40 aint no joke - General fitness thread

[GORDON]

I know my joints are looking forward to a break. Some days I feel like I am pushing myself right to the edge of injury.

Provided you know exactly where the injury line is drawn and don't slip, that's fine. Life is much more fun when you do things an inch away from out of control anyhow.

I know I am going to have to tone down the squat sled a bit. Pushing 3x12x340 and I am getting this sharp little pain in the muscle in the back of my left leg. Going to drop down to 280/300 until the vacation... I don't need a leg muscle tear right before the scuba diving.

[Malcolm]

Second place, bitches.

[TheCatt]

Sigh.

Went rock climbing Wednesday. After 3rd climb, spent the rest of the time on the mat writihing in shoulder pain. It finally abated a few hours later.

[GORDON]

I went on my dive trip at 203 pounds.... 13 pounds from my goal, but still down over 40, overall. I felt very good, physically.

Two weeks without hitting the gym or really following my diet.... I suspected I was going to in the neighborhood of 215 this morning.... but only 209. Whew.

The hiking around Universal Oralndo and hauling scuba gear at various springs in Florida helped balance the actual 2-meals-a-day that were, more often than not, hamburgers and fries and sugar Cokes.

So diet and gym is back on today.

[TheCatt]

I quit eating carbs again on Saturday. Sigh.

[GORDON]

I felt pretty good in the gym this morning. A couple weeks off did my joints and tendons good.

[TheCatt]

My elbows ache, and there are shooting pains in my left shoulder-triceps area. I think I need a doctor.

[GORDON]

I went at about 85%, but still had a good sweat. Mostly, as before, I need to drop a lot of fat.

[Alhazad]

Can run 2, sometimes 3 blocks before stopping now, and my legs no longer burn as much. However, now my knees and mostly ankles get weak and wobbly. Hoping that'll improve.

My elbows ache, and there are shooting pains in my left shoulder-triceps area. I think I need a doctor.

Are you ok?

[Malcolm]

Can run 2, sometimes 3 blocks before stopping now, and my legs no longer burn as much. However, now my knees and mostly ankles get weak and wobbly. Hoping that'll improve.

Mine damn near buckled a few times when I started.

[TheCatt]

Can run 2, sometimes 3 blocks before stopping now, and my legs no longer burn as much. However, now my knees and mostly ankles get weak and wobbly. Hoping that'll improve.

Congrats on the running improvement! You may want to look into body weight exercises (no equipment needed) to help strength those muscles.

My elbows ache, and there are shooting pains in my left shoulder-triceps area. I think I need a doctor.

Are you ok?

No. I think I pulled or tore or something'd a tricep. And I have a history of joint issues.

On the other hand, I did get belay certified today!

[GORDON]

Can run 2, sometimes 3 blocks before stopping now, and my legs no longer burn as much. However, now my knees and mostly ankles get weak and wobbly. Hoping that'll improve.

Hey, that's awesome. The biggest hurdle is actually getting yourself out the door doing something.

One of my fave motivational posters at my gym is the one that says, "No matter how frustrated you might be, you're still lapping the person on the couch."

Or something like that.

I also like the one, "Stronger today than yesterday."

But for me the problem is always food. I love food and I love eating.

[Malcolm]

"No matter how frustrated you might be, you're still lapping the person on the couch."

I can do one lap and say the same thing.

I also like the one, "Stronger today than yesterday."

Until you pull or tear a ligament.

[GORDON]

Well yeah, with that attitude.

[Malcolm]

The point being that this shit isn't about being compared to others. That seems to be a meaningless metric. The second one is traditional motivational bullshit that sounds inspiring but breaks down logically after two seconds of contemplation.

[GORDON]

Yeah, with that attitude.

Platitudes hardly ever hold up to scrutiny, but that isn't the point.

[GORDON]

MIL didn't go to her water aerobics today because "my knee hurt," which is code for she stayed up late gabbing to someone on the phone and she was tired.

But I don't give a shit, that means I had time to be leisurely in the gym and do more stuff. I blasted the arms this morning. Feels good.

Just thought I'd share.

[TheCatt]

My left arm is in agony. I have a partially torn bicep tendon that gets aggravated from time to time, what I'd call a 6 on a 1-10 scale. But the pain typically goes away after a few hours, and everything's fine. Today, I made a grab while rock climbing and it was in like... 9 out of 10 pain. I can't do a push-up (even on an incline) without a tremendous amount of pain. Tylenol has helped some.

Sigh, maybe I should get surgery. The surgeon recommended it a year ago. But I thought it would just get better over time with some weight training, etc.

[Malcolm]

Rock climbing isn't the sort of shit you can slack on if something's not working. If you want to keep doing things like that, you need it fixed properly.

[GORDON]

Got back to the gym today... that right shoulder pain is back... I am pushing through various sets, riding the edge of the pain. Ugh.