Sharla's Log

[Scrap]

Sharla, its genetic, but impact plays a part in the problem cycleing and swimming have not got the impact of running. You need to stretch a lot, muscle imbalance wont help the problem only agrivate it. Ill get back to you.

[Sharla]

Thanks Scrap - I appreciate your opinion and since what you suggest for me is uncannily more correct the more i understand I take on any suggestions you have to offer!

I have recently found something on the net called the three dimensional Scoliosis treatment according to Schroth:

http://www.easyvigour.net.nz/pilates...2Treatment.pdf

I haven't had a chance to read through it much yet but the basic idea i think is to using breathing techniques and an awareness of the shape it makes your rib cage.

Have you heard of it Scrap? Any good?

[Scrap]

Have not Im afraid, but the problem can be Helped. Cant get to sleep tonight so I popped in here. You will have to work from the hips up, your body is overcompensating all the time and that wont help your problem I shall return . Oh I assume its upper yes.

[Sharla]

Thanks Scrap!

Yes it's slight but i think the curve is gently to the right and then to the left lower down to compensate i think. Looking at the x-ray the curve to the right is more gentle over a larger number of vertebrae and the curve to the left a bit more pronounced but it's hard to tell because the x-ray doesn't show the lowest portion of my spine.

The article said that a curve to the right with a conpensating curve to the left is normal for scoliosis. I've had 2 physios and 2 chiros tell me that i have scoliosis but no one has ever really explained where it is down to a particular region so i'm trying to tell from the x-ray alone and i'm not sure i'm interpreting it correctly.

I do often feel that stretching muscles attached to or in my hips makes me feel better overall so what you're saying makes a lot of sense.

[Sharla]

Uni has still been a little insane.

Things like having job hunting appointments during the day but still a full days work to do at night have made a mockery of my time managment skills and ability to have a consistant training program.

I'm ashamed to admit that part of it is mental also. I've realized I always need a plan for the morning. When I don't have one i pfaff around 'planning' things and it ends up being a procrastination exercise which takes up a lot of time. Then before i know it i've wasted half the day.

So from now on i'll be doing 30 mins of exercise every morning either before or after breakfast depending on how hungry I am. I think i've found before a banana and a coffee are a good pre-exercise morning snack. The caffiene gives me the kick i need to wake me up early in the morning and the banana enough to put off hunger pangs whilst not feeling too heavy or making me sleepy again.

Buying some banana's today. Luckily they're also relatively cheap here.

Yesterday i did manage to do this with a run in the morning - easy half an hour. In the afternoon I did another session with a walk and then easy jog warm up for 400 m intervals (X6) then jogged home again.

Today (Saturday)

Decided 2 runs yesterday was enough impact. Morning session was inspired by Scrap and the fitball stretches book my flatmate gave me for Christmas. The book had 'cardio' workouts on the ball which didn't inspire me at all. They were basically sitting on the ball and doing little boucy actions and really not training anything as far as I could see.

However, the idea of using balls for cardio did make sense in a different non-vertical layout.

Now i'll try to describe this in ways only Scrap and his deciples will understand because while this is a very inferior version of what Scrap has patented it is still similar.

Basically having the balls positioned so i had to balance my movement but i'd never manage it without something to hold onto so i rested my head on a kitchen chair with a little padding for my head and neck. I could reach back and grab the chair to avoid falling off but also needed something at the other end to stop everything rolling away.

I wanted to bang my elbows in but i'll have to rearrange things for that next time. I have a semi deflated ball which is smooth and a vertually fully blown up one with little pointy bits on it that stick out.

I thought the pointy bits would be good for having grip but when i tried to bang my elbows in all it did was give me a dead/funny elbow so i think i'll swap the balls next time.

Looking at the HR data right now it was pretty low the whole time. Definately makes sense in terms of the lactate shuttle discussions we've had. I did 30 minutes at a moderately fast pace but seeing my heart rate really wouldn't climb i think this is not an appropriate way to use it.

I think it was good for working against the imbalances which must be underlying my scoliosis. I had to try to stay balanced or fall and the movement mimicks something which is usually much higher impact where i really want to avoid those imbalances.

After that i did some light back and abdominal work on the ball with my feet on a wobble board. Three sets of each, chest on ball lifting arms up and out to the side with light weights for my back and crunches for my abs.

It was definately light because especially with the ab work i must naturally use one side more than the other since it was virtually impossible to stay balanced. Plus the board would slide away too because i must not have had my weight going straight down on it with my knees bent at a right angle. I hope the neighbours couldn't hear me swearing!

Finished by holding a plank with my forarms on the carpet and feet on the wobble board. Still difficult and much harder than the plank on firm ground but easier than the crunches!

Overall I'm happy with this as part of my anti-scoliosis plan and i think if i'm going to be honest about what i know of myself i really need to do something everyday regardless of how busy i am.

I just don't have the temprement to deal with having no physical activity and even if i only have a little time off i'm always semi convinced i can't get my fitness back again once i have time off.

Today i worked something completely different to yesterday and i'd consider a walk ok for some days so i insist on having decent recovery time but i can't do nothing.

[Scrap]

Sharla, one way of doing what I think youre doing is use the bed

[Sharla]

Sharla, one way of doing what I think youre doing is use the bed

Yeah i agree thanks Scrap.

I don't think i have the right type available to me at the moment. I think i'll buy one maybe after Christmas when i have a bit more spare cash.

I was hoping that this would be similar to the bed but also work on my imbalances a little more.

I know your complete patented version is very good at this because it has more range of motion than the bed and whoever uses it can see how they might need to work harder to get their weaker side working the same way as their stronger side. I know it really hurt when i used it for less than 5 minutes which was shocking!

I'm not sure i know how to stop myself cheating when i use the bed version and while i don't think it would aggrivate my imbalances and it is still shock free i was hoping the balls would force me to begin to correct them?

Look forward to hearing your thoughts on that Scrap!

So other things to report - quite a few!

Sunday

2 hr walk. Didn't feel like the impact of a run was good and wanted to get outside so a 2 hr walk was nice - might aim to do tha every couple of weeks over an extended time. I have some parkland areas along a little stream called the Torrens which travels over 12 km at least in each direction towards and away from my house so i'm lucky that way. For longer fortnightly walks i'm tempted to go to national reserves not far from Adelaide though - as long as i can avoid walking alone in snake and bushfire weather which will be frequent in the Australian summer!

Monday

10 min walk, 30 min jog -run. It became more of an effort towards the end with a few inclines and i did feel like i got a workout here.

Tuesday

off - i had good intentions but left it to the evening and didn't get home from uni until after 11 pm. Must make a rule to do a session in the mornings without fail.

Wednesday

Today I walked for nearly 50 minutes along the Torrens before running back. I intended to walk an hour but came across an area where i could hear a guy going solo loudly. It creeped me out because i could hear him somewhere in the bushes but i couldn't see him. It's not uncommon for women to get attacked in the parklands so i decided to turn around at that point.

I like to think i could be more able to handle myself than most women enough to be inconvenient and noisy and escape. I wouldn't hesitate to eye gouge or elbow eye sockets but i know i have friends who probably would not be able to bring themselves to seriously maim a person in self defence. I think they would panic and try to push and struggle abut not even think of more vicious options for defending themselves. I like to think i wouldn't be like that especially as an adult but i'll avoid the situation and run away first if that's an option and that's what i did.

I wasn't attacked but it's well known that many streakers and perverts will have esculating behaviour so why continue on a path that might bring me within arms reach of someone like that - i would be silly to take the risk!

Ran back 10 minutes and then did intervals. 8 one minute hard running efforts with 1 minute recovery walk except after the 7th interval i had a 2 minute recovery. I could see in the heart rate zones that i was not fully recovering after each interval.

Ages ago just after i hurt my knee i went to a body composition dude to get my body fat and muscle composition analysed and to get diet and training advice etc. I was put on an exercise bike with a heart rate monitor etc to measure aspects of my fitness. The basic result was that my endurance and lung capacity etc at that time was way above the average for a male. In endurance terms i was a very strong athlete but my recovery for short efforts was not really that great.

I think this has something to do with ego. I have resented admitting that my heart rate has not returned to a low enough level to train sprint recovery before doing the next interval.

So today when i could see after my 1 minute recover after the 7th hard interval my heart rate was still high i bit the bullet and decided to accept my recovery takes longer than that for that effort. of course over time it will improve and i'll recover hopefully in less than 30 seconds for that effort but it won't happen if i don't walk and allow the recovery. I'll be training endurance like i always have.