12/19/06

Gravity Wins

Gravity always wins, sometimes you can cheat it, but eventually it will get you! I have been doing an intensive ageing and exercise study as I am fast approaching Sixty (Next Month). I have been quite focused and dedicated since July save a few jaunts over the pond which interrupted my training) The focus has been on reestablishing a good strength base, focusing on the ability to handle my body weight and a huge core strength emphasis. By and large it has gone well. Still really need to lose at least 10 pounds, but that is another kind of discipline I am trying to find.

So the time has come to begin to do more running. So far the focus has been on lower impact stuff like biking and swimming, although we have done a fair bit of agility work. So Saturday is the first running day, it was great! 15 second runs and 15 second walk, felt good, all the moving parts moving. The sensible thing to do would have been to swim or bike or just do core work on Sunday. Who said common sense is common. even verbalized to Mike Lane, my friend who was training with me, how it would be best if we only warmed up and didn’t run too much. That would be too easy. We both had very tight hamstring so we warmed up well and did some jog, skip run progressions and then did circle runs (My theory is that works the lateral hamstring – that is another story) and I felt something in my hip. Ignored and stretched it. It got stiffer as the day went on. Wait it gets better. So we meet mid day Monday for workout. Good warm-up a bit of ABC Ladder and the DB PPS Squat workout plus a 100 meter run after each complex. Bam (as Emeril would say) and the hip went, but of course I finished the workout. Then went for a twenty minute swim, it felt good after that but as the day went on it stiffened up even more. Now I am crawling up the stairs. Probably will not be able to workout today and I am supposed to know what I am doing. Gravity will always win! The moral of this painful tail of stupidity is if in doubt do less. Where is the ASTYM when I need it?

posted by Vern Gambetta @ 12/19/2006 08:48:00 AM   4 comments

4 Comments:

At 12/19/06, 9:16 AM, Blogger Joe Przytula said...

Two years ago I twisted an ankle running when I stepped on a loose brick (that's what you get for running in the dark). I tore my deltoid lig right off the bone and got osteochondritis dessicans of the talus. Two years of rehab, and I finally began to run again this fall. It felt so foreign to me! I did all the single leg strength training, closed and open chain eccentrics, biking, elliptical to help prepare for the day I might run again. Well, the ankle handled it fine. But I felt like a stroke patient learning a new skill. Fortunately I realized running was something I had to cycle back into my routine over the course of a few months. I know you're not a big fan of aquatic therapy, but some 3D patterns in shoulder deep water will go a long way with that hip.

 
At 12/19/06, 11:12 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Vern you are not alone. I find that I am the worst patient. If someone else has a problem I can easily dispense some advice to accelerate the recovey process, but when its me, the brain doesn't function.

Mark Crabtree MS,ATC,CSCS

 
At 12/19/06, 12:02 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

When a patient tells me a story like that I think the good old SI joint first and hip second but I doubt the brain is messed up so much that you do not even know what you hurt but then again...

Mark Day D.C., CSCS, DACBSP

 
At 12/28/06, 7:06 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

There are a lot of us approaching 60 and your posting recounts issues that most of us are facing. Your books are excellent for younger athletes -- how about a paper or a book on using your techniques focusing on fitness for those of us "approaching 60"? The article in Outside Magazine would seem to be a good start.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home