Swimming and Hip Pain

My left hip is still giving me trouble. I did extra mobility and flexibility stuff last night. I did more this morning. But still walking was painful all day. I was paying extra attention to using good posture and foot position but still very painful. I wanted to work out with kettlebells again today, but decided it was better to give the hip a rest.

I did however go swimming. I swam laps for 10 minutes. Then an hour later swam laps for 15 minutes. An hour after that, I swam laps for another 10 minutes. Not really a lot for you diehard swimmers out there but this is only my second time swimming all summer. And the laps were broken up that way because our community pool has 15 minutes every hour where the kids are cleared out and adults can have the pool to ourselves. But all in all 35 minutes of laps ( backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle) is pretty good.

The ability to swim for 10 or 15 minutes continuously when this is only the second time I've swum this year is definitely another kettlebell "what the hell" effect! Kettlebell swings helped improve my aerobic capacity. I haven't been running, rowing or biking either. No running due to the hip, no rowing or biking because I have neither a rower nor a bike.

Oh, and my hip felt much better after swimming. Not nearly as painful. Only hurts a little bit.

20130729 Beach Workout Improvisation

Spent most of Monday at the beach once the rain had passed. Late in the afternoon I didn't want to go back up to the house to retrieve my "T-Bar Kettlebell" and dumbbell for a workout. So, I filled a large kid's sand bucket with sand and used it for my workout.

1. Turkish Get Ups
• Strong ( right ) Side x 5 x full large sand bucket
• Weak ( left ) Side x 5 x full large sand bucket
• Strong ( right ) Side x 5 x full large sand bucket
• Weak ( left ) Side x 5 x full large sand bucket
• Weak ( left ) Side x 5 x full large sand bucket
• Weak ( left ) Side x 5 x full large sand bucket
• Weak ( left ) Side x 5 x full large sand bucket
2. One Arm Sand Bucket Swings
• Right  x 20 x full large sand bucket
• Left  x 20 x full large sand bucket
• Right  x 20 x full large sand bucket
• Left  x 20 x full large sand bucket
• Right  x 10 x full large sand bucket
• Left  x 10 x full large sand bucket

That was the entire workout. Keep in mind though that this was after a day of ocean swimming and playing on the beach. I could feel the one arm swings in some different areas of my back but I didn't hurt anything. I have no idea how long this workout took but I didn't take inordinately long breaks.

The sand bucket left my left arm in particular bruised and sore where the lip of the bucket was pressing on my forearm.

Spent almost the entire day yesterday, Tuesday 20130730, on the beach or in the ocean. Spent many hours swimming, floating, wading and battling the breakers. I also did a couple of reps of Bretzel 1.0 and 2.0. A little bit later today I'll get my workout on with my weights. 

20130708 On A Roll

I didn't post yesterday. I did get in a swim, about 30 minutes total in two 15 minute sessions. Also, I ate following the Slow Carb Diet all day except one small piece of cheese late in the evening.

Today I got up at 0545 but still didn't start my workout until after 0700. I've got to do better!

1. Two-legged Glute Activation Raises 1 x 20
2. Flying Dogs 1 x 15 per side
3. Kettlebell Swings
• Point A 5 x 22.5 lb. t-bar homemade kettlebell
• Point B 5 x 22.5 lb. t-bar homemade kettlebell
• Swings 5 x 22.5 lb. t-bar homemade kettlebell
• Swings 3 x 30 x 32.5 lb t-bar homemade kettlebell
4. Myotatic Crunch 1 x 10 x 5 lb dumbbell
5. The Cat Vomit Exercise 1 x 10

I was even slower today as I finished this workout in 27.5 minutes. I took a longer break than normal between the 2nd and 3rd working sets of kettlebell swings. This was because I had to move my "outdoor gym" out of my wife's way so she could pull her car out of the carport and head off to her office.

I think I hurried a bit on the myotatic crunches. Need to slow down on the descent into the stretch. I was dripping sweat during the CVEs. Overall a good workout. I'm feeling better each time through. Looking forward to getting 75 reps of swings straight so I can add another 5 or 10 pounds. My steps for Sunday were better than Saturday but still a pretty dismal 3730. Weight on Sunday was 257.4 but today was 256.0.

BTW, I joined the Stylez DietBet! The pot is up to $10,250 with 410 players! The game starts in one more day! You still have a chance to get in. You're betting $25 that you can lose 4% of your body weight in four weeks. Of the pot 85% is split between the players who make the goal. Say 60% of the players lose 4%+, then ( $10,250 * 0.85) / ( 410 people * 0.60 ) = $35.42/person! That's about a 42% return on your money in four weeks, plus you'll be healthier for it! Got for it? What have you got to lose?

20130706 Swimming and Free Eating Day

Yesterday was my day to eat anything I wanted, a la Slow Carb Diet and Four Hour Body, and I did. It was the first time I really let loose as Tim Ferriss suggests and I almost, but not quite, made my self sick with carbs ( cereal, chips, fruit, cookies, bread, potato salad, ice cream ), diary and sugar. I'm glad to be eating more cleanly today.

The only exercise I got was about 25 minutes of actual swimming as we spent an hour at the pool in the rain. We had the whole pool to ourselves, just us and the lifeguard. My steps for the day were dismal, only 2809. Weight yesterday morning was 253.4 this morning after the binge 257.4. It's probably mostly water. I'll try to go swimming again today.

20130701 Good Progress

I got in a workout on Monday! Hoo-ray! Go me! Worked out outside. It was very humid after a brief but heavy morning downpour.

1. Two-legged Glute Activation Raises 1 x 20
2. Flying Dogs 1 x 15 per side
3. Kettlebell Swings
• Point A 5 x 22 lb. t-bar homemade kettlebell
• Point B 5 x 22 lb. t-bar homemade kettlebell
• Swings 5 x 22 lb. t-bar homemade kettlebell
• Swings 30,30,20 x 32 lb t-bar homemade kettlebell
4. Myotatic Crunch 1 x 10 x 5 lb dumbbell
5. The Cat Vomit Exercise 1 x 10

I finished this work out in 22.75 minutes. That's cooking! I wasn't messing around. I was still a bit sore in my lats and triceps from Saturday's workout and swimming. Felt good to get my workout done in the morning. Got to get more steps in though.

I Am SORE

I am SORE from my calves to my shoulder blades. I am SORE front to back and side to side! This is almost laughable. I've been swimming and such twice a week for a two or more months. I only added a very few exercises yesterday, most with no extra weight and one with ridiculously light weight. But I feel like I had a marathon work out session.

I guess that just shows the effectiveness of a few well chosen exercises and swimming! I almost hate to think about how I'll feel tomorrow. Usually the soreness is worst on the second day after a workout. It'll be interesting to see how my currently under-trained forty-seven year old body responds.

Swimming

It has been a long time since I posted. I started having some serious pain in my left hip around Halloween 2012. Sharp, stabbing pain. I could be walking along fine and all of a sudden PAIN! Pain so intense I would nearly fall down.

Fast forward to January 2013. I finally decide to go to the doctor. I have Xrays, an MRI the works. All they see is evidence of arthritis. I go to physical therapy. The exercises I do for my hip set off some severe back pain, pain even worse than my hip. I have some deteriorating disks in my lumbar spine. I miss a lot of work. I finally get in to see a spine specialist. He wants to do epidural steroid injections but he's about to go on vacation. I have an MRI of my spine and start taking oral steroids.

Spine doctor gets back from vacation two weeks later. My back feels enough better that I decline the epidural steroid injections. Also I've been going to the heated therapy pool at Furman University. In the therapy pool I spend 20-30 minutes walking then another 20 minutes doing mobility exercises for my lower body and treading water. When I first started going to the pool I was limping and walking all hunched over like a really, really old man. Now, my hip still hurts but I'm walking like a normal person. I even started swimming laps in the lap pool a few weeks ago.

Today I walked in the therapy pool for 20 minutes.

• Five minutes walking forward
• Five minutes walking backward
• Five minutes walking sideways
• Five minutes walking sideways crossing one foot front then back

Followed by ten minutes of mobility exercise. Then treading water 4 x 90 seconds on and 30 seconds rest. After that I swam 22 lengths of the lap pool which is about  three tenths of a mile. I repeated the following four times

• kick board one length
• freestyle one length
• breast stroke one length
• freestyle one length
• back stroke one length

That was twenty lengths. I finished off with two fast, for me, freestyle lengths. I'm beat and sore tonight. Last week was the 2nd annual Running Nerds 5K. I ran the first one for my 46 birthday in 2012. This year I can't run. This Friday is the Swamp Rabbit 5K which I ran with Laura and Miles last year. This year I can't run but Laura, Gabby, Isaiah and Miles are going to run it. I'm just going to keep on swimming and maybe start walking again.

I had been swimming and working out in the therapy pool only twice a week on Saturday and Sunday as I thought those were the only days the therapy pool was open to the public. As it turns out it is open to the public after 530pm during the week. Just this week I went on a Wednesday after work. I'm going to stick with three days a week for a while then maybe move up to four days a week of swimming.