my back last week so only done about 4 or 5 workouts in two weeks. It's weird going from 100% to crap all, I feel like i'm on almost on edge. Today has just been me sitting in front of my computer learning a semesters worth of economics ad it's been frying my brain. I can even imagine what this time is like for a Phd student.

All I can say is the heavy bag is great for stress relief, burpees are great for a quick full body workout and a shower does wonders for your state of mind

[Sharla]

Thanks Salty

Yeah i've been nervous/paranoid about doing short sessions of high intensity training since perhaps unreasonably i've always felt that I really need a long warm up to prepare for it.

Maybe I'm worng - at least I can't think of any real reason why I wouldn't be able to do a short, fast workout with a normal warm up more safely than a longer run.

I have been considering going to check out another boxing gym not far from me just for casual equipment use to begin with at least.

I've also been told that there are some positions for swimmers able to pass a fitness test to become lifeguards and get all the necessary qualifications.

If I decide I'm too cheap to go to a pool or a gym there is grass around which i can do sprints etc on so I don't really have any excuse.

I might see what I can do based on maybe 40 min sessions for a while I guess!

It's good to know other people are going through the same thing Salty! Although i have a slight suspicion you're still training more effectively than me at the moment!

[Salty]

Trust me you have nothing to be worried about on the injury front and once you go high intensity you never go back

Here's a nice quick one for you to try which only takes 15 mins...

30 second intervals of each exercise, doing as many as possible, each round totals 3 mins, with 30 to 60 seconds break between rounds. Do 4 rounds in total.

Burpees
Jumping Jacks
Split Jumps
Burpees
Jumping Jacks
Pushups (sets 1 & 3) Squats (sets 2 & 4)

I usually only do a bit of skipping and stretching as a warm up for this, just make sure your quads are stretched. Then afterwards do an ab circuit and you have done a great, time efficient workout in under half an hour. If your feeling adventurous, do some bag work afterward. Now you have no excuses Sharla

A few of my mates have been lifeguards, pretty cruisy job most of the time, well paid; I'd go for it!