Cal's Big Log II: The Revenge

Training
561

Nice cartwheel cal. Yep, it’s time to move away from the wall. With that cartwheel, you should be able to safely fall out of a handstand on to your feet. You have enough body in space awareness.

Also, to progress the handstands, while you are doing them against the wall, you might practice picking one hand up at a time. Getting the sense of shifting your weight is important. Plus, this will really be a better strength challenge for you. Don’t hold the one armed handstand–just right hand up and down, left hand up and down.

562

I cannot do a bridge
I cannot do a cartwheel
I cannot do a handstand

you my be spasdic but you got your shit together Cal. And cudos on the weight loss!

I won’t tell ya what I am eating as i’m reading the logs as a post meet celebration treat :wink:

563

All good stuff, your bridge has come along very nicely. Thanks for the pics & videos!

564

Monday is run day. Nice and sunny, and the ground had dried out slightly. Still muddy in places but not the quagmire it has been (this is Tooting Common I’m talking about…I didn’t get up to the muddy hell of Streatham Common today).

I am mindful of the fact I’ve a half marathon in…oh…9 weeks and need to get some longer runs in. So today was 9.5 miles or thereabouts, and bloody painful it was too. I went through Tooting and Clapham commons (and the roads in between) no problem, but my left hip and glute really tied up on Wandsworth Common around mile 7-8. It wasn’t just sciatica - the groin and ITB were complaining as well. I stretched them when I got home and had a hot bath. I will get the hockey ball out later.

Time was 1.45:29 (but that includes me going downstairs and opening the door, then unlocking the door, taking off my shoes and coming back upstairs again. I don’t take the stopwatch with me as it’s too big and clunky).
Distance is just an estimate based on mapmyrun.com data but as I’ve mentioned before, it’s hard to be exact as the paths and trails I follow on the commons are not marked on the maps.

565

Sorry to hear that it’s still muddy. Running in the mud isn’t fun when it’s ALWAYS muddy.

Jam that ball into your sore behind. Have you every used a tennis ball instead? They are my ball of choice for releasing the piriformis. As far as the groin and ITB, make sure to do mobility stuff for your hip and stretch out those knees. You do all that stuff anyway, but it’s nice to be reminded how smart you are, right?

566

Excellent work in every respect! I’m jealous of your run, cartwheel and bridge. Currently I can do none of them. grrr.

567

your bridge is definitely progressing. hope you are feeling proud. sorry 'bout the mud and sore muscles. hope your rolling helps. i actually yipped a couple times trying to get my ITB. had some knots before but never as painful to try and release as they are at the moment. hope you have more luck with yours.

568

ooo!!! vids!! I am very envious of your adult gymnastics classes…sigh. you can tell the differences as well with those bridges! that’s awesome!

569

I had a shitty workout today. I guess that run really took it out of me (given that I’m low carbing it as well) because I simply had nothing to give. My joints were also a bit pissy, especially that weirdness going on in the tendons behind my right knee. I’m going to have to ask Nicole about that when I see her next week because I’ve no clue what’s going on there.

Man was in the squat rack when I got there so (after my warm up) I just opted for overhead squats, seeing as I have no problem cleaning the weight I use for that. Which is barely anything.

Overhead Squats

3 x Bar x 8
3 x 25kg x 5

The hamstring tendon thing was noticeable. It doesn’t hurt, it just feels wrong, like it’s about to lock up, or possibly tear, but if I then touch my toes it’s absolutely fine. I am mystified. It started after the oly workshop and seems to happen when I do snatches. I did do a few snatches and snatch balances with the body bar during my warm-up.
Needed a sit down after this so…

Bench Press

Bar x 20
30kg x 10
40kg x 10
50kg x 5

I could have done more with the 50 but my shoulder wasn’t feeling too good so I left it rather than risk making it angrier.

Body Rows (on locked Smith Machine)

8, 8, 5 (fail)

Strength just deserted me.

Cable Rows

2 x 30kg x 8

Not really a sterling effort there.

Assisted Pull-up machine

-30kg x 5 (shoulder hurt; stopped)
Tried the parallel grip but wasn’t much better so I left it.

I was going to do some handstand work but I just didn’t have the energy. Suck.

The shoulder thing isn’t very serious - it’s just a chronic rotator cuff injury I’ve had for 20 years and if I feel it complaining, I back off. It gets angry very easily so I know how much I can push it.

As for the workout, I’ve pushed myself pretty hard for three days in a row so I’m not really surprised my energy levels are flagging today. Prior to getting this school job I would work out no more than two days in a row before resting, but since I have three days at school where I’m not working out then I try to cram everything into the other four days. I know I could suck it up and go to the gym after school, but I’d hit it during peak time, and frankly, I am always knackered from being on my feet and shouting all day. I’d rather go home and chill.

570

Cal, I have an idea about what might be going on w/your knee. It hit me when I was reading your post from today. You can do the “test” to check for it yourself. Lay on the floor or a mat (something firm) on your back. Relax. Pick up your head and look down at your feet. Look for differences in eversion. If the effected leg is more everted than the other, you probably have a misalignment of your lower leg w/respect to your upper leg. Usually pretty easy to fix, I’m sure your ART can correct it.

Sorry to hear that your energy/strength is off. We all have days like that and I’m sure that low-carbing is the culprit. Keep the faith, your diet is working and as long as you can maintain in the gym you’ll be alright. Plus, don’t you have a half-marathon coming up pretty soon? After that you should be able to give the diet a rest.

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I have big Q-angles and it’s worse on the (affected) right leg - that foot is rotated out a bit, in fact, and that ankle is prone to spraining. It’s hard to tell here but I’ve taken a photo so you can see if you can figure out if that’s what’s going on.

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[quote]Cal Jones wrote:
I have big Q-angles and it’s worse on the (affected) right leg - that foot is rotated out a bit, in fact, and that ankle is prone to spraining. It’s hard to tell here but I’ve taken a photo so you can see if you can figure out if that’s what’s going on.[/quote]

I would call that a positive test. You could try this alightment stretch, I posted it in Kimba’s log a couple weeks ago, I find it to be pretty effective. Also, ice never hurts (provided that you don’t leave it on too long at a time). Maybe there is a little inflammation going on in there too. Swelling inside the knee=pain/dysfunction. Here’s the knee stretch:

While standing, cross your other leg over the effected leg. The back of the “good knee” contacts the front of the “bad knee”, you may have to play around w/how close or far apart your feet are to get full contact.

Bend forward, you should feel a good stretch in the back of the “bad knee.” Do not proceed if you get pain in the front/kneecap of the “bad knee.” Switch and do the other side for symmetry. This is one that my boss worked out to help patients to reset their knees b/w adjustments. Hope that maybe it helps you out.

Best of luck!

573

Ah we do that one in my gymnastics class and I did it today during my workout, in fact. It doesn’t hurt beyond the usual hamstring stretch sensation.
If it helps, the weirdness is more apparent after I’ve been sitting a while and I guess squatting is explosive sitting which may account for the problem! So yes, I’d surmise it’s something to do with one of the hamstring tendons. It wasn’t noticeable during my run so I guess it’s something that happens when the leg is more flexed.

574

veggie, I just tried this stretch again and finally felt it in the back of the bad knee. I had to play around with foot placement and how far exactly to bend over to get 'er done. Thanks!

575

I hate those tough training days when you just don’t have it. But really, as you note, it just means you’ve been working hard and dieting hard. Time to rest and let your body do its getting stronger thing.

576

[quote]Nadia Comeandeat wrote:
I hate those tough training days when you just don’t have it. But really, as you note, it just means you’ve been working hard and dieting hard. Time to rest and let your body do its getting stronger thing. [/quote]
Exactly my thoughts. Rest. Recover. Know that your body is adjusting to the calorie and carb restriction. Hang in.

I’m so inspired by your qymanstics. I bet I haven’t done a cartwheel in 15 years! Yikes. I was laughing when I saw your first bridge picture. That’s me!

577

The other thing that could be going on w/your leg is that is a little rotated out at the femoral head-pelvis. That would also create that positive test result and cause strain in your hamstring tendons. Your ART can fix that.

Hope you’re feeling better today and can train at the level that you want without any real pain.

Good luck!

578

nice bridge :smiley: I did one after squating and my whole spine cracked. it was awesome :slight_smile:

579

I struggled through the rest of the week - the low carbs have really done a number on me. I am having something of a refeed today (I’ve bought a small potato for baking and some carrots and blueberries) so I can get through my long run tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll feel better after that.

Frustratingly, I haven’t actually lost any scale weight. I jumped on the scales this morning and got 10 stone 2 (142lbs) which is obviously bollocks as there’s no way I could lose that much weight on the second week of a diet without contracting amoebic dysentry. So I reweighed (which is annoying as it cost another quid) and got 10 stone 13 (153lbs) which is the same as last week. I am putting this down to constipation, because low carb diets do that to me. I actually do look a bit better. Thing with me is that when I diet, I always lose a crap-ton of weight in the first week, then very little there after. V-Diet was a case in point - lost 6lbs, then only 1lb a week thereafter, and then actually regained 3lbs during the transition week when I was allowed one healthy meal a day (and no shit). It was incredibly fucking frustrating.

Joints have been flaring up, too. My body is all round miserable. I did do a workout this morning, which I modified for my low energy levels.

Superset:

Millies: Bar x 10, 25kg x 10, 30kg x 5, 32.5kg x 5, 35kg x 2 (epic fail)
Squats: Bar x 10, 25kg x 10, 32.5kg x 5, 35kg x 5

Overhead Squats:

3 x Bar x 5
2 x 25kg x 5
1 x 27.5kg x 3

Wrists were OK but shoulder was being a cunt.

Waiters’ Walks

2 x 20kg (two lengths of the free weight room per set per arm - approx 25-27 steps with a turn at the end)

Turning at the end of the room was the toughest part. I like these, actually.

DB Rows

24kg x 10, 10
26kg x 8, 8
28kg x 6, 6

Haven’t done these for a while.

I really couldn’t be arsed to do anything else so I did a bit of handstand practise and then went to do my weekly shop.

I am not going to be contributing to many other logs over the next week, I’m afraid, as I’ve got two hell weeks at school. This weekend I am planning the swimming gala, which has two pools in use at the same time and is a logistical nightmare (particularly as I’ve not done one before), and writing this term’s pupil reports. Additionally I have the house netball competition next week (Wed, Thur and Fri) and parents’ evening on Thursday after school.

The swimming gala itself is on Monday (a day I don’t normally work) and then I have to go into school again on Saturday for an open day. Oh, and my boyfriend - the one I see maybe twice a year, phoned to say he had an interview in London on Friday and could he stay/see me on Thursday night. Parents’ evening - right in the middle of hell week.

Heavy sigh.

580

Eat your veggies!!!