Category: cycle

3 Day Catch-up

So, we are going Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday (today)

Tuesday: warm up, 1.14 mile walk at 15:58; stopped at .7 to stretch as I didn’t warm up enough and the pace was too slow. Stretch/yoga, 30 minute bike, more stretch then PT

The PT session went well; balances, assisted twisted stretches, massage, lunges..legs were absolutely glowing afterward. I also learned the proper way to do the prone twist stretch: hook the foot of the upper leg under the lower one.

Top is what I WAS doing; bottom is what I should have been doing.

Wednesday: 1:50 worth of weights and full compliment of PT (didn’t plank) some shoulder ache later; some leg/back ache too..note the tops of the thighs (where it connects to the trunk of the body) and the connection of the foot to the shin (from the dorsiflexion)
Decent pull ups, sets of 10, 30 singles, 10 then 5-5, outside PT, push ups: 30 sissy, 30 feet elevated, 20 deficit, 20 flat.

deadlifts: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 234 low, 10 x 285 hight.

Full PT and stretching.

The day: started off very well; one of the best days yet.

Thursday: 15 minute walk (just over 1 mile; 14:48) went great for 10 minutes; ache came later, PT (all), 30 minute bike, yoga sequence.

Day: went GREAT ….this PT is working and my back is responding to the constant PT.

Back on the right path

Of course, this is, well, nothing, but I felt absolutely NOTHING for the first 10 minutes; slight tingles for the next 3-4, and a dull ache (that was getting more pronounced in the final 5. This was much, much better than being in pain when walking the .2 miles to the office.

The improvement is real. But that I have a very long ways to go is also real.

How it went:

  1. stretching ..starting off easy
  2. The walk
  3. light stretching and PT: included: dead bugs, two types of knee lifts (standing and prone), one legged bridges, 3 minute plank, clam shells, one legged stands from sitting, behind the body leg lifts, banded walks followed by more stretching
  4. 30 minutes bike (fake 10 miles)
  5. Yoga: Warrior 1, 2, triangle, pyramid, revolved triangle, reverse warrior, wide leg forward fold and WLFF with a twist.

The whole thing took 2:20 to do.

Note: I do get an occasional shoulder ache. But overall, it is looking up.

Workout catch up

The back/glute continues to improve; I no longer dread the walk to the office. Oh, I am not close to “being there” but I can at least envision walking a pain free 5K.

I do notice that incorporating a degree of “twisting” to my stretches helps.

Thursday Stretching, ton of PT, 17:00 walk (1.2 miles) on the treadmill, lots of PT, yoga (especially the Warrior 2, triangle, pyramid, revolved triangle, reverse warrior on each side). This took 1:50..much to my surprise.

Yesterday: upper body mostly. 1:50 worth, which included all of my PT.

pull us: 2 sets of 10 singles, 2 sets of 10, 4 sets of 5 (included wide grips, chins) These went fine.

push ups: 3 sets of 30 sissy, 20 flat indoors. Lots of PT.

Inside: bench press: 5 x 167, 5 x 167, 5 x 172 (best since April, when I hurt my shoulder)

rows: 3 sets of 10 with 60

curls 3 sets of 10 with 50 (?)

shoulder presses: 3 sets of 10 x 98, using a belt and elevated seat (with rugs)

Today: I will go into more detail; this took 2:30 to do; mostly due to the warm up/stretch routine. I was hesitant to do the deadlifts with 285 as I felt slight fatigue going in; it turned out not to matter.

My “stretches” usually include: McKenzie, cat/cow, spinal balance, laying hip twists, Half Frogs, lower lumbar twist stretch. These take 6-15 minutes to do, and I usually do them before and between different activities. They add a lot of time to my workout.

Warm up.
Dead lifts: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 234, then on the 3 minutes, 5 sets of 3 x 285 (all low). My final set was ragged and so I did not try for extra reps. Belt for the 234 and up.

Then stretching.

PT (2 sets each): single knee lifts, single leg “stand from seating” (down stairs)

upstairs: leg lifts on the side (and behind the body..straight leg), prone knee lifts (including one extra 5 rep set in a more challenging position), dead bugs, clam shells, one legged half bridges, spinal balance (again: moving)

Outside: 2 sets of banded walks.

Inside: headstand, 3 minute plank.

Stretch

30 minute bike (10 fake miles)

Stretch (6 minutes)

Videos: (PT and weight work..yesterday and today)

Finally some hope

First today’s workout:

rehab/stretch

17:30 treadmill walk (incline) 1.2 miles

rehab/stretch (3 min plank, head stand, among others)

30 minute bike (10 fake miles)

yoga/rehab; main set was Warrior 2, triangle, pyramid, reverse warrior, revolved triangle on each side.

That went ok. But it was PT..again..that made a difference.

The therapist and I talked..he made it clear that I didn’t have stenosis; my back problem was degenerative disk disorder in my lower lumbar region.

But..the knots were back in the glute; that remains a problem (hence the rolling and piriformis stretches feel good) but the glute stuff was brought on by my back issues, so I’ll have to address both. And this lower lumbar twist stretch was heaven on earth..

Evidently my left (the side with pain) is so tight that it interferes with the nerves going to my left leg thereby preventing proper contracting. A loosening up on that side restored much of the strength right away.

This is what I look like before therapy.

So, we shall see. The saga continues but, I honestly feel very hopeful. But I have a lot of work to do..and work I am willing to do.

Warm up

It was 3 F yesterday, 49 F as I type this.

Back: much better…I now know what to do. But the road back to walking will be a long one.

B and I went to a women’s game together! Yes, a strong Missouri State team overwhelmed the Braves 72-56, but midway through the 3’rd it was only a 4 point game…that quickly grew to a 22 point lead.

Last night, the men overcame a 11 point deficit (generated by 5-7 3 point shooting) to beat Illinois State 72-64.

Though this was the best crowd of the season, there were a LOT of empty seats; maybe half full (official: 690x but…)

Yes, I sat way up there for social distance…and wore my KN-95, as we did today.

Workout notes

rehab/stretch. Then 15 minutes on the treadmill (1.1 mile walk).
rehab/stretch: included clam shells, head stand (1:45), 3 minute plank.

30 minutes (10 fake miles) on the bike.

Then yoga; down dog, lunge, the the Warrior 2, triangle, pyramid pose, twisted triangle, reverse warrior on each side.

Felt GREAT when I finished.

Catching up..again

Thursday: snow day..caught up on backlog (sort of) and worked out (below)

Friday: went ok; back somewhat sore from shoveling. Ate at the office; went to the Women’s game (almost a 30 point loss)

Saturday: today; worked out ok; lots of back stuff; watched the men win 72-64 over Illinois State; latter team kept itself in the game with 50 percent 3 point shooting but the Braves made 12 more free throws.

Note: back felt ok today.

Workouts: Thursday: lots of back rehab exercises; in between: 15 minute walk on the treadmill and 30 minutes on the bike (1 mile and 10 fake miles)

Friday: weights; pull ups 4 sets of 10, 4 sets of 5 (went well)

push ups: 4 sets of 25 lots of rehab

bench: 3 sets of 5 x 167

rows: 3 sets of 10 each arm (60)

curls: 3 sets of 10

shoulder presses: with belt; 2 sets of 10 x 93, 10 x 98 (much better)

Saturday stretch, deadlifts (10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 234, then 5 sets of 3 with 280), rehab, 15 min walk (1.1 miles), rehab, 30 min bike (10 fake miles)

Back feels reasonably good right now.

Digging back out.

Yes, we are still paying the price for the December/January wave, but things are much better …there will be less death in the near future.

And I am thinking about going to men’s basketball games again, with KN-95 of course.

Workout notes: I’ve had to cut back on the cycling; I think that I increased intensity and duration too quickly. So, it might be a warm up, rehab, short (30 minute) type of thing. I don’t feel that bad this evening.

And I am getting about a mile of walking every day, just going to and from work a couple of times. It isn’t much but I might deliberately extend this when the snow finally leaves.

Today, it was 16 minutes (5 miles), rehab with banded walks, etc., then 30 more minutes. (10 miles).

BU Women win!

In what has been a hard luck season with injuries and transfers, it was nice to see the team beat Evansville by 10.

I feel safe going to these; now where I feel safe enough to watch the men play at some point…maybe the game after next?

Workout: slacked..though I did some academic work this morning. 15 minutes, 30 minutes of rehab (clam shell, banded walks, some one legged forward bends) then 1 hour for 25 total fake miles (ok, perhaps 27?), all at medium intensity

Who is wrong?

I think Bill Maher gets some important things right. But he is spectacularly wrong here:

Yes, some are more vulnerable to COVID than others; in fact, I tell my students that I have to take precautions that might not make sense for them.

But…with his take on what President Biden said about the vaccines: the vaccines DID have 90-95 percent efficacy with respect to getting infected..PRE DELTA. New variants came along, and now, the efficacy with respect to infection appears to be 50 percent or so, though efficacy with respect to death is about 95 percent.

Now his swipe at the hypocrisy of leaders and politicians (bipartisan): ok, THAT was well deserved.

Maher also seems to discount morbidity; even if you are young, COVID can cause conditions that can become chronic. This country will need a lot of oxygen tanks in the near future.

Workout notes

some slight shoulder soreness…I wonder…seems to coincide with doing too many “to the floor” push-ups. Glute: tingles still there, though I did feel a pop and some relief last night..and I noticed that when I stretch the back in different ways, the pain is relieved or alternately, reproduced. So there is an interplay with the lower back.

Today: light stretching, deadlifts:

10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 234 (latter was more work than I had anticipated ..but no back pain, at all)

then 3 sets of 5 with 280, new set every 3 minutes, used a belt. These were ok, but were work. I had some in the tank when I finished, but..maybe next week, IF all goes well, seek a 4’th rep. on set 5?

Brrr…

Just getting caught up; due to a snowstorm we had classes online on Wednesday and Thursday; back to “normal” today. So, I went to my office in my sweats (short walk).

The snow was deep enough to get inside my tall boots; snow on the rug was from my socks.

Tonight: made a women’s game; hardly anyone there. Indiana State got so many second chance points; they raced to a 30-14 lead though Bradley cut it to 7 at the half.

But alas..back to a 65-47 lead going into the 4’th and the final ended 83-63. Rough year.

Yes, I hate cold weather, but the work..well. slowdown gave me time to relearn stuff and I enjoyed the math and interacting with students.

COVID 19

Down to 100 new cases a day…deaths were from the previous surge, including 2 in my age group and 4 in my spouse’s.

Workout notes first, note my Ned Flanders like neighbor used his snow blower to clear off part of our driveway and to do most of the sidewalk on the street! That is so sweet…really. I shoveled some more and it did set off the glute…though the cold, slippery walking didn’t help either. But the spinal twist stretch before bed helps, a LOT.

Shoulder: mostly ok.

Note: I’ve returned to the naproxen as it does take away a LOT of the body-ache.

Now about the workouts:

Wednesday: weights…it was COLD…managed 8 reps on the pull up bar; called it quits. strong wind, blowing snow..ugh.

Still got rehab and 4 sets of 25 push ups
bench press: 5 x 154, 5 x 154, 5 x 159, 1 x 181 (hips down); most I’ve done since April.

dead lift: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 234 then 8 inch: 10 x 270

Thursday 1:02 for 22 fake miles; 10 min medium then 15 reps of 1 hard, 1 easy, 4 reps of 1 easy, 4 medium, then finish medium, followed by a ton of rehab (clamshell, banded walks)

Friday Upper body: 4 sets of 5 singles, set of 10 (gloveless), sets of 5/5 singles to get to 50 reps, then 2 sets of 5 chins.

Inside: rehab and 4 sets of 25 push ups

bench: 3 sets of 5 x 161 hips down, 3 sets of 10 rows (60 each arm)

3 sets of 10 curls, 3 sets of 10 x 99 shoulder (better depth)