I miss the fitness threads and the fitness Doms!

[damonX]

I've been diagnosed with this, too. I was a runner in my teens and early 20s until I had to see an ortho for what turned out to be bilateral meniscus tears. The tears were no big deal, but the MRI's revealed pretty severe damage to the cartilage...the kind where they pull all their students into the exam room to look at the films...look at the 23-year-old sitting on the table...look back at the films and disbelievingly say, "This is HER?!?" Apparently, I had the knees of someone more than twice my age.

My ortho was actually going to smooth out the cartilage when he scoped me for the meniscus tears, but changed his mind once he was in there. I can't quite remember why....something about their being a little more tissue left than he thought from the MRI? H, you're not the only one whose memory is failing 10 years post-op.

I'm not allowed to run anymore, but I have exactly that same "noise" in my knees. Squats don't hurt me, and stationary lunges are okay, but lunges with impact (where you step into each one) kill. I couldn't do Tae Bo anymore. Pretty much it's spinning, swimming, yoga, Pilates, and lifting, which is fine, i guess, but I still miss running, 10 years later.

And, yeah, H, I have the same problem with the stiff knees when I've been in one position too long.

This is actually a little bit different than PFS from what I'm gathering. Your cartilage degeneration has occurred between the tibia and femur and is referred to as osteoarhtritis. In younger people this is usually caused by repetitive impact.

 

[Keroin]

You should see it here in Vancouver. It's warm and sunny, and the cardio machines are still all full at the gym. Not a problem for me though, since I despise cardio. ;(

Yeesh, that's so silly. Especially since Vancouver has great places to run. And the Grouse Grind? Man, I used to do that religiously. We do have something similar here but there's no nice gondola to take you back down to the parking lot, lol. (Plus you can't just put on your iPod and go, since you have to keep your ears opened for cougars and bears).

This is strange to me. I've been a member at a few Gold's and they've been the best gyms I've used. They had rows and rows of racks and lifting platforms. (About 5 of each). They were open 24 hours too, which is good because I prefer to work out early in the morning when the gym is empty.
Right now, I'm a member at Fitness World which is the worst gym I've ever been a member of. My motivation has been dropping considerably.

Fitness World...gag. I've trained there but only in a pinch. Canada Games Pool was my home. Old and dark and humid but really knowledgeable staff, awesome equipment, (I used to do quite a bit of plyometrics and they had all the boxes and such), and reasonably priced. Plus, since it's so yucky looking, hardly anyone trains there, especially during the day!

Nelson's community Center is surprisingly top notch but I guess I should have expected that in a town full of outdoor sport enthusiasts.

 

[Keroin]

Hey, so I LOVE Thai sweet chili sauce but the store bought stuff is just way too full of sugar and salt for me. I finally found a recipe for a sugar-free version and I tried it out today with great success. Thought I'd share it here. BTW, I found the sweetness level to be just perfect but you might want to start with about half the quantity of agave, then taste, then add more if it needs it.

This is a super easy recipe and makes about 1 cup of sauce.

Thai Sweet Chili Sauce

4 red Serrano or Thai chilies – seeded and very finely minced.
2 medium cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
3 tablespoons Thai fish sauce
¾ cup rice vinegar
½ cup water
1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp agave nectar

1. Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan and whisk well to blend.
2. On medium-high heat, bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook about 15 minutes or until sauce is lightly thickened.
3. Let cool then taste for sweet-sour balance. Add more agave if necessary. Store in clean jar in refrigerator until ready to use.

*Note: I didn’t find the sauce thick enough for my liking, so I added a slurry of 1 tsp arrowroot powder + 1 tsp water and that seemed to do the trick.

 

[Homburg]

The fact that it is directly under and not on the side indicates it to be a compression probem and not a patellar tracking one. The cartilage is simply worn down. Not from anything you've done wrong or from any imbalance but most likely just due to repetitive use. If we all lived to be a thousand years old, we'd all get PFS at some point. The angle of the kneecap might be a factor however. Most people with PFS have a \ sloping patella. (although not that steep).

No idea on slope. I've not seen lateral x-rays and it has never been mentioned. It is heartening to hear that it's not a tracking problem.

Neoprene sleeves don't really add a lot of stabilization for the knee. They simply aren't strong enough for such a large, powerful joint. They do help by way of proprioceptive feedback however, similar to the way that a lfting belt does for the lower back. Your problem is not "stability" though. Your knees are most likely very stable. Your issue is caused by repetitve compressive forces between the patella and the trochlea.

The feedback (and warmth) is the big reason I wear the braces. Both of them are old and kinda stretched out, so they don't really compress. They serve to keep me thinking about my knees, making sure they don't come in, making sure I keep them over the foot, etc.

And, yeah, I use a belt when the weight gets high enough. Usually around my BW or a little less, I'll put the belt on. I don't use gloves or any other braces (usually), and wear Cons for lifting. I'm a big fan of feeling both the bar and the floor.

What are your thoughts on lifting 'gear'? Things like bench shirts, squat suits, and the like?

Personally, I'm not really excited by it, and won't use it. I'm all for bigger numbers, but I'd rather know those numbers were because of me, not because of the shirt. That said, I've seen them extend the training life of a lifter, at least in the case of a bench shirt.

Admittedly, that training life could have been extended by more balanced upper body training. These days I do very little open-chain horizontal press compared to my total volume of closed-chain horizontal, vertical press, and vertical and horizontal pulls. I'm trying for a more balanced approach, if not more emphasis towards pulls.

 

[damonX]

No idea on slope. I've not seen lateral x-rays and it has never been mentioned. It is heartening to hear that it's not a tracking problem.

You can tell just by looking at it. Just look down your femur and see which way it tilts.

What are your thoughts on lifting 'gear'? Things like bench shirts, squat suits, and the like?

I don't really know much about them. I've seen people wear the shirts and I didn't really see the point. What's the reasoning behind them?

 

[damonX]

Fitness World...gag. I've trained there but only in a pinch. Canada Games Pool was my home. Old and dark and humid but really knowledgeable staff, awesome equipment, (I used to do quite a bit of plyometrics and they had all the boxes and such), and reasonably priced. Plus, since it's so yucky looking, hardly anyone trains there, especially during the day!

I moved to Kitsilano which is a very very active neighborhood where every single person works out. So I figured he gyms would be stellar. Boy, was I in for a surprise. The worst gyms I have ever seen! Not only are they bad gyms, but they are packed every minute of every day. I joined fitness world because it was right beside my place, but now I drive to one further away because its a little better. I'm just waiting for my contract to end.

 

[Homburg]

You can tell just by looking at it. Just look down your femur and see which way it tilts.

Looks straight *shrug*

I don't really know much about them. I've seen people wear the shirts and I didn't really see the point. What's the reasoning behind them?

Well, the ad copy talks about proprioception, support, warmth, compression, etc. The real reason is that the shirt give you way more oomph at the bottom of the lift.

Let's put it this way, Scot Mendelson benched 1008 pounds in 2/2006, geared. He's like the second in the world to bench over a thousand pounds. He also held the world raw (no gear) bench press record, and that was 15 pounds, set in May 2005. So his shirt, wraps, etc help him push almost 300# more.

Don't get me wrong, Scot is freakishly strong. I just want to know for certain that the weight I'm pushing is my weight. I do not look down on geared lifters at all. Learning those shirts and suits is rough. Interestingly, a big part of the problem is being able to get the bar down to your chest in a serious shirt. The shirt simply will not let you touch if the weight is too light.

And the shirt itself gives no assistance at the top-end. This is why you see a lot of powerlifters working lock-outs so much. They have to get that lockout strength to finish the lift. In my own case, I decided to see what kind of lockouts I could do, and did around 455# or so for reps. Whee. At that point, I couldn't reliable bench 250# off the chest, but my lockout was ripping. So, in theory, with a good shirt and proper coaching, I could've done a 400# bench. Blah.

ETA: Here's a Slate article from 2004 that gives a quick run-down on shirts.

http://www.slate.com/id/2104915/

You can extrapolate that to squat suits as well. Fortunately, the deadlifts suits and briefs don't really do all that much. From what I've seen, briefs and suit might add 50# maybe, so Andy Bolton's staggering 1000+ lb DL was Andy Bolton.

 

[damonX]

Looks straight *shrug*



Well, the ad copy talks about proprioception, support, warmth, compression, etc. The real reason is that the shirt give you way more oomph at the bottom of the lift.

Let's put it this way, Scot Mendelson benched 1008 pounds in 2/2006, geared. He's like the second in the world to bench over a thousand pounds. He also held the world raw (no gear) bench press record, and that was 15 pounds, set in May 2005. So his shirt, wraps, etc help him push almost 300# more.

Don't get me wrong, Scot is freakishly strong. I just want to know for certain that the weight I'm pushing is my weight. I do not look down on geared lifters at all. Learning those shirts and suits is rough. Interestingly, a big part of the problem is being able to get the bar down to your chest in a serious shirt. The shirt simply will not let you touch if the weight is too light.

And the shirt itself gives no assistance at the top-end. This is why you see a lot of powerlifters working lock-outs so much. They have to get that lockout strength to finish the lift. In my own case, I decided to see what kind of lockouts I could do, and did around 455# or so for reps. Whee. At that point, I couldn't reliable bench 250# off the chest, but my lockout was ripping. So, in theory, with a good shirt and proper coaching, I could've done a 400# bench. Blah.

ETA: Here's a Slate article from 2004 that gives a quick run-down on shirts.

http://www.slate.com/id/2104915/

You can extrapolate that to squat suits as well. Fortunately, the deadlifts suits and briefs don't really do all that much. From what I've seen, briefs and suit might add 50# maybe, so Andy Bolton's staggering 1000+ lb DL was Andy Bolton.

yeah, I don't really know much about them, so I wont make any presumptions. If they actually do produce an elastic recoil strong enough to help lift the weight, then it seems a little like cheating. I'm not a powerlifter so for me, anything that reduces the work that the muscles have to do is kind of counterproductive. If they give you an edge in competition then it makes sense, but I don't know why people would use them when training.

 

[Homburg]

yeah, I don't really know much about them, so I wont make any presumptions. If they actually do produce an elastic recoil strong enough to help lift the weight, then it seems a little like cheating. I'm not a powerlifter so for me, anything that reduces the work that the muscles have to do is kind of counterproductive. If they give you an edge in competition then it makes sense, but I don't know why people would use them when training.

They have to use them while training past a certain point. They have to "learn the shirt". The shirts are so restrictive and difficult to move in that they have to remember all sorts of little steps to get into the exact right position. That requires practice. Oddly enough, it brings finesse and skill into something that looks otherwise brute force.

That said, I don't want finesse. I want brute force. And, yeah, it seems a little like cheating to me too.

 

[Keroin]

I moved to Kitsilano which is a very very active neighborhood where every single person works out. So I figured he gyms would be stellar. Boy, was I in for a surprise. The worst gyms I have ever seen! Not only are they bad gyms, but they are packed every minute of every day. I joined fitness world because it was right beside my place, but now I drive to one further away because its a little better. I'm just waiting for my contract to end.

Kits beach on a sunny day? Lucky you! Yeah, I would think that would be fitness mecca, too. *Shrugs* never can tell, eh?

My hubby used to live in Kits, many, many moons ago. He's a volleyball fanatic, so he loved it there.

(Mind you, Kootenay Lake is pretty special, too )

 

[damonX]

Kits beach on a sunny day? Lucky you! Yeah, I would think that would be fitness mecca, too. *Shrugs* never can tell, eh?

My hubby used to live in Kits, many, many moons ago. He's a volleyball fanatic, so he loved it there.

(Mind you, Kootenay Lake is pretty special, too )

Yeah, Kits beach is ok. I prefer Penticton in the summer though.

 

[Cattypuss]

Why is it always so much harder not to eat like a pig on Thursdays? I don't undertand it.

 

[WriterDom]

I like to be a little sore. At least I know I'm doing something.

 

[celticsunspiral]

Hello all,

I finally went under 160. Took 2 months of eating right and exercise. I don't know why I seem to plateau close to the tens. I have 30 lbs left to go to get to the weight I want. But I know I can do it, just wish it went faster and being sick does not help, I missed 2 weeks of workouts with bronchitis. yuck. But now I am back on my schedule, but exhausted and sore tonight. I feel like the 2 weeks off has really made me weak, I can tell a difference in what I can do. Two weeks ago I went for a ball at volleyball and came down hard on my right side, it felt like I bruised my wrist, arm, and side. Unfortunately now my knee and shoulder on that side feel like I have pulled a muscle or something, it hurts my shoulder in certain positions and my knee going up stairs. Other than that they feel fine if maybe a little weak, any suggestions on how to get this to heal?

My workout regime normally is;
Monday hour of volleyball (indoor till April then in sand)
Tuesday 40 min piliates, 40 minutes med to hvy aerobics
Wednesday hour of beg/intermediate Yoga
Thursday 40 min med Water Aerobics, 40 min Adv Yoga
Fri - Sunday off

My goals are;
1. More energy
2. Lose weight and tone
3. Increase Flexibility

Suggestions are welcomed.

 

[subish2009]

This is actually a little bit different than PFS from what I'm gathering. Your cartilage degeneration has occurred between the tibia and femur and is referred to as osteoarhtritis. In younger people this is usually caused by repetitive impact.

Okay, I see the distinction, thanks. And, yeah, he said it was likely from running, which is why I don't do that anymore, but he was also pretty clear that it was just a congenital fluke...meaning that it's not like I was mistreating my knees...I just have extra-weak or fragile cartilage or something that was causing it to degenerate much faster than normal.

Today I'm stuck in bed with a bum knee. I didn't even DO anything to it, but I woke up several times last night with it hurting and it kills to walk on today. This seems to happen once or twice per year since my surgeries and I have no idea why. Icing and heating seem to help, though, and it's generally better late in the day. But since I work in a hospital that requires me to be on my feet all day, it does mean that I miss work, which sucks. I have no idea why it happens; I've never bothered to see an MD about it because it happens so infrequently. I do wish I knew why, though.

 

[Keroin]

Had me a little a slice of humble pie last night. Generally I avoid fitness classes, for a variety of reasons, but they added two at my gym that appealed to me so I thought I'd give one a whirl.

Last night I did the HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) class. This is something, in the past, I've done on my own and with a personal trainer but...it's been awhile. The instructor was a 20-something, gung-ho snowboarding chick - very friendly, fit and knowledgeable. My cardio fitness is pretty good right now, I run for an hour about every second day, so I felt confident.

ACK!

That class kicked my ass. In a good way, mind you. It also drove home that I've been training on autopilot and I need to ramp up the intensity more often.

However, it was also an ego boost, since I was the oldest person in the class, by at least ten years, and I still kicked butt on most of the other participants! (Yes, I know it isn't a competition...I'm just super competitive, can't help it ).

 

[Homburg]

HIIT is good stuff.

--

SQUAT DAY, Cycle 2 Wave C

150x5
185x5
225x3 warm-ups done
280x5
315x3
355x[9] Rep calc says 461#

It was good set, with good effort. I might've been able to push for 10, but I was worried that I would pitch forward. I felt a little wobbly dropping down into 9. I was doubly happy with this set as I was pretty unmotivated rolling into the session. LB was late, and work was piling up, and my head just wasn't in the right spot. Still, I battered my way through it, and the good set on the top set really flushed those blahs. Instead of worrying if I would have the gas to hit the assistance work, I was ready to go.

Pipe walk, 4" pipe, TWO loops around the circuit.
-Good stuff, that.

Knee-lifts with the ab-straps, 2x15
-Apparently, I was really hammering it. LB said that I was nearly horizontal on the last rep of set two.

The knee-lift, in this case, is done hanging from a bar with each arm through a loop clipped to the bar. When you hold on, it suspends your body from your shoulders. The usual version is to simply lift your knees up together, as high as you can. This is insufficient as far as I am concerned, so after the knees come up I continue to pull until my knees are about eye level. Given that I am not a contortionist, this means that I am pulling at the elbows to draw my torso up approaching horizontal.

The goal here is to do the same with the leg straight, eventually, thus bringing them up to the bar.

Anyway, good top set, good session. I've been beat up lately, and have been slacking on the assistance stuff, but today kind of reset that. I'm damned glad too. Wave C is the heaviest Wave of the Cycle, and I want to roll into it with a good start like this.

 

[Bandit58]

However, it was also an ego boost, since I was the oldest person in the class, by at least ten years, and I still kicked butt on most of the other participants! (Yes, I know it isn't a competition...I'm just super competitive, can't help it ).

Haha I'm quite often the oldest person in a fitness class and I hold my own among all those younger bodies and sometimes even the men

I'm 51 and have been told by various people that I look nowhere near my age - what an ego boost

 

[Keroin]

Haha I'm quite often the oldest person in a fitness class and I hold my own among all those younger bodies and sometimes even the men

I'm 51 and have been told by various people that I look nowhere near my age - what an ego boost

Good for you Bandit!

Yep, I get the "you don't look your age" ego boost on a fairly regular basis. I really can't take much credit for it though, it's probably mostly genetics, (thanks bio parents!). However, I have been fit and active my entire life, I drink lots of water, never smoked, drink alcohol in moderation (mostly), don't sunbathe, laugh frequently, avoid crappy food, never had kids (aka "get a reasonable amount of sleep"), and I'm just, generally, happy...and I'm sure all that stuff helps, lol.

 

[intothewoods]

Hey, so I LOVE Thai sweet chili sauce but the store bought stuff is just way too full of sugar and salt for me. I finally found a recipe for a sugar-free version and I tried it out today with great success. Thought I'd share it here. BTW, I found the sweetness level to be just perfect but you might want to start with about half the quantity of agave, then taste, then add more if it needs it.

This is a super easy recipe and makes about 1 cup of sauce.

Thai Sweet Chili Sauce

4 red Serrano or Thai chilies – seeded and very finely minced.
2 medium cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
3 tablespoons Thai fish sauce
¾ cup rice vinegar
½ cup water
1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp agave nectar

1. Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan and whisk well to blend.
2. On medium-high heat, bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook about 15 minutes or until sauce is lightly thickened.
3. Let cool then taste for sweet-sour balance. Add more agave if necessary. Store in clean jar in refrigerator until ready to use.

*Note: I didn’t find the sauce thick enough for my liking, so I added a slurry of 1 tsp arrowroot powder + 1 tsp water and that seemed to do the trick.

Is this siracha? No, that's Vietnamese, right? Hubby puts that on everything, but I don't think there's much "sweet" to it.

 

[WriterDom]

It's rare to get all my week's lifting done by Friday. I'm going to enjoy the weather for the next three days and not touch a weight until Tuesday.

 

[Cattypuss]

I did a nine-mile, gradient-rich hike in the mountains today.

And in the course of doing that I realised I am TONS fitter than I was just a couple of months ago. Being significantly lighter didn't hurt either.

It was a glorious hike, in beautiful, beautiful scenery, under a perfect blue sky. Near-freezing temperatures (actually freezing in the shade) and totally still air.

I am so lucky to live where I do. And I am so pleased about my increasing ability to enjoy the mountains here.

Just sitting smugly now imagining how much I'm gonna ROCK those mountains when I've lost the 40 pounds I still need to lose

I feel good.

 

[Homburg]

I did a nine-mile, gradient-rich hike in the mountains today.

And in the course of doing that I realised I am TONS fitter than I was just a couple of months ago. Being significantly lighter didn't hurt either.

It was a glorious hike, in beautiful, beautiful scenery, under a perfect blue sky. Near-freezing temperatures (actually freezing in the shade) and totally still air.

I am so lucky to live where I do. And I am so pleased about my increasing ability to enjoy the mountains here.

Just sitting smugly now imagining how much I'm gonna ROCK those mountains when I've lost the 40 pounds I still need to lose

I feel good.

This post made me smile.

Good on ya, CP.

 

[Keroin]

Is this siracha? No, that's Vietnamese, right? Hubby puts that on everything, but I don't think there's much "sweet" to it.

This is the store bought stuff...

http://www.worldpantry.com/thaikitchen/img/product/thk-092000.jpg

It's a common dipping sauce for Thai food, though we use it for lots of other stuff, too.

 

[Keroin]

I did a nine-mile, gradient-rich hike in the mountains today.

And in the course of doing that I realised I am TONS fitter than I was just a couple of months ago. Being significantly lighter didn't hurt either.

It was a glorious hike, in beautiful, beautiful scenery, under a perfect blue sky. Near-freezing temperatures (actually freezing in the shade) and totally still air.

I am so lucky to live where I do. And I am so pleased about my increasing ability to enjoy the mountains here.

Just sitting smugly now imagining how much I'm gonna ROCK those mountains when I've lost the 40 pounds I still need to lose

I feel good.

This post made me smile.

Good on ya, CP.

DITTO!!! Good for you CP. Keep it up!