It was “spring forward” and I walked a bit, after PT and deadlifts.
Full PT. Deadlifts: 10 x 134, 10 x 190, 10 x 225 low (kind of disappointed in my position) 4 inch: 10 x 270. Felt good; still a bit too far forward. 8 inch: 5 x 300. Had more but felt myself getting sloppy. Farmer’s walk: 100 yd with 52 (44 + handle), 70 yard with 74 (44+22 + handle), two 35 yard with 87 (44+22 + 13.2 + handle).
The walk: the official map went haywire as I turned down main. Below is the course I travelled. The watch gave me 4.35 miles, which, ironically, is what the other pedometers gave me as well. That felt long; I gave myself 4.25 miles (13:30’ish pace) Some discomfort in the final mile.
Sigh…my dream was to be a professional football player, or at least, an athlete. I ran the steps, did the off season conditioning, lifted weights, did sprints and…alas…my best 40 yard dash was a bit under…SIX seconds. (a decent lineman’s time in those days was 5.2-5.3)
The above photo: when I played for Yokota High School in the Fall of 1974; I started on the varsity as a sophomore and that was to be my peak (small school). JV in Texas the next year, and mostly rode the bench my senior year (played just enough to letter).
How rotten of an athlete was I?
I failed the Air Force Academy’s physical fitness test (too slow on the shuttle run..not enough pull ups, etc. Barely passed West Point’s and Navy’s.
In the Navy…1982, I could run a sub 40 10K, sub 19 5K. I aced the Navy Flight cross country run (“PT-ed it”), the swim test, did well on pull ups, aced sit ups, passed the broad jump…but…flunked the obstacle course the first time I tried it..even though I practiced. I got it the second time, but still…best shape of my life, and I struggled with a task that required me to show some body control and agility…though the strength and endurance speed was there.
As a kid: I frequently failed PE tests…I got laughed at because I was one of two guys who could not climb the rope. The gym teachers berated me and ridiculed me.
When it came to athletic ability and kinesthetic intelligence, I was basically “special needs.”
But all of my effort to become an athlete (or at least be a 40th-50’th percentile high school athlete) drew me to running and weightlifting and general fitness stuff.
Fast forward to now.
Yep, that is my back. And the only way I can stay active in lifting and walking is to do a LOT of physical therapy…a LOT of it.
So, every day, prior to working out, I do about 30-35 minutes of back/glute/core/rotator cuff exercises..and if I switch from a lifting session to a walk, I do at least 10-15 minutes more (mostly hamstring stretches and “open book” stretches. I need to. A year ago, even walking 0.5 miles was painful.
And so, today, PT/stretching added 45 minutes to my workout and there are times when I resent that I need to do it. But the other choice: don’t stay active, and that isn’t an option.
Yes, yes, I know, a cancer patient or a heart patient would gladly trade places. That is why I need to remember to be grateful that my chronic condition can be made tolerable with some extra effort (and time) on my part.
So today: again 8:45 to about 11:45, with lifting taking 70 minutes (with farmer’s walks) and walking taking 60; the rest was PT (before, and in the lifting to walking transition and after walking) and time to put equipment up, change shoes, top, etc.
Today: full PT
deadlifts: 10 x 134, 10 x 190, 10 x 225 low handle
10 x 265 4 inch handle.
5 x 300 8 inch handle
Farmer’s walk: 100 feet: 52, 68 lb and 2 sets of 70 feet (to the garage door and back) with 79 lb (44 plate, 2 13.2 plates, (6 kg), 8 lb handle, .5 lb collar).
Then my 4 mile walk; started off as a 5K but felt good enough to make it 4 and get 25 miles for the week. That is what the PT gets me.
Note: this was the final day (March 5) for my old walking shoes. I started to use them on May 29, 2022. I’ve walked 822 miles since then, but given my commuter walks and my “to the stadium and back” walks, I’d say I put about 700 miles on these old shoes.
PT, deadlifts and a walk that included a hill; it was perhaps .5 miles too long (some discomfort; not terrible). Pretty weather. Weight: 196.5; ok given we had Indian last night.
PT: full; some of it was outside.
Deadlifts: focused on body position (imperfect, but getting better) and not bouncing the weight. 10 x 134, 10 x 190, 10 x 225 then 10 x 250 4 inch
Note the contrast with the body position in this older video:
I am trying not to be a drama queen, and trying not to live in the wreckage of the future, but it looks as if my sports era will come to an end very soon.
No, I am not going to sell my equipment; I plan on using it as long as it benefits my health and doesn’t harm it. And I will probably have to order a new set of bands as I broke my second one today. And I’ll be looking for new goggles and swim suits as swimming seems to be doing ok.
BUT: so much of my life, I wanted to either run faster, run longer, lift heavier, do more reps, etc. But now I need to focus on what is good for my health, and that means being risk adverse in my training and *always* leaving something in the tank.
I get my MRI tomorrow AND see my primary care doctor for my prostate and hopefully, finally some answers. What lies in store I do not know.
My guess: a benign enlarged prostate (which might contribute to the “swollen” feeling I sometimes get in my left pelvic/glute area) and some sort of bulging disk impinging on a nerve affecting my left side. (L-5?)
But it could be anything from piriformis/gluteus medius strain/tear, to broken pieces of disk, to prostate cancer, spinal tumor, etc.
The physical therapist says it isn’t spinal stenosis as my McKenzie press ups are way too high.
My symptoms: left leg, tingles down the side, full feeling when I do something like banded walks, some discomfort upon standing still for too long and walking: onset of glute pain after 15-20 minutes if I am stretched and warmed up, 5-10 minutes if I am not. Tingles in the left lower leg/foot at night if I don’t stretch first..knees bent is more comfortable.
Ok, there is still a lot I can do, and I can enjoy doing what I can. So what did I do today? I did all of my physical therapy along with:
pull ups: 10, 15, 10, 10, 10, 5 wide, 5 chins (strange I am 206-207..too heavy..but pull ups are going very well??? Improvement on my back?), push ups 30 sissy, 30 feet elevated, 30 sissy, 10 deficit
weights: 10 x 134, 5 x 156, 5 x 156, 10 x 134 (feet elevated)
4 sets of curls with 50
deadlifts: taking care to keep a flat back and use the glutes, hamstrings and quads:
10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 224 (these went well)
high handle (8 inch) 5 x 260, 5 x 280 (heavier belt) Rule: leave a lot in the tank. Can’t strain the lumbar.
The post lift McKenzie press ups had none of the warning left leg pain that I got when I did too much low handle or tried to arch when bench pressing.
Then a 1 mile walk; not my best as I got symptoms at .7-.8 miles but I got a mile.
Other tidbits: cutting back greatly on caffeine and spreading out my Naproxen dose (1 pill upon waking up, 1 after) and I have an oh-so-slight whine in my right shoulder.
I use an orthopedic cushion at games (watched Bradley softball split with Evansville yesterday with no ill effects)
Yesterday was sort of a rough day, glute/back wise…but my lower leg to foot joint and my knee ached slightly too, and, to be honest, it was not THAT painful; it was that I was ready to quit by the time I had walked home.
But today..and last night for that matter..better? Yes, a cold front moved in, and yes, I *probably* have an arthritic condition of some sort (it was diagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis at one time..and the diagnosis was withdrawn) so who the heck knows.
Part of it was that I was not stretching my piriformis in the “out” direction like I should, and perhaps I wasn’t doing as many office stretches as I should?
This might just be the “new me.”
Friday: upper body weights; 85 minutes. Did the full PT prior to going outside (sans the prone knee lifts): 50 single pull ups (10 seconds), 2 sets of 5; push ups were 30, 30 sissy, 30 elevated, 10 deficit.
Inside: 10 x 134, 5 x 174, 5 x 174, 5 x 176 bench press
3 sets of single arm rows.
3 sets of curls
3 sets of “almost upright/high incline” shoulder presses: 10 x 88 (too easy) 10 x 93, 10 x 98 (just right)
Today: full PT, deadlifts, PT/stretch, 1.15 mile walk.
deadlifts: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 224 (all beltless)
main set: 5 sets of 3 x 295 (3 minutes each).
Afterward, I did feel the left IT band on my press ups…but milder…I do have a PT condition to worry about too.
The sets of 295 were moderately challenging but not that hard. There was some lumbar being used but certainly not all. Need to stretch that left IT band.
The lifting was fine..even decent. But the glute…it hasn’t really regressed but I have not seen a big jump improvement that I initially saw. This was sort of “same as last week” though I suppose I need to recover from those ill advised single leg squats. And I need to stretch more; 3 times a day isn’t quite enough.
Workout: fine.
pull ups: 2 sets of 10 singles, 2 sets of 5, 2 sets of 10, then 2 sets of 5 (wide, chin)
outside: band walks, knee raises, sit to stand (2-3 each) shoulder stuff, 30 sissy, 30 feet elevated. That took 40-45 minutes
Inside: 2 sets of 20 push ups, with spinal balance, side leg lifts, side plank/clam shell, one legged bridges, dead bug, prone knee raises. Total: 15 minutes Just before 7 am.
Downstairs: deadlifts: (30-35 minutes); 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 234 (low) (modest challenge)
10 x 256 4 inch (kind of easy), 10 x 295 8 inch (most challenging of the day) ; resisted temptation to try 300 and that was good.
Afterward: yoga, stretch; felt that “down the side of the left leg” sensation on the press ups (past 2-3 weeks..sometime) but it did not last.
Some tingles on the walks to and from work; perhaps not enough stretching?
No, I don’t have anything to brag about. But I WAS feeling pretty good and today’s walk: a bit risky and I felt pain at 1.2 miles; I did two super quick (as in 15-20 second) stretch ‘er out breaks which helped.
Agenda: stretch:
Deadlifts: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 234 (all good)
Main set (on the 3 mintues) 3, 3, 3, 3, 4 x 290. All were ok; declined a 5’th rep attempt on the last set as rep 4 I could feel the lumbar start to get recruited into the lift.
Stretch;activate..(felt the left IT side/thigh on the first McKenzie)
walk: 1.5 miles at 14:55; kind of damp.
More PT and finish with a yoga series. One leg chair and one leg tree: MUCH better on the weak leg; undeniable progress.
Personal: 2 years ago, I set up my outdoor pull up bar and introduced my spotter bench press bench a few days later….I already had rubber 45 lb plates and a trap bar.
1 year ago: found out I was eligible for the vaccine…got it 2 days later. Oh happy day!
2 hour main workout: not that much but I tried out a few things:
Full PT prior to deadlifts; most exercises prior to even going outside.
Outside: 50 singles every 10 seconds for pull ups; set of 5 wide, set of 5 chins.
Push ups: 30, 30 sissy (fell off the bar once), 30 feet elevated, 10 deficit
PT outside: knee raises, banded walks, 1 leg stands.
Outside stuff took about 35-40 minutes. PT prior took about 20.
Then inside: deadlifts: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 224 low (no belt)
4 inch: 10 x 256
8 inch: 10 x 290. All this took 40 minutes or so. One set every 5 minutes or thereabouts.
Then the experimentation: I used the adjustable bench to try something that was not quite a shoulder press but more than an incline: 10 x 88, 10 x 110 went reasonably smoothly. Decent ROM, but not a shoulder press but less stress on the lumbar.
Life of an old goat 