What was Your Workout Today?

[eta2020]

Biked 20 miles half of it along birthplace of American Revolution: Minuteman Park. Lexington, Lincoln and Concord Mass.

Minute Man National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)

I have 6 more years of work to go....just practising for having more time off.

 

[ERhoosier]

OK, OK... so I'm an amateur!

Pedal time- It's all good

 

[athena53]

Pedal time- It's all good

I agree! I'm 61 and remember my grandmothers at this age. They were nice ladies with fluffy waists and big laps and they did NOT ride bicycles. I'm grateful that our perception of what's healthy and possible at this age has changed since then.

 

[Ronstar]

Giving my riding mower a rest. Cutting grass for 2+ hours with a push mower

 

[antmary]

Today was day 6 of physical therapy on the repaired shoulder. Still hurts like all get out

Derslickmeister, my brother had surgery on his rotator cuff - twice - and he is much better two years on.

My shoulder has been hurting for 3 months - after I lifted something that was too heavy I have been in physical therapy for three weeks, and am hoping that I don't have to have surgery. Does anyone have experience with rotator cuff injuries healing with just exercise?

 

[W2R]

Derslickmeister, my brother had surgery on his rotator cuff - twice - and he is much better two years on.

My shoulder has been hurting for 3 months - after I lifted something that was too heavy I have been in physical therapy for three weeks, and am hoping that I don't have to have surgery. Does anyone have experience with rotator cuff injuries healing with just exercise?

I have rotator cuff problems now and then, and they are just unbelievably painful. So far they have healed after just resting the shoulder with no more weight lifting for a few weeks or more.

Since most weight lifting machines do rely upon the shoulders, injuries like this set me back quite a bit in my weightlifting efforts. I still do not lift as much as I could with the machines that seem to bother my shoulders the most, such as the lateral pull-down machine and the fly machine.

 

[eytonxav]

Derslickmeister, my brother had surgery on his rotator cuff - twice - and he is much better two years on.

My shoulder has been hurting for 3 months - after I lifted something that was too heavy I have been in physical therapy for three weeks, and am hoping that I don't have to have surgery. Does anyone have experience with rotator cuff injuries healing with just exercise?

I think exercising with elastic tubing can heal a lot of shoulder related problems, especially strains. Surgery may be needed for major tears, but often times PT can cure most pains. Also, not all shoulder injuries are rotator cuff. I would try to avoid surgery if possible.

 

[antmary]

I have rotator cuff problems now and then, and they are just unbelievably painful. So far they have healed after just resting the shoulder with no more weight lifting for a few weeks or more.

Since most weight lifting machines do rely upon the shoulders, injuries like this set me back quite a bit in my weightlifting efforts. I still do not lift as much as I could with the machines that seem to bother my shoulders the most, such as the lateral pull-down machine and the fly machine.

Thanks for this, W2R...This situation is certainly making me more aware of my body!

 

[antmary]

I think exercising with elastic tubing can heal a lot of shoulder related problems, especially strains. Surgery may be needed for major tears, but often times PT can cure most pains. Also, not all shoulder injuries are rotator cuff. I would try to avoid surgery if possible.

I think the elastic tubing is working well...I just have to make sure not to pull into the pain, and take it easy.

 

[misanman]

DW had a rotator cuff injury where three tendons/ligaments (I don't know the difference) tore loose from their bone attachments. This happened when she tried to "catch herself" in a fall caused by the failure of some exercise equipment at the gym. She is at or near 100% after surgical repair. I don't see how this kind of injury would repair itself. But if it's just a muscle strain, then it seems like it would get better over time. Our experience is that rotator cuff surgery is not for the faint of heart. To make matters worse, she came down with shingles during recovery.

 

[Leonidas]

Does anyone have experience with rotator cuff injuries healing with just exercise?

I've been working on mine for two years. Actually, my trainer, my massage therapist, and I, have all been working on it together - we've done a great job so far.

My expectations of what I want my shoulders to be capable of is a lot more athletic than the average person. But, I had made great improvement in range of motion, external rotation, and pain free movement within four - six months.

Shoulders, when healthy, are amazing joints. They are capable of an incredible range of motion, but they tend to be weak if not properly developed. Most modern humans have ruined their shoulders by sitting at a desk all day, and some of us have also done more damage by misusing them in athletic endeavors.

The good news is that humans are amazing, adaptable, healing machines, and much of the musculoskeletal dysfunction that people deal with is preventable and fixable. But you should find a good trainer, PT, and/or massage therapist to help you fix it.

When I started two years ago, I sometimes found it difficult to raise anything more than a few pounds to shoulder height. Last week, I held an 80-pound barbell fully extended overhead and walked the length of a basketball court, and the week before that I did 60 overhead squats with a 55-pound barbell. Amazing improvement, but it took two years of effort, and a lot of help to get there.

 

[antmary]

DW had a rotator cuff injury where three tendons/ligaments (I don't know the difference) tore loose from their bone attachments. This happened when she tried to "catch herself" in a fall caused by the failure of some exercise equipment at the gym. She is at or near 100% after surgical repair. I don't see how this kind of injury would repair itself. But if it's just a muscle strain, then it seems like it would get better over time. Our experience is that rotator cuff surgery is not for the faint of heart. To make matters worse, she came down with shingles during recovery.

Misanman,
Glad to hear about your wife...shingles is not for the faint of heart either!

 

[antmary]

I've been working on mine for two years. Actually, my trainer, my massage therapist, and I, have all been working on it together - we've done a great job so far.

My expectations of what I want my shoulders to be capable of is a lot more athletic than the average person. But, I had made great improvement in range of motion, external rotation, and pain free movement within four - six months.

Shoulders, when healthy, are amazing joints. They are capable of an incredible range of motion, but they tend to be weak if not properly developed. Most modern humans have ruined their shoulders by sitting at a desk all day, and some of us have also done more damage by misusing them in athletic endeavors.

The good news is that humans are amazing, adaptable, healing machines, and much of the musculoskeletal dysfunction that people deal with is preventable and fixable. But you should find a good trainer, PT, and/or massage therapist to help you fix it.

When I started two years ago, I sometimes found it difficult to raise anything more than a few pounds to shoulder height. Last week, I held an 80-pound barbell fully extended overhead and walked the length of a basketball court, and the week before that I did 60 overhead squats with a 55-pound barbell. Amazing improvement, but it took two years of effort, and a lot of help to get there.

Leonidas,

Thanks for this; it gives me hope. Hopefully, it is "just" a muscle strain, and won't require surgery. It happened when I was lifting a tub of soil amendments in the garden. I kept thinking..."just a little bit further..." Then, my muscles and shoulder really starting hurting the next day.

All these years, I have been healthy, and have taken my body for granted - it's a humbling experience to come face to face with this. Working with a PT and massage therapist sounds good. I just need to stay away from the pain so I don't re-strain or re-injure my shoulder.

 

[Moscyn]

As usual I spend at least 1 hour doing cardiovascular in the gym. After 20 minutes of step machine, I felt real pangs of hunger and floaty feeling. I decided to change machines and cycle for another 25 minutes. Soon my adrenalin started kicking in and I did not feel hungry and I decided to jog on the thread mill. Good workout! It was so tempting to stop exercising when I felt hungry in the beginning.

 

[eytonxav]

Ant Mary and others may find this article interesting regarding shoulder issues:

The Shoulder Part 1: Impingement Syndrome

 

[TrvlBug]

After several months of on and off shoulder pain, not caused by a specific injury, I finally went to the sports med dr. after severe shoulder pain after deadheading my roses. Diagnosis was shoulder impingement…had cortisone shot and after no exercises for 5 days, am now doing 3 shoulder cuff exercises 3x/day…using band, internal and external rotation and using weights, supraspinatus.

Dr. says I can start weights (will start today) as well as my TRX classes (will start in July), but to take it easy and work into it. He's very aggressive in his rehab techniques which I found out when he did my knee surgery about 7-8 years ago.

 

[W2R]

I am still lifting weights every MWF, although I only lifted a total of 15.3 tons yesterday as opposed to my all time high of 20.5 tons on June 2nd. Still, it felt just right. For some reason, the arm curl machine was giving me trouble although it never does. So, I lowered the weight to about half. Must be something going on there. I'll see how that goes on Friday.

I skipped my Monday workout due to a routine doctor appointment that afternoon. My doctor was absolutely thrilled with my lab work and blood pressure, all of which seem to be normal or better than normal right now, with medications. I think my workouts were responsible. My doctor said "You are very healthy!", but being a gentleman he did not add the understood, "for your age".

 

[keegs]

I thought.... an interesting article in today's paper about the benefits of putting the pedal to the metal with your workouts. I think mixing it up, that's to say, changing your exercise routine might provide similar results.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/...on=inside-nyt-region&WT.nav=inside-nyt-region

 

[Leonidas]

I think this excerpt is spot on:

Once a routine is familiar, your sympathetic nervous system grows blasé, he said, holds back adrenaline and doesn’t alert the CRTC2 proteins, and few additional adaptations occur.

The good news is that “intensity is a completely relative concept,” Dr. Conkright said. If you are out of shape, an intense workout could be a brisk walk around the block.

When I look around the gym at all the wrong stuff going on, lack of intensity and doing the same routine daily are the two that are very disheartening. At least the people trashing their joints with improper exercise are usually doing it with insane intensity.

One of the first things I learned when I got serious about this is that we don't work-out or exercise, we are training. We do exercises as part of the training, and those exercises are grouped together in workouts that are planned to have an effect, and those workouts are part of a program that has cycles. We are training our bodies to be able to respond when we want them to. Exercise without a plan is just movement that may or may not accomplish something.

I thought.... an interesting article in today's paper about the benefits of putting the pedal to the metal with your workouts. I think mixing it up, that's to say, changing your exercise routine might provide similar results.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/...on=inside-nyt-region&WT.nav=inside-nyt-region

 

[W2R]

And, along those lines, in the interest of mixing it up, I spent my whole workout yesterday riding the seated elliptical.

To cope with the tedium,

(1) I played with the intensity settings from time to time,
(2) I listened to the TV using my headphones (boring!), and
(3) I even tried holding onto the arm thingies, but that almost seemed like cheating because then I wasn't using my legs as much.

I'm not sure why weight lifting never seems this tedious. When I lift weights I just focus on my breathing and form, count my reps, and almost immediately zone out. Can't seem to find that with cardio (yet).

 

[eytonxav]

I'm not sure why weight lifting never seems this tedious. When I lift weights I just focus on my breathing and form, count my reps, and almost immediately zone out. Can't seem to find that with cardio (yet).

Spoken like a true weight lifter; I totally agree

 

[keegs]

And, along those lines, in the interest of mixing it up, I spent my whole workout yesterday riding the seated elliptical.

To cope with the tedium,

(1) I played with the intensity settings from time to time,
(2) I listened to the TV using my headphones (boring!), and
(3) I even tried holding onto the arm thingies, but that almost seemed like cheating because then I wasn't using my legs as much.

I'm not sure why weight lifting never seems this tedious. When I lift weights I just focus on my breathing and form, count my reps, and almost immediately zone out. Can't seem to find that with cardio (yet).

I hear you about boring.. best remedy I find for that is to have someone to talk to or maybe some really good tunes. I usually spend a lot more time on the treadmill or stair master than any one weight lifting activity and it can get boring.

I find it's more of an effort to mix up the routine. There's a known amount of pain and effort with repeating the same exercises I guess and mixing it up interrupts that predictability. I think keeping your body guessing so to speak really produces better results.

Along the same lines, working with the half ball adds the extra effort of staying balanced.

 

[Derslickmeister]

3 months removed from rotator cuff surgery, I installed two new ceiling fans today

 

[antmary]

Ant Mary and others may find this article interesting regarding shoulder issues:

The Shoulder Part 1: Impingement Syndrome

Thanks for this, DFW!

 

[antmary]

3 months removed from rotator cuff surgery, I installed two new ceiling fans today

That's great news Derskickmeister...it gives me hope that a rotator cuff remedy is just around the corner.