Month: July 2022

Day after day…

I hate to obsess over my back so much, but, well, I am a bit worried, or at least I was at midweek this week. It turns out I had a great weekend. Not sure: slight weight loss? Better management of activities? New PT exercises (bringing back some of the Williams Set)

I’ll take it..whatever it is.

Today: walk, some pull ups (5 sets of 10), walk, push ups, weights.

The walks were ok…not that much afterward, but they WERE enough.

The sequence:

PT, then 1 set of pull ups, walk 1, 4 more sets of 10, walk, 1 set of banded walks with “walk 10” push ups (walk 1 step, 1 push up, 2 steps, 2 push ups, etc, up to 10), 2 sets of mixed grip pull ups, 4’th set of banded walks (sideways) with 20, 15, 15 push ups.

Then inside: 4 sets of 5 x 155 bench press, deadlifts:

10 x 134, 10 x 184 low, 10 x 245 high (taking care of the back)

3 sets of 10 curls

3 sets of 10 x 94 high incline with Swiss Bar.

Peoria Chiefs baseball

last night with Tracy: a back and forth affair and the Chiefs were down 6-5 in the bottom of the ninth. Speedster gets on base by an error, and then BOOM..moon-shot home run to left field to get a walk off win.

Good crowd.

Today: not as good of a crowd, 8-2 loss, though the same batter smacked a huge home run in the 1’st inning.

After the fact

I often do not know if what I did will hurt my back until later in the day; I tried to extend the walking a bit. As I sit this, I can feel tightness in the glute…pirformis or ..back? Always hard to tell.

Today: PT, walk, PT, walk, PT, walk, PT. Yes, 3 walks:

Order is bottom (first) to top (last); last one was gentle. I added PT stuff: 3 minute plank and chest taps.

During my second walk, some older lady said I was “walking too hard.” LOL.

Overreaction

First last night’s baseball game. Going into the top of the 8’th, Peoria had a 1-0 lead. But the first relief pitcher had let 2 on base so with 2 outs, the coach replaced him. BAM: home run, 3-1 lead for the Tin Caps.

I do feel for coaches; had the tired relief pitcher given up that HR, the coach would be seen as an idiot. But replace him and the new relief pitcher gives up the HR, then the coach is seen as an idiot. I don’t envy the coaches…they get second guessed by fans who don’t know what they are talking about (like me).

It got worse; the Chiefs got a solo home run to cut it to 3-2, but in the top of the 9’th: double and 2 more runs to get to the final score 5-2.

We did see this nifty double play:

Workout/back

I did more stretching than usual this morning..included some rolling on a baseball. The plan was to do four 1/2 mile walks in between pull up sets.

What happened: started the walk prior to the pull ups: ok, not bad, not much pain. And I made it 1 mile.

More pull ups (5 sets of 10) with banded walks, shoulder PT, psoas marches…

Second walk: even better than the first.

Then mixed grip pull ups, push ups, upper body weights:

pull ups: 5 sets of 10, 2 mixed grip sets of 5

push ups: 30 incline, 30 decline, then a “walk 10” set with banded walks: 55 reps total for a grand total of 115 reps.

downstairs: bench: 4 sets of 5 (used a stool for my feet for 3 of these) with 155 lb.

curls: 3 sets of 10

rows: 2 sets of 10 (dumbbell)

shoulder: 3 sets of 10 x 94 high incline.

More rolling.

Regression

I had trouble with yesterday’s walk. More trouble with today’s second walk; I think I dinged my piriformis again.

PT, walk 1 (ok..but ..well, glad it was just one mile), PT then walk 2 and that was a struggle. Not really terrible but not as good as a short one should be.

Then more PT (shoulders) then a swim: 2200 yards.

600 of back, side, free (100), 400 of drill/swim with fins.

1000 alternating 250 free, 250 pull in 18:41 4:44, 9:22, 14:11, 18:41

free: 4:44, 4:49, pull: 4:38, 4:30.

200 back cool down. Note: this was back to back.
203.2 before, 202.0 after.

Baseball: Chiefs won 4-1! They looked good in doing so.

Misjudging

Ok, my walk didn’t go well..had to quick stretch at mile 1.65. But that came from misreading my symptoms..I was doing ok at mile 1 and decided to push for another instead of sticking with my plan.

The PT and swim felt better.

Swim: usual 600 of side/back, 400 of drill/swim (fins)

6 x 100 on the 2:20 (1:44, 43, 43, 43, 44, 44) kind of discouraging

100 back

2 x 50 swim, 50 back (48, 49)

100 in 1:39 (honestly) ..the rest helped.

200 in 3:36 (pull)

203.2 before, forgot to weigh afterward.

Baseball: went with B and J to the ball game yesterday. Chiefs lost 11-4 in game that was never close. Upside is that I got to see a monster home run.

Finding the balance

PT, walk, PT/Pull ups, walk, PT, pushups, weights.

The first of these was sort of rough; not terrible, but dead legged and I was ready to finish.

The second: much, much better.

Pull ups: 4 sets of 10, 5 wide, 5 chin, 5 mixed, 5 mixed

Push ups: 30 incline, 30 decline, 30 incline, 10 deficit.

Downstairs:

Bench: 10 x 134, 3 sets of 5 x 155

Dead: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, then 8 inch: 10 x 280 (too much lumbar)

10 x 94 high incline: 3 sets

10 x 50 curls.

You can see them coming

I figured I’d be in for a rough back day…and I got it…sort of.

I took my car in, so I got PT part I plus a walk before leaving:

Then I did PT part II and a longer walk after. That one…the first mile was ok but it got rough toward the end, but nothing like “2 months ago” rough.

So, that is 7.69 for the last 3 days. I know..pathetic but ..that is where I am.

Then to the pool for 2200 yards..more progress of a sort.

1000 warm up consisting of 600 alternating side/back/breast, 400 of drills/swim with fins.

4 x 200 on the 4: 3:33, 3:37, 3:37, 3:40 (kind of dragging…not quite ready for 5)

200 pull

50 in 48, 50 pull

50 in 48, 50 pull

Weight: 202.7 before, 201.7 after. That is down.

I was a little surprised I could do 48s after those 200s.

Short term goal: 1000 in under 18.

They are going after culture

So, some well known Republicans are speaking at a Turning Point USA conference, a group for conservative college students. And it is easy to see what road they are taking:

Of course, some clueless liberal wondered why he did not get booed… LOL

Interesting.

What to make of it?

Yesterday: I had more pain…well…not exactly pain, but ..discomfort? than normal. So I figured that today’s walk would be rougher sledding.
It really wasn’t; it went ok, despite the temperatures (walked right about 9 and 10)

86 F for the first one, 91 for the second. Yes, I felt it but had a shady course.

This came after PT and the first walk before pull ups, the second one after.

The Garmin may have been a bit generous on the first walk (my checkpoint was 14:29) but then again I did swing wide a few times.

Pull ups: 5 sets of 10, 2 sets of 5 mixed grip. (so so..bar kind of shook)

push ups: very easy today, 5 sets of 20 incline, with banded walks in between.

bench: 10 x 145, 5 x 155, 4 x 160, 2 x 165 (all with legs up)..gads, that’s pathetic.

curls: 3 sets of 10

high incline: 3 sets of 10 x 94

I just wasn’t into it..lots of rest and playing with the phone.

But as lame as the results were, well, improvement in walking and pain is undeniable.

Day of adjustments

The university pool is closed today. So I decided to try to use the Y pool…and of course, the information at the website is wrong; swim team starts at 6, not 8.

Grrrr…

Try again, after PT and now they have the pool in 25 yard configuration . Ok, good enough but my head wasn’t right:

600 of free, back, side

200 of 25 kick, 25 swim (no fins); balance

200 in 3:40 (pretty sorry)

50

250 in 4:42 (boo)

5 x 50 swim, 50 side on the 3 minutes (49, then 48 each)

100 in 1:42 (wanted 200 but got gassed)

100 side

200 in 3:44 (tempo cruise swim)

In all, 1000 yards of sort-of hard swimming…2200 yards total. Better than zip.

Next time: get there at 5 and tough it out.

My back felt ..crappy but I decided to stretch it out and hike anyway.

Well, it was a hike..not that bad as short hikes go. But I did have to stretch a few times. I really need to focus on tightening the abs.