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.
Nevertheless, the back felt ok and I was able to walk outside a bit.
2:10 worth of working out from 8:30 to 10:40.
Warm up, back work. Included spinal balance, 1 leg bridges
Dead lifts: warm up: 10 x 134, 10 x 184
Transition: 10 x 234
Main set: 5 sets of 3 x 290 with a new one every 3 minutes I suppose these were not “easy”, but they were not hard. I did cinch up that belt though.
PT session 1: standing knee raises, sit to stand on one leg then upstairs
Walk: 16 minutes for 1.1 miles. Felt GREAT for 10 minutes, ok for 3, and last 3, felt minor symptoms but, still, my best yet. I think the dead lifts engage the glutes.
PT again: this time, fire hydrants, banded walks (outside with a new blue band), dead bug, prone knee lfits
Yoga: the old Warrior 2, triangle, pyramid, revolved triangle, reverse warrior, twice on each side.
Then tree: still a struggle on the left, but not as bad as it once was.
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)
Cases are falling; the indoor mask mandate (which is often not followed here) will go away on Feb. 28; our society is “over covid.”
But COVID is not over us:
⚠️SUB-VARIANT SURGING—Omicron 2.0 is rising—the #BA2 sublineage of #Omicron has *tripled* in one week, dislodging the old Omicron from total dominance—BA2 now at 3.6% and climbing fast. Expect to be dominant by March. Omicron reinfections are possible. 🧵 https://t.co/amAjDWuN6Zpic.twitter.com/dU8ewDhii1
And so the careless (and the immuno-compromised) will discover this; some the hard way. The medical profession is already weakened by burned out nurses and doctors…so …and those who want open, unmasked schools, might find that the increasingly understaffed schools don’t have enough healthy staff to stay open.
And so it goes…enjoy the lull (relative lull, anyway) while it lasts.
Me: N-95, KN-95 and KF-94 masks, choosy about things (no being unmasked indoors around strangers) and I’ll withdraw from large gatherings when local cases/infection rates are high.
We are all Florida now.
Workout notes pull ups, push ups, rehab, deadlifts. Glute pain: much reduced but still there.
I started with 25 push ups, 40 single pull ups outside (10 seconds), set of 10, set of 5 wide, 5 chin ups, 30 sissy push ups, inside for 25 more, then 2 sets of chest-tap push ups.
Deads; 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 234, then 10 x 280 high.
Life of an old goat 