lifting_heavy_things | Weekly post: What did you do?

I did many handstands against walls!

I worked on my pull-up! Now I can do one again, I would like to be able to do more than one!

Not sure if it falls within the "lifting heavy things" remit, but today I went to the park and tried Tabata sprints for the first time ever (OMG).

While I was there, I progressed from "handstands against walls" to "handstands against trees."

I feel like I'm regressing to a childhood I never actually had (when I was a kid, I was far too mal-coordinated and terrified to dare try any of these things).

Go, pull-ups, go!

This makes me very happy to read. :)

Tabata anythings are truly, truly ridiculous. GO YOU.

Oh yes. To be accurate, I should say that it started as "Tabata sprints", and then rapidly progressed to "Tabata slow jogs with gasping".

But it was actually kind of fun.

I can now report that running on turf in barefoot shoes is pretty awesome, and my sometimes-cranky knees seem to be okay with it so far.

Aaah barefoot shoes? Which ones, if you don't mind my asking? I'm trying to track down a pair of Saucony Kinvaras (that don't come in bright sodding pink) because I tried landing forefoot on a whim yesterday, and miracles of miracles! My shins don't hurt.

I mean I'm kind of pissed off b/c I just spent 200$ on a pair of Saucony Paramounts and my shins were still twinging, but running forefoot and bam! Could've used that 200$ to do something useful, like I dunno - eat.

And oh man, my Tabata squats at Crossfit ended up as 'Tabata squats with copious amounts of verbal abuse hurled at grinning trainer'. Amusement was had by all. Or at least by him.

Aaah barefoot shoes? Which ones, if you don't mind my asking?

Vivo Barefoots, but DO NOT buy any this year -- they switched the factories making the soles, and ended up with a lot with very stiff, non-barefoot-y soles. Apparently this is a Known Issue and will be fixed by the end of the year; I'm thanking my lucky stars my old ones are holding out.

I've heard raves about the Vibram Fivefingers if you're okay with the separate-toe thing (and if your toes fit them). And there are a bunch of websites on barefoot running if you want reviews of different brands.

This is my first venture into running, but I walk a lot (no car, enjoy walking) and switched to barefoot shoes because my knees were much, much happier with them.

P.S.: a post on barefoot shoes is on my list of "3W4DW Posts I've Promised To Write At Some Point", so if you have any specific questions or things you'd like to know, please ask!

P.P.S. In this morning's ramblings across the net, I ran into this re: the Kinvaras:

http://www.livingbarefoot.info/2010/05/minimal-inconceivable/

Hm! FASCINATIN', as the good doctor would say.

I have heard about the Fivefingers! My concern mainly with those is fit (tiny heel and ridiculously wide feet here) and the complete lack of cushioning - I have no doubt that biomechanically they're probably the most 'barefoot' shoe of all, but I really doubt that the calves and ligaments in my feet are strong enough to race semi-long distances in two/three months wearing them without completely shattering my legs. I'm hoping that even if Saucony's jumping on the barefoot + running = profit! bandwagon, as long as the forefoot has enough padding and the sole has flex, it might work as a transitional/speed shoe. I've tried Nike Frees before, and the forefoot's just so un-padded that impact shockwaved up everything and worsened my shin splints, and the heel's still pretty thick.

I've heard good things about Newton shoes too, but I've got a feeling that if they run close to 200$ in the US, they're gonna run at least 275$ (!) before tax up here in Canada. One good thing about the Kinvaras is that the forefoot drop from the heel is about the same as the Newtons - I think 4mm? - which sounds promising.

I've never heard of Vivo shoes, though - are they an American brand? and if you wrote a writeup that would be awesome and no doubt informative!

I really doubt that the calves and ligaments in my feet are strong enough to race semi-long distances in two/three months wearing them without completely shattering my legs.

Can't comment on running, but what I found was that switching to the Vivos (which are very very minimalist) forced me to shift my gait completely when walking. I found that if I walked as I'd normally walk in shoes, it was uncomfortable as hell; if I reset my brain to think I was walking barefoot on a hard surface (most of my walking happens on London pavements), I rolled through my feet in a different way and it became fine.

(Apparently there's some interesting research suggesting that barefoot walking produces less impact on the joints, for that reason.)

I tried barefoot shoes initially because I was trying to correct the alignment of my legs while walking to fix my knee problems, and found that it was easiest to do when I was wearing an ancient pair of shoes with very thin, flat soles. The barefoot shoes turned out to be even better, and my knees are now fine a good 95% of the time.

It'll be interesting to see how the shoes work for occasional sprints on turf, but indications so far are positive.

So, yeah, I suspect it depends whether you want to try a full-on "barefoot" mode, which will probably require shifting your running gait quite a bit and is generally a big change. Or go for a shoe that encourages forefoot landing but has enough cushioning where you want it.

Individual choice, individual needs, YMMV, etc.

Woot! I hear you on the childhood thing. Part of the fun of what I'm doing now is getting to say a long-distance "fuck you" to the gym classes (and a few specific teachers) that traumatized me in my younger days.

Rock on with the pull-ups and handstands. That's awesome.

Part of the fun of what I'm doing now is getting to say a long-distance "fuck you" to the gym classes (and a few specific teachers) that traumatized me in my younger days.

OH HELL YEAH *g*.

Part of the fun of what I'm doing now is getting to say a long-distance "fuck you" to the gym classes (and a few specific teachers) that traumatized me in my younger days.

Oh yes this. Although for me it's not really trying to be good at the specific exercises I was bad at, but more about realizing that I can be successfully athletic by doing things that work for me, instead of the stuff on the PE curriculum that didn't.

I can be successfully athletic by doing things that work for me, instead of the stuff on the PE curriculum that didn't.

So true. No more ball games! No more endless running in circles!

I don't have to throw anything or catch anything! Or be picked last for a team!

After twanging my shoulder last week, I tried lifting on Monday and made it worse. Whee.

So, no more lifting this week. I did pick up some 15 lb weights and carry them up and down our front steps a few times, though. Yay?

Woe for unhealed twanging! Yay for steps!

(Actually, it might not be a bad idea to give your upper body a rest while your shoulder recovers, and just do leg stuff on the steps.)

Yeah, that's the conclusion I came to as well. Shoulder's much better today so I'm hoping I'll be good to lift next week.

I had taken a week off, last week--due to bad sleeping habits and, I'm ashamed to say, sheer laziness--so for this week, I dropped back a level in the NRoL4W phase 1 program to ease myself back in, and did two of those workouts this week (somewhat lighter weight, 2 sets of 12 for most exercises). And I swam almost a half-mile yesterday.

Two weeks ago I was talking lifting with my Mr, and I mentioned how hard it was to go very deep into a squat, and he asked me to demonstrate--and then he told me to point my toes out a little. And wow--what a difference in my squat! So much a difference that this morning, even at the lighter weight than I'd been doing, I literally could not finish my second set of 12. I made it to 10 reps. Holy cow.

1 hour on the exercise bike
30 minutes playing ball with the dog
8 turkish get-ups with a 2 pound weight

10 toe-touches
12 sprinter-stretches
15 sitting stretches
12 knee push-ups
10 sit-ups, fingers laced
10 leg raises
30 flutter kicks

5 'boxing' with a resistence band
5 up-down arm pulls with a resistence band
5 leg presses with a resistence band
5 horizontal arm pulls with a resistence band

Went to the gym twice, did my back training and weight machines. No running: It's too hot. Did only the upper body part of my home exercise program because of not enough time and too much laziness. Did not do the yoga/pilates class either after a trainer told me at a party that the usual trainer was scared of my gasping and stumbling around. Hrmp. Better get class-shaped on my own. One of these days. Weeks. Years.

Played some games with the machine circle at the gym, which frustrates me a lot. It's these machines (link to company site), where you can change weights with the press of a button. It is also a circle, and you are expected to do each machine for a minute or else. One minute is at least 12 reps, and going slower will not make it easier. As I had the circle to myself on both occasions (I love the football world cup), I ignored that "or else". Did one round in my own time, doing 12 reps on every machine, then set everything 2-3 kg heavier and did "to fail". Still managed 6 to 8 on everything. Did two supersets of 7 to 10 rep two days later. I am quite content with this. Now I need to find if I can keep it up when I do *not* have the circle to myself.

On the back exercises I went to 9 kg on the first (3*12 reps), 6 on the second (4*15 reps), and 4 on the third (3*12 reps).

Home routine progressed to 2*10 for the chest-in-the-hall pushups, 2*5 for the dinner-table-chinups, and 2*7 for the chair dibs. Push-ups are getting within reach!

And to make a good week perfect, the exercise has made the pain in my shoulder go away.

I'm very happy with this week, but I have my doubts about being able to keep up with it. And I would like to do sprints again, but the treadmill is not made for intervall training, and it's too hot outside for anything but a steady walk. Even the joggers are coming out only after dusk.

Push-ups are getting within reach!

\o/ It's so exciting when you get that sense that these things are actually possible.

I did the last two workouts for Phase 4 of NRoL4W, which works out well timing-wise for going on vacation for ten days. Fortunately, my vacation buddy is also a gym rat and we're both looking at the island YMCA with intent. So, I may just take several days to let the connective tissues recover, then maybe use the new gym as an excuse to try some new exercises.

I'm finally getting some good depth on my squats, thanks largely to the stretches shown here. I do BW squats as part of my warmup and this last phase of NRoL4W included Bulgarian "Ow, My Butt" Split Squats, and it's amazing how much more the lower depth works things. I actually had to drop weight a little on the BSS, but had a much more intense workout.

Pilates continues to go well. It's a nice addition to the weight lifting routine, and even after only a few weeks, I'm seeing some benefit from the postural awareness.

thanks largely to the stretches shown here

Oh, now, that looks like an interesting blog ...

*settles in to read*

Weekly post: What did you do?

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