Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Update on The Hip

I have been doing the stretches almost everyday and whenever I have some down time at work. I have also incorporated a new stretch that I felt it working last night. What you do is stand at attention and then take your right leg and cross it over your left leg. While holding onto something lean to the the left until you feel tension and hold it for about 30 seconds. Now reverse that and lean to the right with your left leg over your right leg. There is a muscle on your side of the leg that seems to benefit from this and so I have been getting it into my stretching routine at night and in the morning. It seems to be helping and that is all that matters.

Switch It Up

I was lifting last week and I just could not get over that fact that my arms were not increasing in strength. I have been increasing in everything else but not that. So this week I switched the order in which I did my lifts and saw a huge improvement right away. For my arms, I was able to lift past 95 pounds for EZ curls and when I did my flat bench dumbells, I did an easy set of 90s. I am starting to feel sore today and that is only one day after the lifts, I am happy about that.

This just goes to show you that you have to switch things up and shock your system. Your body is the most adaptive machine on the planet so you have to treat as such and shock the shit out of it. I know I have preached this before but I sometimes lose focus on this and need to get slapped from time and time again so I can pay attention to it.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Data Data Data...Sometimes to much is to much.

I have been maintaining a couple of journals to keep track of my progress. I have now come down to using a little journal book that I keep in my back pocket. It is about a 3" X 5" book that has many lines on it which allows me to keep track of each day with the food that I eat and the weight that I weigh. I have evolved from that and am liking it.

I use to weigh myself every day and now I am waiting for every Friday to see my progress. With jogging in the morning everyday, I hope I see more results. I have also been watching my caloric intake to also help with that.

One place where I will not skimp out on tracking data and that is my weight lifting. I need to track the weight and intensity of all of my exercises so I don't forget and where I can see myself push myself to get past the plateaus.

Monday, March 02, 2009

Stretching in the Morning

For the last few weeks I have been stretching my hip flexors and also the rest of me for walking and jogging. I have been working more on my hip flexors because I have been having some pain when I turn to go to the left. The discomfort is primarily in my left hip and it is a sudden pain and then goes away. I was suggested to keep stretching my hip flexors and to also strengthen my glutes since I sit all day in an office.

Here is a good link to show how to properly perform the hip flexor stretch. I also use the method that allows you to use a couch or a bed which really puts pressure on your hip to stretch them out.

Jogging...that's what I said

So there I was, slightly jogging with my two dogs and then finding myself jogging farther and farther and then I was almost done with my route so I decided to keep going. The next day I did it again and I was almost enjoying it.....me enjoying jogging....never, but in this case I think it because of the weight that I have lost and stretching that I have been doing to my feet and legs. I stretch every morning now for about 30minutes before I go out with the beasts.