Rest is NOT Always the Answer

Whenever you are injured the first piece of advice given is RICE, which means Rest, Ice, Compress, and Elevate. With my back injury I've been told that maybe I need to Rest a little more. People say I am too active and that I cannot heal because I never Rest my back.

When you hurt your ankle, you can exercise or move around and still rest your ankle. Same is true with your shoulder, knee, and most other body parts. But when you hurt your back, it is hard to rest because you always use your back. I'm not talking a slight strain where you rest a couple days and then you feel better. I am talking about full out, chronic, crippling back pain. Hit by a bus pain!

I've taken breaks from martial-arts, aerobics, running, and heavy weightlifting, but the back pain never left. I still exercised, though, because I did not want to completely weaken my back and have even more issues. I've learned that exercise helps to strengthen injuries so it doesn't hurt more. For example, I am careful about lifting weights in order to strengthen all sides of my knee so that my knee cap does not wander off more than it already does.

After my hysterectomy I was forced to rest in order to heal from the surgery. I took 4 weeks off of exercise and most activity, and my back pain has worsened. I am depressed and my self-esteem have taken a blow because of the lack of exercise. So not only is the cause of the pain making me hurt, my emotions are causing me extra pain.

Exercise does more than make me look good and make me a better athlete. Exercise and endorphins from exercise makes me a happier person, which automatically make me feel better. Most people drink coffee to start their day. I exercise. When I don't exercise in the morning, I feel crummy all day. I am sluggish and depressed when I don't exercise.

The past four weeks were rough because not only was I bored and going crazy not getting out, but I was not getting my daily dose of exercise. Plus, I was getting weaker and less athletic. To make matters worse, my back pain was not getting better. I was not benefiting from the rest at all.

I started to exercise again this week. I am not doing martial-arts or hardcore training, but I am going to the gym to do strength and cardio. Now that I am exercising, my back still hurts, but at least the rest of me feels better.

Rest with Cross...and his cookie

Book and Cardio

Today I got to workout a little bit longer than I have in the past couple of days. I did 25 minutes on the Stairmill and 25 minutes on the Eliptical.

The only way I am able to do this much cardio is to bring a book. I get so bored doing cardio, especially on cardio machines. I'm not into tv shows, so watching tv on the machines never worked for me.  I usually have a book or my nook when I head to the gym for cardio.

I also did some light arms on the cables. Just enough to wake up the muscles, but not enough to hurt my back. I ended with about 5 minutes of crunches.

Getting in a Quicky

Between getting ready for school, surgery, and Christian's birthday, the last couple of days have been crazy as I expect the next couple of days to be as well. These days I do the best I can to get in a quick workout. A workout that will de-stress me, wake up my body, and keep me in some sort of shape.

Yesterday I squeezed in a 25 minute stairmill workout and about 5 minutes of abs in between dentist and orthodontist appointments.

Today I got to do a 30 minute swim and about 10 minutes of legs in between pre-op appointments and shopping for school uniforms for Faith. I can no longer to much with weights, and the weights I use for legs are light weight machine exercises. I also throw in lunges and squats without weights as well.

These are not ideal workouts for me, but I am proud that I did the best I could to at least workout some.

Stairs and Baking

Okay, so being to drugged up to drive seems to be a problem when you need to get to the store for supplies for crafts. However, I finally got to the store today, and I have my first repurposing project planned!

In the meantime I was up for trying a different new hobby. One of the few suggestions I got for a new hobby was cooking. So I decided to try baking something new today. I got a recipe for S'mores chocolate chip cookies. S'mores are one of my very favorite foods, so I was actually excited about making these.

Unfortunately, I was not thinking straight when I thought baking/cooking would be an activity that keeps my mind off of my back injury. Turns out baking hurts more than the Elliptical machine! All the standing for mixing and getting ingredients and cleaning up afterwards really hurts. 

Then the bending! Oh, the bending was the worse. I had to bend to get bowls and mixer, I had to bend to get baking sheets out, and I had to bend to put cookies in the oven and take them out. By the time I was done I could not stand up straight! But I got some really yummy cookies:

I guess it's a good thing I got in a workout this morning because this could be bad!

Today's workout:

When I got out of bed this morning I felt better than I have since I had my injections two weeks ago. So when I went to the gym this morning I decided to try something different. I am not new to the stairmill, but I have been scared to do it since I've been hurting so bad. Plus, it's hard to actually get on the stairmill because my gym only has one that works.

Anyway, I did the stairmill and it actually didn't bother me anymore than the elliptical. My back seemed more irritated, thought, because I had to stand for more than 10 minutes. I only lasted 20 minutes because of the pain from standing. 

I also did some really low impact leg strengthening moves, and I did about 40 crunches. I skipped push-ups today because...well, I hate push-ups

By the time I workout, went to the store for food and craft supplies, and baked those cookies my back no longer feels better. I'm probably at a 9.5 on that nifty 1-10 scale they ask at the doctor's.

Swim and Aquakwondo

I woke up this morning in pain, but the pain was tolerable enough to not take the drugs that make me loopy. Therefore, I was able to drive to the YMCA to workout. Yes, I know, but working out is my drug of choice. If I don't workout I am cranky and my life seems miserable. But because walking is still difficult because of my back, I decided on a pool workout. Swimming, so far, is the lesser of all the exercise induced pain.

I love being outside, I love water, and I love sunshine, so you would think that swimming would be perfect for me. The problem I have with swimming is that I get bored really easy. Looking at the bottom of the pool for an hour drives me crazy, so I have to mix up my swimming workouts every time I go to the pool.

Today's pool workout:

20 roundhouses, 20 sidekicks in the pool
Freestyle pull with buoy 100meters
Freestyle kick with board 50 meters
Dolphin kick with board 50 meters
Breaststroke 5 minutes (I lose count after 100meters)
Backstroke 50 meters
And repeat for one hour

By the end of the hour I had all I could take, so I made my way home and popped some pain pills. Even though I am in pain, I am better off now that I have had some exercise for the day.

Dieting is Not for Me

Ok, maybe I am a quitter and I really hate being a quitter, but I don't think I am cut out to have abs. I'm not lazy, at least I don't think I am lazy, but I just can't diet enough to have abs.

I am starting to think that our body is either designed or trained to react certain ways to food, and that everybody's body is different. I keep reading how protein shakes and chicken breasts fill people up so that they do not get hungry as often. I keep reading how people perform better when they have whole grains as opposed to white grains. But this was not the case for me. I was starving 30 min after eating chicken breasts, 5 servings of veggies, and a cup of brown rice. After being on the diet for a week, I had no energy. I could barely make it through a 90 second sparing match. I was hungry, tired, and lacking any sort of concentration or focus. I was not a happy person.

I gradually added back in "bad" carbs and red meat. I did this gradually because I did not want to gain a ton of weight super fast. But I ended up losing weight anyways. I feel so much better, I have more energy, and I am a lot less moody. So I started to think about how I used to eat when I was a competitive runner. I remember we would carb load before races, and our coach even encouraged pizza parties the night before state meets. This is how my body was trained. It was trained to perform on carbs and fat.

After using "white carbs", red meat, and fatty foods for fuel for so long, I don't think that my body can perform on anything else. It is used to having these foods for energy. Now, I am not making an excuse. I am going to continue to make healthier choices and try to integrate more whole grains and less white grains into my diet. But I need, at least for now, to have food that I like and that my body likes to use.

What does this mean? I am not going to do the figure competition in August. I am going to continue the weight training, eating protein (just adding more red meat, and not eating quite so much), and trying to cut back on bad carbs. Maybe I'll do a figure competition later when I can make changes to my diet without feeling like crap for months.

I am still going to do the US Open, and I am going to focus on more martial-arts competitions in the future. In fact, I just got done kicking paddles in the front yard...I love love love my paddles.

Such a Bad Bad Girl

I was down to zero energy, I was hungry, and I was gaining weight. I have to admit I was ready to just give it all up. I can't live like that for 3 months, and I was really sad that I lost my flat tummy. Before I started I had a flat tummy, it was squishy, but it was flat.

So, I decided to eat! I'm not going crazy or anything. I am still sticking to whole grains and making sure I get plenty of protein, but I am also eating a little more sugar than I was. Everything I researched said to cut out sugars and processed grains such as white bread and white rice. As with any diet to lean up, I read that I needed to eat low fat foods. This means lean protein such as chicken and fish, and of course nothing fried. Well, this wasn't working for me...obviously!

The first thing I did was to cut out the protein shakes and actually eat! This alone has given me a little more energy. Maybe I am getting too much fat, maybe I am eating too much sugar, but I feel a lot better.

I hate chicken and fish for the most part! Don't even get me started on turkey burgers...YUCK! So today I decided that I am NOT going to limit my protein to these sources. I am going to eat some chicken, but not for every meal. Fish will be a once a week thing I choke down. But I am going to eat ham sandwiches on whole wheat, real hamburgers made with beef, and steak...yes real red meat steak. I'll have bacon after I compete, not a big deal, but other meat I need.

If I am going to train, I am going to need carbohydrates. Maybe its just a Paula thing, but I need them to function. I was dying last week at taekwondo without having bad carbs in my system. I know that on most low carb diets people get moody and lose focus and concentration. I was totally lacking brain function as well as body function. I was training, but I was losing endurance and speed. Not a good thing when you are training for sparing matches.

Here is my new plan. I am going to eat my protein to build muscle, I am going to stick to whole wheat bread, but I am going to allow myself to have rice and pasta occasionally. I may need a couple crackers to help me through a taekwondo class, so I am going to eat them, but first I will make sure I eat the good carbs. Fruits and veggies are never an issue. I eat those all day long and enjoy them. So first protein, then produce, then good carbs. After I eat the good stuff, I'll eat to fuel myself without going overboard.

Tonight I was really bad though. I had pizza. Let me tell you, the pizza was delicious! I enjoyed it :-) Now back to dieting...

Week 4

Week 3 of getting ready for the US Open and Figure Competition was bust! It was my worse week yet. I was supposed to be training hard for both and eating clean for breakfast, lunch, and post-workouts. Well it was such a crazy week that I don't feel like I really had time to figure out the lunch thing. I barely got any Taekwondo training in. I am not happy with the way my stomach looks and I am feeling weak and tired.

So, I'm starting week 4 as of yesterday. This week I am going to continue to train and all 5-6 of my meals need to be clean. By clean, I mean that they need to be high in protein, lots of fiber, complex carbohydrates, low sugar, and low fat. I am really struggling with the protein because I am so picky with meat. I also have to find ways to add more time to train for Taekwondo. I am losing the space I was using at the gym to practice forms, and I really don't have a place at home.

Today I ate pretty good. I finally found some quinoa, now I gotta learn how to make it taste good because as is is nasty. The problem is, I am really hungry right now. I know I am getting enough calories and protein, so maybe not enough fat...I have not idea. My morning workout was legs and swimming. I'm getting a little stronger with my legs, but today my back was really bothering me, so I was limited on going low on squats and presses. My swim went well, nothing out of the ordinary. Because it is Memorial Day both of my Taekwondo schools were closed. Luckily, Jim was home and held paddles for me to kick for about an hour. YAY!

Making it Work

This has been such a crazy week, and I have been very worried about keeping up with my workouts. I know that if I took 3 days off, I would lose motivation and be stressed about losing my gains so far. So I had one choice: Make It Work! I am really happy with myself for working so hard so that I could get in my workouts and keep up with my eating plans.

Monday was a crazy day because I had a doctors appointment in the morning and I had to leave early for Taekwondo in the evening. My appointment was mid morning, and I was really tempted to just forget working out because I also had to pick up and drop off the pre-schooler in the morning. Instead, I stopped by my old gym on the way to appointment and got in my weightlifting workout. After my appointment I knew that I did not have enough time to swim even though I usually swim on Mondays. Instead, I parked my car at my son's preschool and ran in the preschool area. I got done with my cardio just in-time to pick up the preschooler. In the evening I arrived a little early to Taekwondo so that I could practice my form before I needed to get ready for demo team.

Tuesday was a scary day. My daughter fainted at school and I had to pick her up, take her to doctor's and keep and eye on her all day. There was no way I could workout in the morning. I was really bummed about this until I learned that the YMCA childcare opens at 3:30 in the evening. Once my daughter rested, and my son finished his homework I rushed them out the door. I got there with 1 hour before my youngest needed to go to swim lessons. So, I lifted weights and then swam laps. I cut my lap time down so that I could get the kids ready for swimming. Once swim lessons started I walked around and swam around in the pool for a bit. Not much cardio, but still something. When I got home after dinner I practice my Taekwondo while my boys took showers.

This morning I felt so exhausted after the past two days that I have had. I just wanted to crawl back in bed and sleep while the kids were at school. Instead, I forced myself to get my big breakfast and then went for a bike ride. The ride felt good. I came home and started to do abs. My body won...I fell asleep on the floor once I finished abs. I guess my body needs time to repair.

On To Week 3

Week 2 was awesome! I did better than I had planned for this week. I had only planned on working on my breakfast meal, but I ended up working on my post-workout meals as well. I am feeling like I can handle this for years. I am even getting better at separating egg whites. My Taekwondo training is coming along. I feel like I need to train more, but I'm just not sure how, where, or what. Still doing my weights and cardio and am feeling so strong.

Today was the first day of week 3 and I am not happy about chicken breast. I have never really been much of a chicken eater, but this weeks concentration is on eating the right lunch. I need to eat lean protein (like grilled fish or chicken) and veggies. I can add brown rice or quinoa on higher carb days. I don't even know what quinoa is, so I am interested in trying it. I love veggies and do not mind eating all the broccoli, carrots, and snap peas in the world. I like vegetables. I do NOT, however, like fish, white meat chicken, or beans. Beans are the worse, I can't even choke those down. I'm going to experiment with fish. I really want to find ways to get this protein and enjoy it like I do my eggs and protein shakes.

I'd appreciate any ideas or recipes for grilled/baked chicken or fish. Nothing high in sodium or sugar allowed!

Thanks...here's to week 3

Twiggy

It's only day 3 of this week and I am already considerably more exhausted than I was yesterday. I seemed to have endless energy yesterday. Today, all I wanted was a nap!

I started the day off with 3 egg whites and one egg scrambled, a banana, and oatmeal. That is just over 20 grams of protein, and I am wondering if I need one more egg. I'll research that tonight.

My morning workout started with weightlifting for shoulders, biceps, and triceps. I was checking out my arms and flexing in between sets, and I cannot get over how skinny my arms are. I have almost no muscle tone left! My arms are quite Twiggy! I am concerned that I will not be able to build them up. On the positive side, I was lifting heavier than I did last week. I still felt like super woman in the gym because of my gains in strength. I know I need to hit delts and triceps harder, though.

After weights I practiced forms again for technique. I felt stronger and like I am getting my core strength back. I don't feel like I am going to fall over all of the time...just some of the time. I wish I had a bag at the gym or somebody to hold paddles for me. I feel like I need to work more on speed and footwork, but it's hard to do without a target. Plus, I know once kids get out of school, they will be using the courts and I will not have anywhere to practice at the gym. I've gotta start brainstorming on this one!

To finish my workout I ran for cardio. I hate running! Now my knees hurt, but it is such great cardio and it is also a great leg workout. Speaking of legs...mine are looking HUGE! I read that when you start to build muscle that you can get a lot of water retention because muscles need water. Hopefully it goes away soon because I don't think I can get pant over these tree trunks.

After my morning workout I chugged down another vanilla protein shake. It had 20grams of protein plus the protein in the 7oz of milk I mixed it with. Again, I really need to do more research on how much protein I need before and after a workout. Last I read, I need 1gram of protein for every pound I weigh throughout the day. I'm not sure how I should be dividing these up. Especially since I get a least 2 workouts a day.

This evening my Taekwondo workout involved practicing my competition form. I decided to do a Taekwondo form, but it is one that is not required in my organization, so I am having to work extra hard to get it down right. I love the form though. It is a lot of fun!

I'm gonna stop blogging and start figuring out my protein intake so I can get rid of my twiggy arms.

It Taste Like Cake Batter

This morning I had 2 egg whites and one whole egg scrambled, oatmeal, and a half a banana (the other half was bruised). I think I still need more protein because this is my pre-workout meal. I am going to add one more egg white. My post workout "meal" was a vanilla protein shake made with milk. I need my calcium, so I used milk. It was yummy...it tasted like cake batter!

For my morning workout I lifted legs. I can feel myself getting stronger as I go through the moves. My back really hurts when I do squats, so I don't think I am going low enough to engage my glutes. I am seeing definition in my legs now, but my butt is still squishy and saggy. Good news was seeing my quad definition through my baggy Taekwondo pants. I haven't seen that in a really long time.

I worked on forms after doing legs. I am not sure which form I should compete, so I just worked on technique on the forms that I already know. I am thinking about learning a Karate form just for the US Open. I hear that karate forms do better in scoring than Taekwondo forms. If I do a Taekwondo form, it will be my favorite: Dahlee Hyung Sa Chung.

For cardio this morning I swam laps. I felt really strong. I don't know if its the muscle I am building, the breakfast I ate, or a mixture of both. I wasn't fast compared to some other swimmers, but I just felt like I was moving through the water so much better.

Tonight I went to Taekwondo class at Fast Kicks and we worked on forms and did Hogu drills. I loved it, but I felt really clumsy and slow on the Hogu drills. I haven't really trained for sparing in 2 years. I am really nervous about my ability to be ready to fight by July 2. I guess I have to start somewhere.

Well, on to tomorrow...more cake batter!

Starting Week 2

For week 2 I have decided to work on my first meal of the day and start training for the US Open (open Karate) in addition to continuing my training for figure competitions. I am feeling good after week 1 and I am ready to get started on this week.

I started today with my first breakfast of my "diet". It is not a diet to lose weight, but a diet to fuel my body, help build muscle, and keep me lean. My first breakfast was scrambled eggs (the only way I know how to cook an egg), oatmeal, and an orange. I like all those things, but it took a long time to prepare and I will quickly get tired of eating that. So I need to do some serious research on breakfast for figure competitions.

This week I am going to get serious about my Taekwondo training. I have been going to class off and on since I moved to Tampa almost a year ago, but because of my back injury I have not been consistent. I am blessed that I have to different schools I get to train at. One of them is about an hour from me, but the owners are some of my favorite people in the world. I trust them with not only my training, but also teaching my children. It is a family atmosphere, and I get some AMAZING traditional Taekwondo training. Check out one of my favorite places to be: Family Martial Arts Center

The other school I get to train at is only 30 minutes away, but it is hard to get there with my crazy kids in tow. So I only get to go when their dad is available to watch them. This school is amazing and the instructor is a genuinely great guy. I love the training I get there because it reminds me of my old Olympic Style days. We do lots of paddle drills, which is my favorite thing in the world. In addition, the owner is an incredible martial artist and I have a great deal of respect for him. I am grateful to get to train here: Fast Kicks Academy

So, here is to a great Week 2!

Week 1 Frumpy

I am by no means overweight or obese, but since my back injury I may be "fatter" than I am used to. I mean that I no longer have the muscle tone I used to have when I was teaching aerobics and training for martial-arts competitions. Just a couple weeks ago I was complaining because my shorts didn't fit, but when I weighed myself I was lighter than I've been in a long time. FAT! Fat takes up more space than muscle. If you want to see a gruesome picture, Google images of 1 pound of fat versus 1 pound of muscle.

Now that I've decided to train for figure competitions, I have been checking myself out. My guns are now just straight sticks, my glutes are droopy, my hamstrings are dimply, I have no idea where my quads have gone, and my back is squishy flesh. As far as abs are concerned, I never really had a good mid-section. Nope, I prefer to eat pizza, pasta, bread, rice, chocolate, and cookies. Good news is that I still have decent shoulders, bad news is that I have got a lot of work to do.

This brings me to the end of Week 1. I decided for this week that I would start training for the figure competitions. I was pretty happy with the cardio that I had been doing because the cross-training has been good for my injuries. The only change I made to cardio was to add one more day of cardio. I had already been weight training, but not with any goals or focus. This week I started lifting harder and focusing on building muscle.

I didn't start training for the US Open yet or start the diet for figure competition because I am breaking into these things a little at a time. But after my first week I am noticing big differences in strength. I am starting to look a little less frumpy, and I am starting to feel some muscles tightening up. While I was running yesterday morning, I could feel a big difference in my strength.

I finished Week 1 stronger and even more excited about my goals for the US Open and Figure Competitions. On to Week 2...

Hold Me Accountable

I have finally set some goals for this year. If you are reading this, please follow this Blog, follow me on Twitter, and/or friend me on Facebook. I need your encouragement. I need you to hold me accountable for my goals, and YELL at me if I get off track. I am writing this to ask for everybody to help me stay focused on my goals.

US OPEN
One of my goals that I have "re-set" for myself is to compete at the US Open (open Karate tournament) in July. I know I said I was going to train for this awhile ago, but then my back started to act up and I really did not feel like moving, much less training. But I am tired of laying around waiting for my back to get better. The doctor cleared me for any activity, I guess I just have to push through and ignore the pain. Which really sucks! Anyway, I've got 8 weeks to get ready for probably my biggest martial-arts competition yet. I don't know if I will be able to fight, but I am going to start preparing for it. I am going to plan on competing in sparing and traditional forms.

FIGURE COMPETITION
For those of you that have never heard of a figure competition, it is like a body building competition, but with smaller more feminine muscles. There is more to it, I know, but that is just the easiest way to explain it. Anyway, I have been told many times that I should do this, but I have always been so focused on Taekwondo that I blew it off. But now I really want to do it. I found a couple of shows in August that I plan to go to. One is the Florida State Championships in Orlando. I have my work cut out for me, especially when it comes to dieting. Still, I am very excited about this.

 I am nervous and excited for both. Keep me in your prayers that my back heals and that I do not get any more injuries on my journey.

Why Cross-Train?

Whenever I start an activity, I always want to push myself to be the best I can be. For me, this usually means daily practice so I can get better fast. However, I am learning that any constant use of a joint or repetitive impact on an area of the body is going to cause pain and injury. It's why runners have runners knee and tennis players have tennis elbow. By taking away the constant and repetitive impact and motion, I am hoping to prevent further injury to my body. My solution to this is cross-training.

The main reason I believe cross-training is the answer is cross training helps to balance out muscle groups. For instance, having really strong quads from running but weak hamstrings can cause knee and back problems. Same is true for any part of the body. I want to prevent injury by keeping all my push and pull muscles balanced. In addition, I think it looks better if I have a balanced body. It just looks odd when a person has big ole legs but an iddy biddy upperbody. Or lets not forget tennis players that have huge forearms but skinny upper arms. They look like popeye!  I understand that not many of us are going go have perfectly proportionate bodies, but cross-training helps to balance it all out. 

In addition to balancing out my muscle groups, I also find cross-training useful because my body adapts quickly to any workout. I don't know if it's because I am awesome at finding ways to make a workouts easy or if it's because I've been a competitive athlete for 23 years. Either way, no matter the workout, my body quickly adapts. I've done some amazing classes and types of exercises that I thought I was going to die the first couple times I did it. But after a week or two it is no longer a challenge. Cross-training at least keeps my body somewhat surprised while doing different activities, but at the same time it allows me to at least get better at the handful of different activities I use for cross-training. It's hard for me because I am not patient, and want to be the best right away. I am still struggling with this one.

Finally, cross-training helps me because I am easily bored. It is difficult because my attention span does not match my endurance level. My brain tends to quit before my body. Cross-training allows me to mix up my workouts so I don't get bored. If I were to run everyday during the week, by the third day I am dreading the workout. But if I only have to run twice during the week, then maybe it will feel fresh to me every time I do it.

These are my reasons for cross-training, now here's to hoping that I can actually make it work! I'll keep you updated.

Swimming for Martial-Arts

As I was swimming laps yesterday I was trying to think of all the ways that swimming is beneficial for martial-artists. I have heard of people doing "Aquando" and practicing kickboxing in the pool. I have even done forms a time or two in the pool. But I'm talking about real swimming...laps.

First, the whole breathing thing while trying to swim freestyle/front crawl is a challenge. Unless you have really poor form, timing is a huge issue for breathing. Yesterday I was trying to swim fast enough to get my heartrate up, this meant that I was breathing hard. Unlike running or other cardiovascular activities where you can just breathe every time you need more O2, swimming requires you to breathe in and out at steady pace. Breath control is great for any sport. You learn to control your breathing so that you can fully utilize your oxygen intake. If an athlete breathes to shallow and quickly pushes that air back out, then they will not be getting enough oxygen into their lungs. An athlete should learn to control breathing so that they can take full breaths in and slowly let it back out. In swimming you have to do just that. You breathe in, put your face back in the water and slowly let the air out until the next time you turn your face for air (every 3 strokes is normal).

Second, martial-arts is a high impact activity. We jump, fall, kick and strike people/bags with force, or we get kicked or struck with force. It's fun, but sometimes our body needs a break from all that impact. Running, plyometrics, and jump rope are all typical tools for a martial artist to condition with, but they also add more impact into our routine. All of the impact causes us to be in pain so that we can not train or we just don't want to train. The older I get, the easier it is for my joints to yell and scream at me after a workout. In addition, the more time you spend doing high impact activities, the more chances you have of developing over use injuries and even arthritis and tendonitis. I have been doing martial-arts for 19 years...that is a lot of flying side kicks on heavy bags! Swimming is a non-impact way for a martial-artist to add cardiovascular conditioning. Plus, the water acts as therapy as you push your body through it.

Third, swimming is both a cardiovascular activity and a strength building activity. Building muscle is a great way to protect your body from injury during the high impact activities of martial-arts. Plus, building muscle helps to build power and posture for amazing kicks, strikes, and stances. Swimming utilizes back, shoulder, chest, arm, glute, and leg muscles. Plus, it helps build the core muscles martial-artists need for balance and power. Thats almost the entire body! In addition, I use mostly legs in Taekwondo, so adding more upper body strength is always a smart thing to do to balance out my body.

I am going to try to swim at least 2 or 3 times a week. I am hoping to gain strength and endurance while I try to heal my body.

Running Is Evil

Running seems to be one of the most effective and popular ways to lose weight and stay in shape. For me, it is one of the few ways that I can get my heart rate up so that I can get a good cardiovascular workout. However good running may be for my heart and my waist, I know that running destroyed my body! I ran competitively for 7 years and now, 15 years after my last race, I am still suffering from the effects it had on my body.

FEET
I have horrible foot pain just about everyday. It does not surprise me that after spending 7 years running on roads, asphalt tracks, sidewalks, and just about any other hard surface provided at indoor track meets, that my feet took a beating. I had to have surgery on my left foot to correct the damage caused by running, and I also have constant bursitis on the balls of both feet. Not to mention, the damage done, even though it is fixed in one foot, still bothers me if I wear heals too long, jog too much, or just wear any shoes for too long. I have had fractured and chipped bones in my feet from all the running I have done and I still feel the pain.

ANKLES
My ankles are weak from the multiple times I sprained them on the cross-country course. My ankles have been sprained so many times that now I sometimes twist my ankles while just standing in one place. I have even sprained my ankle sitting in criss-cross position. While running tends to strengthen the muscles in the ankle, the holes and rocks in off-road running tend to be a hazard. Not only is it painful and annoying when I sprain my ankle at random times now that they are so weakened, but all the twisting has caused problems with the nerves in my ankles. I have been told by doctors that my ankles do not protect themselves from sprains because I have lost the reflex that most people have. I have lost most proprioception in both ankles so my body does not react to the twisting until it is too late to protect myself from the sprain.

KNEES
My knees are even worse than my feet and my ankles. During the 7 years I spent running hardcore, my knee caps continuously dislocated. Kneecaps can dislocate in runners because running develops the hamstrings more than it develops the quadriceps. This imbalance can cause the kneecap to get off track. All the times that my knees caps dislocated I developed scar tissue and weak knee tendons. I had to have surgery on both knees to repair the tendons and scrape out the scar tissue. This was just as painful as it sounds. Now my knees are still weakened and I have the tendency to dislocate them while kicking, twisting, or sometimes just standing up. This is painful and usually means I am not moving to well for a week or so. Also, there are days when my knees will just throb if I walk too much on hard surfaces or even if its just a cold, wet day.


I am not anti-running. I still run when I am not in too much pain, and I think running is a natural human activity. I AM anti-treadmill because there is nothing healthy or natural about running on a treadmill. Running is a great workout, and a great conditioning tool. I just think that people should know that running is not always a good thing and that anybody should proceed with caution before beginning a running regiment.

Hamstring Stretch

I struggle keeping my leg straight during a supine hamstring stretch, so I have been contemplating how I can stretch my hamstring without anybody helping me to push my leg down and keep my knee straight at the same time. I ended up making up this stretch. It may already exist, but I have never seen it or done it so, in my mind, I invented this stretch.

If you are considering trying this stretch, let me just say that I am not your doctor, physical therapist, or personal trainer. Stretch at your own risk!

The Wall-Assisted Ham Stretch:

I found a wall with an opening (like the entrance to a hallway). I laid flat on the floor with one leg pressed straight against the wall and my butt up against the wall. My other leg was straight in front of me going into the hallway. My legs, then, were making the letter L. To get the hamstring stretch I really had to focus on my legs being straight and my knee not rolling to the side. Therefore, my knee and toes were facing in the direction of my head, and not off to an angle.

I stayed in this position about 30 seconds just feeling the gentle stretch of my leg being straight. Then I pointed and flexed my foot. This was a whole new sensation. When my foot was flexed I could feel the stretch through my calf more. I would hold the flex for about 5 seconds, then hold the point for about 5 seconds. I did this a couple of times.

Next, I pushed up on my elbows, lifting my upper body toward the wall. This is where the stretch started to happen. Keeping my hips on the floor, my knee and toes pointing toward my head, and my back straight I lifted up toward my leg. Being on my elbows was stretch enough for my left leg. On my right side, I was able to push up on my hands lifting higher a bit  more. Again, the stretch only worked if my leg was flat against the wall and pointing toward my head. Keeping my butt and hip on the floor and hinging from waist with a flat back was also key to getting a good stretch.

I did the same thing on both sides.

Enjoy!

Stretching Class

I did a stretching class this morning at the New Tampa YMCA. It was relaxing, but really boring. I've written this before, but I have to say again that I really hate to stretch.

The class was great, though. We started with about 10 minutes of neck stretches. I have stretched my neck before, but never so much. I have always known that the muscles in the low back are affected by other areas of the body, but I guess I never really realized how much stretching my neck would impact my aching lower back. We did several different neck stretches stretching every angle and getting into the shoulders too.

After neck stretches the instructor took us through upper back and chest stretches. This was hard for me because of my hyperflexibility. I did not "feel" any of the stretches we did for these areas.

Next were some cat cow stretches for back which, for me, help loosen up my sore back. Finally, we got into some hamstring stretches, and this was the reason I wanted to go to the class. I am super flexible all over except for my low back and my hamstrings. The stretches we did were basic stretches, but I really enjoyed having somebody talk me through them and hold me accountable for doing them. I'm concerned that I cannot straighten my leg all the way. My hamstring will not allow for my knee to lock out. I get told by grandmasters all the time that my square stance is bad because I bend my knee, but I can't help it. My hamstrings are just that tight!

I had to leave class early to go pick up my 5 year old from pre-school. I hope to make it to this class again.

If you can ever go to stretch class at the New Tampa YMCA, I highly recommend it. The instructor is sweet and the class is focused on stretching unlike yoga.

Now I just have to find a way to make myself stretch everyday on my own...it's sooooo boring!