haha
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Many of you know that I have a Concept2 rower in my apartment, and it has been a heavily used mainstay of my attempts to keep fit for several years. I even found a way to keep using it when I was waiting for my hip surgery date.
But no longer. About last Memorial Day my back started hurting, and for a while i couldn't even stand up straight. I know that rowing had something to do with the back issue, because it started during a rowing session and didn't really let up. I saw a Physical Medicine MD, and he sent me to an excellent and very encouraging Physical Therapist. She gave me exercises and a few stretches, and for 2 months this was the extent of my fitness routine. I finally got a lot of relief and they discharged me from treatment, with the understanding that I could come back if needed. The Doc said that it should be fine for me to start rowing again, but the Therapist felt that rowing was a pretty heavy stressor to the back.
Rowing has been my go-to on bad weather days, and also when I am lazy, because I have it grooved. I used toi climb on and an hour or so later climb off having rowed 10 km and spent roughly 500 kc.
To cut to the point, I think that may be over. Every time I have tried to row even short distances since my injury last summer, my lower back starts hurting in the same way. I really do not want to do there again. As many of you have experienced, back pain sucks.
So I looked back into my past and remembered something i did very steadily in the 80s. It is called HeavyHands, a loose system of exercises popularized by a psychiatrist named Leonard Schwartz. Basically, you exercise your upper body with fairly light hand weights while walking, jogging, dancing or doing whatever activivity you want at the same time. I seems to fit my need, it does not hurt my back, it keeps me lean, and although it is harder to get out and get started during ugly weather, it is possible to get a full workout in an apartment the modest size of mine. My goal is about 35 miles/week. which is monitored with my Fitbit. It involves friends whose astounding feats are shared to help shame me into getting going even when I ame lazy. I have a very hilly neighborhood, so I typicallymight log 60~80 floors during a workout.
Rightly or mistakenly, I think that the recent emphasis on strength workouts is likely misplaced, so I always want aerobic type workouts at mostly moderate intensity. Pumping the handweights make a steep hill seem steeper, and I will typically be blowing fairly hard when I reach the top.
Anyway, I hope this works out for me, It has cost almost nothing to get equipped, and no space or storage problem. Right now, i expect this to be my new program, and I hope injury or whatever does not cause a revision. Dr Schwartz is dead now, but there are things on the web, and his books are available used. Some are pretty expensive, which to me is testimony to the usefullness of this exercise form.
Ha
But no longer. About last Memorial Day my back started hurting, and for a while i couldn't even stand up straight. I know that rowing had something to do with the back issue, because it started during a rowing session and didn't really let up. I saw a Physical Medicine MD, and he sent me to an excellent and very encouraging Physical Therapist. She gave me exercises and a few stretches, and for 2 months this was the extent of my fitness routine. I finally got a lot of relief and they discharged me from treatment, with the understanding that I could come back if needed. The Doc said that it should be fine for me to start rowing again, but the Therapist felt that rowing was a pretty heavy stressor to the back.
Rowing has been my go-to on bad weather days, and also when I am lazy, because I have it grooved. I used toi climb on and an hour or so later climb off having rowed 10 km and spent roughly 500 kc.
To cut to the point, I think that may be over. Every time I have tried to row even short distances since my injury last summer, my lower back starts hurting in the same way. I really do not want to do there again. As many of you have experienced, back pain sucks.
So I looked back into my past and remembered something i did very steadily in the 80s. It is called HeavyHands, a loose system of exercises popularized by a psychiatrist named Leonard Schwartz. Basically, you exercise your upper body with fairly light hand weights while walking, jogging, dancing or doing whatever activivity you want at the same time. I seems to fit my need, it does not hurt my back, it keeps me lean, and although it is harder to get out and get started during ugly weather, it is possible to get a full workout in an apartment the modest size of mine. My goal is about 35 miles/week. which is monitored with my Fitbit. It involves friends whose astounding feats are shared to help shame me into getting going even when I ame lazy. I have a very hilly neighborhood, so I typicallymight log 60~80 floors during a workout.
Rightly or mistakenly, I think that the recent emphasis on strength workouts is likely misplaced, so I always want aerobic type workouts at mostly moderate intensity. Pumping the handweights make a steep hill seem steeper, and I will typically be blowing fairly hard when I reach the top.
Anyway, I hope this works out for me, It has cost almost nothing to get equipped, and no space or storage problem. Right now, i expect this to be my new program, and I hope injury or whatever does not cause a revision. Dr Schwartz is dead now, but there are things on the web, and his books are available used. Some are pretty expensive, which to me is testimony to the usefullness of this exercise form.
Ha
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