What did you do for a workout today?

Im upset that I missed my pre-work workout due to a car issue. I'm hoping to make it up tonight, but I'm gunna have the same problem tomorrow.

Goddamnit.

Out on a run. My left calf tightens up and there's a stab of pain. I slow down and keep going a bit to see whether it's a "you should stop now" pain or not. It eased off and felt fine by the end of the run.

Now I'm practically limping ><. Guess it's the rowing machine for a week or so....

<alt>doxygen said:

I never actually did a marathon, but I did a couple of those runs people do when training for marathons where they go to "the wall", which if I remember correctly is 19 miles. I did one of those in Hawaii, which was fun. I could have easily done a marathon back then, but my time wouldn't have been impressive.

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I would definitely not be aiming for any time, just to finish it without slowing below a proper jog.

Mr Person said:

Goddamnit.

Out on a run. My left calf tightens up and there's a stab of pain. I slow down and keep going a bit to see whether it's a "you should stop now" pain or not. It eased off and felt fine by the end of the run.

Now I'm practically limping ><. Guess it's the rowing machine for a week or so....

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I get that kind of pain every now and then, but it usually goes away after a minute or so. The only kind of pain that makes me stop running now are shin splints, and I havent had those in over two years.

PoS said:

I get that kind of pain every now and then, but it usually goes away after a minute or so. The only kind of pain that makes me stop running now are shin splints, and I havent had those in over two years.

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Ugh. Shin splints. Had those so frequently in high school (wrestling; to a lesser extent, football). And since I couldn't simply not run, they'd get progressively worse though the season to the point where even tapping my shin with a finger caused stabs of pain. Bleh.

Fortunately, I don't seem to get them if I run on a concrete sidewalk. There's something about modern tracks that does it to me, though, and fairly quickly at that.

Mr Person said:

Ugh. Shin splints. Had those so frequently in high school (wrestling; to a lesser extent, football). And since I couldn't simply not run, they'd get progressively worse though the season to the point where even tapping my shin with a finger caused stabs of pain. Bleh.

Fortunately, I don't seem to get them if I run on a concrete sidewalk. There's something about modern tracks that does it to me, though, and fairly quickly at that.

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Yeah, those things hurt. I took a week off the last time I had it and it took me another two weeks to get back to my old level.

As far as concrete, my feet prefer softer surfaces. My Nordic Track treadmill has a spongy roller so I'm good with it, plus I can run regardless of weather or time of day since it's in one of the rooms at the house. I also dont wear running shoes, I prefer basketball high tops (my current shoes are Air Jordans) perhaps because Ive got flat feet.

PoS said:

I get that kind of pain every now and then, but it usually goes away after a minute or so. The only kind of pain that makes me stop running now are shin splints, and I havent had those in over two years.

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I had a pinched nerve in my ankle once that forced me to stop running for about 6 weeks. I was worried at the time that it might keep happening, but it never reoccurred.

I've kept the same general free weight routine but added a third and final circuit based on these youtube videos put out by the same guy who does these "sore in six minutes videos".



It looks like it's indirect advertising. Watch the videos, try out the various suggested exercises/tips, visit the site displayed (athlete-X or athlean or something), and buy overpriced supplements/work out plans. Skip the last bit.

But if anyone has a free weight set-up in the basement like I do, they might benefit from some of these. Wish I'd bookmarked the ones I found helpful. But basically, I've incorporated a mix of new exercises as well as safer versions of what I did. As an example of the latter, instead of doing one-arm rows by putting a knee on the bench and one foot on the floor, with one arm bracing, he recommended something more like a two-foot braced squat position around the bench, with a little more room on one side for the weight. Idea: no groin/hernia injury resulting from the strain imbalance on either side of the hip. It worked out well, though at first I had to find the right position to avoid stressing my back.

Mr Person said:

Goddamnit.

Out on a run. My left calf tightens up and there's a stab of pain. I slow down and keep going a bit to see whether it's a "you should stop now" pain or not. It eased off and felt fine by the end of the run.

Now I'm practically limping ><. Guess it's the rowing machine for a week or so....

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Ugh. Two runs equally spaced since it happened. Each time, it recurs. I think I'll just do the rowing machine only for a painful month. (Done near max output, I find the rowing machine to be far tougher than running on a minute-by-minute basis).

I don't think the routine I use now is useful for folks who aren't used to working out; it's not the routine I was able to do way back when I first started working out and it's not the one my high school athletics coach had me on.


My workout routine is the "body parts" one and I exercise seven days a week. I have a personal trainer, so I just do whatever he says do, but the general routine is this:

1. Eat an hour before working out -- complex carbs, pint of water, and clean protein (m-waved fish or protein shake, usually; once in a while I cheat and eat some other protein)
2. 20 minutes of aerobics -- usually running on the treadmill or skipping a rope.
3. 3 minutes of warm-up for the body parts that are the focus of the day's resistance training exercises
4. 60 minutes of resistance training -- maintenance rather than mass building -- on the body part:
   1. Legs + Abs
   2. Chest
   3. Back + Abs
   4. Fun day: Balance and agility exercises -- This is all sorts of stuff...obviously, we don't do all of these every time, not even close...it's just whatever he thinks I should do for an hour that day...The fun part is that he, my lady friend and I often do these exercises together and I don't do the 20 minutes of aerobics noted above because fun day is non-stop moving.
      • plyometrics -- one-legged deadlifts (no or very light weight), plyo-hops, box hops, depth jumps, box-depth combo
      • calisthenics
      • balance ball crunches and raises
      • bodyweight-only resistance -- "crazy" push-ups (clappers, hoppers, handstand), sissy squats, various planches/dips, and/or various chin-ups/pull-ups
      • tossing medicine ball back and forth while hopping around on one foot
      • swimming or one-on-one pool volleyball or basketball
      • wall climbing
      • trampoline exercises
      • elevated lunges (unweighted)
      • spinning and step/dance aerobics
      • gymnastics -- rings, the horse, swinging around parallel and uneven bars
      • bike ride to Mt. Vernon or Great Falls and back (approx. 40-50 miles round trip -- this usually takes 2.5 hours)
      • rowing on the Potomac or rafting/paddling at Great Falls (usually two hours)
      • punching the heavy bag or speed bag
      • whatever other silly stuff he dreams up for us to do
   5. Shoulder + Abs
   6. Arms
   7. Fun day: Balance, flexibility and agility, aerobics with my trainer (30 minutes instead of a whole hour unless he feels like a bike ride or rowing)
5. Eat fresh fruit and candy, followed by a big meal that's heavy on protein