I love playing rugby in Winnipeg. The Saracens have an amazing facility just of Perimeter Rd. I don't know if they have a womens team, though. EDIT: The Winnipeg womens team is called the Wasps if you want to check them out.
Your abs probably look great because you're malnourished. Eat something! Unless you're a female. Than nevermind.
I have a slight physical deformity (<a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pectus_excavatum" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pectus_excavatum</a> <-----------the picture from wiki looks about twice as bad as what I had...and mine was corrected with surgery when I was around 4) which continued to grow in after the surgery which left me with a smaller chest cavity and just a plain small upper body. I also have an incredibly high metabolism, and according to my friends eat abnormal amounts of food at meals. But yes, I don't have much total weight not because of my own fault, but rather because of the cards that were dealt to me. I also have one kidney [also born with, no badass stabbing story unfortunately], which takes away a significant portion of my body weight [I think kidneys are supposed to weigh .5% of your body weight]. I actually look quite normal except for the scrawny chest cavity and shoulders which are slightly hunched from the pectus. If this came off a little defensive it's because you touched a nerve. I slowly have become more ineffective at sports because my breathing has worsened, which also effects weight lifting (oxygen fuels everything, I'm sure you know), which effects total mass. This has become worse recently and is pissing me off because I can't play soccer, basketball, and now even Ultimate at an effective level. You're right, I probably would have been a great girl though. The girls I know always ask how I stay so skinny.
You have a condition that literally translates as 'Hollow Chest' and you think you'd make a great girl? dude, fail. So I have some problems with my wrists and shoulders - Cubital tunnel syndrome and something else that they still haven't identified that gives me symptoms pretty similar to bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome. I can't for the mid term future do anything that puts heavy stress on my wrists, elbows or shoulders. And it's also explaining some of why I suck at Dips, Pullups and benchpress. I also have problems racking weights at the moment - 20kg weight plates are dangerous with my dodgy grip. I haven't pushed weight for about 3 months while I go through shit with the doctors, but when I stopped I was reasonably comfortably able to front squat 220lbs, deadlift 400lbs, bent over row 180lbs, incline leg press 650lbs - but I can't safely rack that much weight - and I'm worried about my ability to safely get out from under a failure if my grip or wrists stop cooperating, and the machine weights at the gyms I have available are shit and don't go that high. My cardio fitness is piss poor and my endurance isn't great. I'm spending some time on the treadmill - but holy fuck I'm bored with that shit. I've been trying to come up with some kind of program that's actually fun and productive without much joy. My balance is crap - so single leg squats are hilarious for onlookers, but not terribly productive. Body weight standard squats and lunges feel like they're working me at high reps, but I'd rather be doing more effort at lower reps - am I just screwed until I learn to balance, or fix my wrists? Any other suggestions for strength building in a way that's worthwhile but doesn't require racking weights or putting strain on my hands/arms/shoulders? Reverse Hypers and Swiss Ball Crunches are likely additions - but not sure where else to go, or if there is even anywhere to go given the limitations.
So lately, when I've been running, anything over I'd say 2 miles, and my lower back starts getting really sore. Like to the point where I want to walk hunched over after and I clearly can't keep running. If I'm doing intervals (usually 1:30 at 80%, 2:30 at 30%), I don't have a problem and I usually end up going 3-4 miles no problem, but if I am straight jogging for distance, my back starts acting up. I don't have back problems or soreness, and my posture isn't bad. I initially thought it was core strength/stability related, but I've been squatting/deadlifting/planking and seeing core improvements, but the problem persists. Any suggestions for exercises/stretches to alleviate this or just firm up my core in general to avoid it?
It's probably one of two things or a combination of both. 1. Core strength endurance. Deadlifts, planks, etc won't do much to help it. All you can do is run until you feel it hurting, rest, and the run a little longer the next time. Eventually, you'll get over it. 2. Hamstring inflexibility. If your hamstrings are tight, they will put the stress on your lower back. It's really common. Get a foam roller and use it on your calves, hamstrings, IT band, hip flexors, and glutes and you should notice a difference immediately. IRT flexibility, static stretching pre exercise is not a good idea. You should never stretch a cold muscle. They call the things you do before the exercise "warm ups" for a reason. It's because you need to warm up the muscle first. I prefer to do something that mimics the exercise I'm about to do, but at a lower intensity. If I'm going to be deadlifting, I do light deadlifts to warm up. If I'm going to be running, I'll go for a brisk walk, then I'll jog, then I'll sprint. If you want to do some static stretches, do them post exercise.
If it isn't some core weakness or tightness like lhprop said, it might be your form. A lot of people's goes out the window when they slow down to jog long distance. It's easier to maintain good form when you're sprinting because you HAVE to. With jogging it's easy to just plod along, letting everything go to hell.
To add on to what TX said, when you jog are you a heel striker? What part of your foot touches the ground first. If it is your heel, the impact goes into your knees and back, which could cause some pain.
I'm also going to throw in my hat and say that the lower back pain is probably due to muscle tightness, somewhere in the hips, glutes, hamstrings, etc. Do more stretching, foam rolling, and see if it helps. Like someone said, you should notice the difference immediately.
Tightness may be an issue, but he said it doesn't kick in until he gets to the two mile mark. The most likely culprit is a lack of muscle endurance. For endurance training, a few limiting factors are prevalent. At first, it's the cardio aspect of it. Newbies usually aren't able to take in the oxygen necessary to keep going. That usually goes away pretty quick with regular training. The more difficult aspect to overcome is the muscular endurance issue. Anyone can run a marathon. The trick is training your muscles to work continuously under load for the amount of time it takes to complete the distance. Notice I said "time it takes to complete the distance" and that's because time under stress is a much better way of measuring muscular endurance than distance. Regardless of how fast you run, you have to be able to run for the amount of time it takes you to complete the task. Sometimes the legs fatigue, sometimes the low back fatigues, and sometimes the shoulders and neck will fatigue. This is due to the fact that you're not used to having your body under stress for that long of a period and as you get tired, your form slacks off just like TX said. Then you're just a pile of mass lumbering down the street. Work on increasing your muscular endurance and you'll be able to maintain proper form for longer. Stretch/foam roll afterwards for recovery. Does that make sense or did I just ramble?
Going to Vail in January for a week, want to make sure I can ski every day. I'm doing deadlifts and squats to get ready; should I be doing high reps lower weight or lower reps and max weight to build leg strength?
I'm going to let you figure this one out by yourself, grasshopper. Your training should mimic the activity you want to improve at. If you're going to be running a marathon, you don't want to train your squat to a 1 rep max. If you want to jump as high as the moon, you're not going to want to train low weight with high reps. See where I'm going with this? Another more important factor may be the difference in elevation. I've heard good things about these. <a class="postlink" href="http://www.oxygen4energy.com/index.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.oxygen4energy.com/index.php</a> I've never personally tried them, but it would make sense that they'd help combat muscle fatigue at higher elevation.
You should include lunges, front squats and lateral jumps as well. Maybe even bump up the stationary bike's resistance and do long intervals with it. Something like 5 mins at the higher resistance, and then 2 at a very low resistance. Have fun in Vail, I'm hoping to be in Summit County myself sometime in early January.
Thanks for all the help and suggestions. I did some foam rolling before my cardio and it helped a bit, the tightness/stiffness came in a pretty predictable fashion, but it stayed at a manageable level, which was nice. It was annoying but nothing I couldn't work through. I also foam rolled after (I always thought they looked foolish, but damn they feel good). I'll keep y'all updated in the next few weeks as to progress.
So I started this P90X thing this week. I couldnt believe that as of day four my absolute hardest workout so far has been the YogaX. I knew my cardio would be bad, I made it through that and felt that it'll be easy to improve as the weeks go on, but I seriously could only do a half hour of the yoga on a hour and a half video. I never knew my flexibility was THAT bad. Ive done physical therapy for chronic back pain (kyphosis), and they have given me two or three hamstring stretches since they told me it they were really tight. I guess I would like to know some good ways to stretch these and other stretches that would loosen me up and improve my flexibility. I might be able to get one of those inflatable balls but other than that Im pretty limited here. As far as the system as a whole, as long as you stick to the schedule and don't slack I think it is more just about getting fat asses off their couch for more than 40 minutes a day.
Want portable PROTEIN TO THE MAXXXX?! New Recipe: Egg Pancakes Ingredients: 4 eggs 1 scoop choc protein powder almond butter -- peanut butter works too fruit -- banana, blueberries, whatev Mix eggs and protein powder and fruit for the "batter." Cook like you would a pancake. Top with almond butter. Eat. Just be careful not to overcook or it'll be super dry. I sort of discovered this one by accident, but it's great. I often make up a big batch and take it with me throughout the day. You're welcome.
About a half hour ago at the gym I was doing normal shoulder exercises and seemed to have pinched a nerve in my neck -in the back a little to the left. The pain has subsided a bit and now it's a dull constant pain that goes in a line down my back around my shoulder blades. It was much more sharp when I tried to to move about 15 minutes ago but I just took a shower and there's no blinding sharp pain anymore when I move. Any ideas as to what I should do? Just take an Advil? I don't think it's a pulled muscle since the pain is more concentrated to a small area, but I could be wrong.
I'll be getting my hands on a copy of P90X real soon. Reviews from this thread seem mixed to encouraging of the program, so I think I should be alright. What I'm really excited about is the nutritional thing, otherwise I'd just be eating bullshit. What I'm curious about is how the program is structured? After 90 days, is it useless? Or can you simply repeat and structure your workouts around the material. Thanks in advance