2018 Health and Fitness Thread

[jrock645]

@Accumulator

The way I understand it, planks really stress the transverse abdominis, which plays a key role in healthy posture and holding in those innards you mentioned a few posts back.

[Accumulator]

jrock645- Ah, OK...thanks, I`ll look into that. I gotta keep learning

[Accumulator]

Oneheadlite- Your ability to do the down/up that way is just how I figure it`s supposed to go, great that that you can do it that way! Shows good relative strength and great flexibility IMO. And yeah, keeping your bodyweight in check will pay all sorts of dividends.

I don`t know from Scoliosis at all...is the +4° considered a big change for you over 3.5 years? In her late 30s, Accumulatorette went from 30° to 50° in about a year and that`s what prompted her to get the Spinal Fusion (which took her curvature down to ~15°, she considers it the greatest thing ever). She was OK at 30° for decades, but had to be diligent about her stretching/etc.

At least it`s sitting that bothers you, most people need to do less of that anyhow. Being able to sleep OK is *so* important, glad that`s working out OK.

I also don`t know from Kinesiology Tape..but some athletes that oughta have a clue use it. How did *they* explain it?

I gotta admit I`m a bit cynical about many PT/Rehab personnel as they`ve basically *never* answered any Qs that my wife or I (or any of our friends/relatives) have had, at least not satisfactorily. They seem to count on patients *not* being informed.

[Accumulator]

jrock645- You did indeed bring an oversight to my attention! I`d just dismissed Planks and that was dumb Not sure I`ll be doing them, but looking into things for the Transverse Abdominis at least reminded me that I need to get back to some Static work for mine (and for general postural work).

I`d been blowing the Trans Abs off and just working my Obliques.. Glad we discussed the Planks beyond "I do them"/"I don`t", same ol` same ol`..I gotta watch that I don`t find excuses for bad decisions.

[Oneheadlite]

Accumulator - Thanks for sharing about Accumulatorette. Oooh boy, the notion of back surgery honestly terrifies me; glad to hear it sounds like it went well and has been a good thing for her. How have things been post Fusion? Anything she has to watch for?

I`m 35 now, and my curve had been 21° back in junior high (maybe even high school) when we were monitoring it to determine if I`d need to use a brace to help slow it down. When I wrecked my back at work a few years ago, it measured at 21° again when the Chiro/PT place did their X-rays. So to have it move a tangible amount in that period of time is enough to catch my attention/make me nervous.

Was going to comment on the "To plank, or not to plank" discussion - I would think one of the benefits of planks is muscle awareness. I remember when I left my first yoga class, I was no longer thinking "Stand up straighter." It was "Fire the muscles here, here, and here" to tilt this and straighten that. I think planks also help to learn to engage all your muscles to work towards a goal vs just letting your power muscles take over. This is strictly my low-expertise thought.

[Accumulator]

Oneheadlite- My wife considers her Spinal Fusion a complete success. Zero post-op problems, nothing she needs to watch for. She had it done way back, many years ago, and all is still fine. Wearing the requisite back brace during the recovery seemed to be the biggest problem for her.

One the "muscle awareness", yeah...anything that fosters that (without causing issues) is good IMO. I just lean more towards other movements (that I really oughta do more) like the "stand flat against wall/lie flat on floor" ones, where the object is to keep the lower back pressed flat instead of letting it arch. Though as noted, I might start doing some planks too.

[jrock645]

Monday will mark 6 weeks back on the keto train, and im down about 20lbs and 3.5” on my waist. Feel great. And while the meals may be a bit repetitve and boring- i eat the same 4 thing each day- the results are far from boring.

[Accumulator]

Oneheadlite- When doing a down/up yesterday, I was again impressed that you can do them the way you can. NO WAY could I do them that way. Never. Heh heh, guess I`m just happy I can do them at all

jrock645- Gee, 3.5" off your waist is really something! Heh heh, guess that 20lbs. is too, now that I think about carrying a 20lb. db around all day.

But what I really like is that you feel great.

Heh heh, I`m pretty much the Industry Standard for boring, repetative meals...eh, IMO it`s not a problem as long as you like the stuff

[Accumulator]

I`m *FINALLY* making a little more progress on my eyes-closed balance. Been working at standing on one leg *eyes closed* for years now, and/but I`m finally getting a few more seconds. Yeah...seconds. Once I close my eyes it`s "goodbye sense of balance"

Gee, it was a while ago that I posted about how people are apparently terrible at the "stand on one leg" thing...I`m content to just go 2 minutes, not sure I`d get any real benefit from going longer.

Doubt I`ll get up to the 2 minutes eyes-closed in this lifetime, might never get to 30 seconds

[jrock645]

Got back in for full body after taking a week off to battle a nasty cold. Strength up on some stuff. Almost pushing the whole stack on the leg press for 12 reps, and thats after extensions to failure. Got 12 reps. Goal is to push the whole stack 20 times. Wont be too much longer i think...

[Accumulator]

jrock645- Glad you`re back making progress!

Interesting that you`re doing the Leg Extensions *first*.

[jrock645]

jrock645- Glad you`re back making progress!

Interesting that you`re doing the Leg Extensions *first*.

i take it youre not one to pre-exhaust?

[Accumulator]

i take it youre not one to pre-exhaust?

I`ll sometimes do the pre-exhaustion, but doing the Leg Extensions first compromised my performance on the subsequent movements, and those were what I consider the most beneficial. So if I`m gonna do that for Quads I`ll do the squats (or in your case, the Leg Presses) first and then use the Leg Extensions to hit whatever fibers I think need it.

But doing that is tricky too since after I finish the Squats I`m just too played for anything except recovering enough for the next movement...and that can take a while. (I rest an awfully long time between sets/exercises.) Heh heh, just thinking about it kinda tweaks me...Quad movements really trash me.

Generally, I do Drop Sets if/when I want to increase the inroad instead of pre/post-exhausting. But I hardly ever use that for Legs either; I just do my best for one set. I might disconnect the elastic bands for a Drop, but it`s very rare that I carry any Upper Leg work beyond normal concentric failure. Once my form starts to deteriorate, I`m done with that movement, and I do the heavy movement(s) first while I`m fresh.

This might be another Age Factor thing..I really am all about zero injury and not overtraining. Consider that my Upper Leg days are just 3-5 sets for quads and 1-2 for Hams, and recovering from that brief workout might take me three weeks. Can`t do Cardio for days afterwards either, used to just need ~3 days but that`s not enough any more.

[Accumulator]

The Pre-Exhaustion topic is one where my experiences taught me that what Mike Mentzer/Arthur Jones/etc. recommended wasn`t right for *me*. The Extensions-then-Presses sounds Mentzer-familiar to me, and reminds me of Flies-then-Presses for Chest (which didn`t work for me either despite the appealing logic behind it).

Wonder what those guys would`ve experienced had they lived/trained longer...I bet Darden has something to say on the topic, but I don`t much follow his stuff.

[Accumulator]

jrock645- I`m kinda wondering about your plan to go from 12 reps to 20. That`s be quite an accomplishment!