Terrifying flashbacks of every episode of House.
This is probably the dumbest “workout” program ever conceived, but whatever, I think I’ll be able to stick with it awhile.
So I tried rock climbing indoors a couple times and absolutely loved it, so I’m planning to start full time next Spring w/a membership to a rock climbing gym and am just trying to optimize my body for that.
I started 2 weeks ago with the following:
Wake up = sprint in place until tired. Started at 40 secs, have worked up to 70. This is more b/c I play poker first thing in the morning, and it’s good to get the blood flowing.
M/W/F = Arm/back training. I have a pretty sturdy door that I’m using for pull-ups. Well, when I started I couldn’t do a single pull-up, but now can do 2. Instead I do 3 sets of negatives (start from up position and lower to the floor for 15 seconds) followed by 3 sets of assisted pull-ups. Put 1 foot on a chair and use it to “assist” using the least force possible. Then I will do 2 sets of forearm curls (w/a 5L bottle of water).
M/W/F = Stretching. 15 min. total spread between 2 different shoulder stretches, a yoga side stretch and each side and forward fold for the hammies.
T/Th/S = Core. 10 min. total for plank/6 inches/plank mtn climbers/leg raises/plank mtn climbers to opp. elbow
T/Th/S = Stretching. Forearms, followed by quads, hips, inner legs.
Sunday = day of rest to honor the pagan gods
Anyway, I should have a decent base for rock climbing w/the core, arm, back strength and a lot of flexibility. I’ve done a ton of power yoga over the years, so am already fairly flexible for a late 30s person, but more can’t hurt.
I’ve always sucked at sticking to a program, but have implemented a couple techniques to help, a few I learned from Atomic Habits by James Clear.
I start the sprints right when I wake up, then play poker. Right when I complete poker, I do my exercises. There is almost no resistance b/c I know they are things I just do and I don’t give my mind time to “bargain” and convince myself to keep putting them off until the day is over.
I also got a Habit Tracking app. For some reason it’s gratifying to put my checkmark in for each event and then look back over the week and see all checkmarks. I don’t want to break the streak so there’s more incentive to keep going.
Yeah this kind of case is basically my worst nightmare. Thankfully there’s a vaccine for the type of meningitis this kid had. Sometimes you look at this kind of case and you think, “man those doctors were idiots”. This one is definitely “this could happen on my watch”, which is terrifying.
Like a standard vaccine he should have taken as a little kid?
You get one at 11-12 years and 16 years. This kind had what sounds like classic neisseria meningitidis. I’ve never seen a case.
I don’t remember getting any shots at those ages. But I could be forgetting.
It’s a newer one.
was definitely something that was heavily pushed for incoming college freshman when i went to school in 05 if you were living in the dorms.
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kinda late, but you definitely should get a couple of those squeezy-hand gripper things. i’ve had a 150lb one in my car for 6 or 7 weeks and squeeze it on the way to the gym every day. just about ready to move up to the next one.
forearms are definitely thicker/muscular/stronger. i’ve never rock-climbed but i feel like that’s important.
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For the last 9 months, I’ve been working on strength training, which is something I’ve never done before. I’ve basically just been using adjustable dumbbells, and I haven’t had any coaching or anything. Everything was going great for the first few months, but then I started developing a pain in my left elbow, which gradually got worse over time (specifically whenever I lifted something with my forearm rotated out—think picking up a milk jug or a water bottle). Eventually I stopped working out, and the pain subsided over three months. Now I’m getting back on the horse, and, while I haven’t had any pain yet, I’ve noticed that when I’m doing bicep curls, my left elbow feels…different… than my right, and not in a good way. I’m not lifting very much weight (20 lbs) and I’m only working out once a week. My questions are:
- Is there a way to modify the exercise to protect my elbow? Should I use an elbow brace or something?
- Is there some other exercise that would hit the biceps but put less strain on the elbow?
- Am I dooming myself to injury by just doing exercises based on internet videos rather than hiring a trainer?
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Hey. I had a very similar problem. See the post above this one.
Tendonitis wont get better with rest. You need to find ways to gradually build it up, very slowly over time.
From my experience, a tendon gets stronger much slower than muscle. I’m working on adding weight in small increments every week. So doing 3 workouts at the same weight before incrementing.
My next realization. You have muscles that in your forearm that rotate your wrist. I.e if you hold you arm out straight. Turning your hand over and backwards. Its probably one of the tendons linked to these that is causing you pain.
There are also muscles in your shoulder than also rotate your arm. You want to be using those instead of the ones in your wrist as much as possible. As they are much stronger.
In short. Maybe go to an actual physio. Start very low and build up over weeks or months, find exercises that will build your rotator cuffs, and make sure you are lifting with good form using the right muscles.
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I’ve been pushing through various elbow things that I think are tendonitis. Good to know I’m doing the right thing.
Lol. I’m not sure that’s the takeaway. Yes you need to make it stronger. But if what you are doing is causing damage you will be making it worse.
I back off when there’s pain (usually with bench, incline or military), and I experiment with putting my elbows in different positions. I also got some elbow wrap things (not actual wrap but the brace thing). But I’ve never tried to just rest it for a month or w/e, mostly because that would drive me nuts.
This thing:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D1ZRTY2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It’s been a while since I’ve had any real elbow pain other than just a little bit early in the workout.
Now I have pain in the heel of my hand. But only when I bend my thumb down.
I’ve thought about seeing a doctor for the hand, but it’s so damn hard to find a doctor who knows anything about weightlifting. They just say “how’s your pain?” They don’t understand “I don’t have pain at the moment, but I can’t do all the workouts I want to do” - just does not compute with them.
If your pain is getting worse in your elbow over time, then that’s the sign that you need to do something different.
Tendons are weird. It will hurt at the start of a workout and then stop. That’s not necessarily a sign that it’s getting better, just that the pain has gone away, so you could be doing damage throughout the workout.
The elbow issues are almost gone. Only my hand is a problem right now.
In the past the elbow would hurt a day or two after the workout, like tendonitis does. But that doesn’t happen anymore.
I have learned though not to do pushing and pulling in the same workout. And to back off on doing all 4 workout days if it gets tweaky. And also not to pick things up a certain way. Even a laptop can be a problem if I just grab it willy nilly.
See a sports therapist or a physio who supports athletes. Ideally they have degrees, and not in being a chiropractor. If they have a degree it would be listed in their website.
I have no idea how to find one of those. I will if it gets debilitating. But for now it’s just annoying.
I’m not out there pushing myself to massive extremes. Just mostly trying to maintain the muscle mass I have, maybe make very slow gains.