Rehab is going well

So I've Oly lifted twice this week, went light and I walked away without pain, which was the main goal.  This is taking a lot of patience, but I'm going to physical therapy twice a week and pilates three times a week, plus some crossfit.  Sometimes I wonder if I'm overtraingin right now, even though I'm resting the groin. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I do Therapy, pilates, and then crossfit. that's three a day, and sometimes twice a week.



When I tried jerking for the first time on Wednesday, the body took over and I did a split jerk.  My groin immediately told me that was not a good idea.  The pain didn't linger or anything, but it definitely wasn't ready for a split jerk.

In pilates, I'm finding I can do more and more, like there were exercises I couldn't do last week that I could do this week.  As long as I keep making progress then I'm doing the right thing.

It's odd, during the week where I rested the most I saw significant improvements in my physique.  Perhaps I was overtraining, but I was only lifting three times a week, and no cardio to speak of.  For whatever reason, it's pretty cool that the week I don't do anything I seem to lose fat and gain definition.  However, I think if I were to continue the path of sloth I would stop seeing results ;)

Articles about diet

So since working out is kind of touch and go right now with the groin, nothing has proven to be note-worthy.  I'm def getting stronger and better, I can power clean light weight now, and pretty much everything but squatting and running.  The pain in the groin is pretty much gone, but I still hurt in the ab from time to time.  Been doing a lot of self massage and I think it's been beneficial.  Anyhow, because there hasn't been too much to report, I've been accumulating interesting links and thought I could post them every week or so. So without further ado:

Here's an interview with Dr. Davis explaining the evils of wheat, why it makes you fat and why it's addictive.

Here's a study showing extreme endurance sports isn't healthy for the heart (do weights instead!)


A Ketosis diet is essential for some kids.

Gluten can cause depression.

And for balance, an article that thinks Paleo diet is bunk.

Paleo diet is EXPENSIVE!!!!

I find when arguing with people about the evils of wheat it's better to have studies and facts, and I hope to provide it here.

Post Pilates report

So I did pilates with the reformer, and whenever I felt like I was about to hurt myself I limited the range of motion.  I was still able to do everything, but the nice thing about the reformer is that it can be used to make things easier or harder, and with my groin I made everything easier.  The result, I walked away without feeling any pain, like I didn't make things worse.  Woot :)

...I also think I've figured out why it seems like I might have a sports hernia.  After Pilates I felt some discomfort, but it def wasn't in the groin area, more like the psoas but a bit lower.  I felt around for knots and sure enough there are some knots that are as hard as pebbles in my lower ab, right side (side of the groin injury).  I do think these are knots and not indications of a hernia because they don't protrude out at all, but are only felt when you press on them.  I tried applying some pressure and sure enough I felt that same pain that I feel when I do flutter kicks or that motion doc asked me to do.  After a little while the pain subsided, just like with a knot, so I think I've figured this out.  Having answers to questions like "what is wrong with me" is such a relief.

First day of PT

Ok so I saw a Dr and he confirms the pulled groin, also there is a possibility I have a sports hernia.  It is a small possibility, but because holding a hollow body causes pain in kind of the ab region there's a chance I've done some damage up there.  For now though we're treating it like just a pulled groin and seeing how that works.  He perscribed some PT and today was the first day.

Being the first day not a whole lot happened.  She tested out my range of motion, which was good, and then did some ultrasound and some massage.  She said things looked to be pretty good and so we should be able to start doing exercies soon.  Groin pulls are tricky because if you push too much too soon you'll pull them again.  Dealing with this will require a lot of patience from me.

...And I kind of feel like I'm already failing in that department given that when I tried to take a week off I worked out like two times, albeit I stopped in both sessions when I felt pain.  In addition, I'm supposed to go to the first private pilates lesson with Kristin and her sister.  I feel like this is pretty important, and I'll tell the instructor about it and if something hurts I just won't do it.  My main concern though is that everything will hurt and I'll just lay there, wasting money.

I also had to cancel a massage so that I can go to this pilates session, and after seeing the therapist and having her do some very shallow massage I think seeing Bobby may be just the thing I need to do.  I've called the studio and am on the list for the next canceled appointment.  The fact that I have such a flexible schedule should allow me to see him sometime this week, and I'm fine with that.

Injury report

So I workout out on Friday, it was death by 10m and then death by pull ups (got 16 and 12, btw).  I felt that was an ok workout on my hip.  Right after the massage it felt like it was cured because the pain had gone down so much but after a while I realised although it had gone down it had not gone away.  The pain does feel like it's the psoas area, but instead of around the iliac crest area it's closer to the groin area.  This has me wonder if it's actually a goin injury, and perhaps the psoas tightened up to cover for the groin.

Regardless, I took Saturday off as well as Sunday, and it felt better.  Today I decided to try working out, and if I felt it get worse I would stop.  Well, it got worse, and now I'm kicking myself for re-agrevating the injury.  So now that plan is to take the week off, and if I'm not feeling 100% after that I'll take even more time off

Sucks because I have the lifting competition in early November but I can't train through this pain, I can't even air-split jerk without my right hip feeling pain, and the pain makes me try to put all the weight on my lead/left foot.  I don't want to pick up bad habits here.  There will be other lifting competitions, but I have only one hip and I don't want this to become a chronic/nagging issue.

AARRRRGH I'm so frustrated now.  I think it's mostly for not taking the week off directly after the Oly meet when I injured it.  I thought it wasn't a big deal and really didn't seem to bother me so I figured it would recover on it's own.

Sigh, I'm ashamed I thought this because I'm experienced enough to know better.  I just hope I haven't made things worse for myeself, that's all.  Also thinking about seeing a doctor just to try to diagnose the problem, I think the worse part is not knowing what it is and having a recover time period.

Here's to a speedy recovery.

Massage = best thing ever

Massage therapist worked on my right psoas, found it to be ridiculously tight.  Then he went and found the muscle that was causing the psoas to act up.  The root cause seemed to be a stabilizer in my left hip, don't remember the name but I think it ended with an -itis, like faciatis.

Anyway, pain is pretty much completely gone and I feel like I could go lift heavy tomorrow.  However, I think I'm going to take Friday off as well.  It's nearing the end of the Fiscal year for the PTO, so it's getting to be crunch time.

Can't believe how effective massage is, def prevented this into becoming a nagging injury.

Injury



A girl rocking it at the Meet

So back at the Oly meet I hurt one of my core muscles, probably on the last lift.  It could be a groin, psoas, or oblique that is giving me trouble.  It has been slight so I figured I could train through it, sadly it seems to be getting worse.  Today I'm seeing the massage therapist and he'll give me a better idea of what's going on.  Hopefully he'll be able to help in the healing process.  This past week I was determined not to give up on the opportunity to workout with Kristin.  I've been wanting this for too long to give up on her, and I felt like I owed her a week of working out together since I went off on my own and stopped crossfitting and started Oly lifting.  Sadly, the pain seems to be getting worse so I need to back off and wait things out.

There's another Oly lift meet coming up in early November.  Angie has already posted the "new" training routine, which is the same as the last one.    For some reason that disappointed me.  I guess I was expecting something different, but I guess with Oly lifting you stick with what works, and this def works.

I feel bad in that I'm not lifting this week, that I missed oly class yesterday and I'll be taking at least the rest of the week off.  There's not that much time to train for this upcoming event and I don't like half-assing things.  When I tried both Oly lifting and crossfitting the crossfitting kept making me sore and made me feel like I wasn't able to really improve in Oly lifting until I gave up crossfit.

It's just a hard thing to balance: the desire to excel with Oly lifting and the joy from working out with the fiancee.  Tough decisions, tough decisions.

Week of Crossfit

Ok so now that I did the Oly competition I went back to Crossfit this week as a "break".  This past week I crossfitted only three times instead of my regular five since my body isn't used to it.  At all.  As I sit here my lats and arms are quite sore, mostly because we did pull ups on Friday and damn if my body isn't used to doing them anymore.  I'm looking forward to doing a whole five this upcoming week, all with Krisitn.

On Tuesday I saw the Chiropractor again, and she was amazed with how out of whack my body was.  So either it was crossfit or the competition that really through my body for a loop, probably a combo of both.  I have to say I'm really glad that I started seeing her, it really has changed things for the better, which can be hard to believe given how delicate her adjustments are.

Now that I'm weighing 190+, I'm going to try to hold on to these muscle gains.  This means I need to keep eating a ton of food, the nutrition guy at crossfit Rise said I can easily go through 6-8k calories a day.  I guess that would explain why I feel hungry (and eat) all that time.  It's funny but eating for me really is work.

Speaking of eating, I am trying to step up my nutrition, again.  It always seems like there's something to improve.  First I did the zone diet, then I switched to the paleo diet and that caused me to lose more fat but was also harder to keep strength so I added protein shakes. Then I made the move from corn fed beef to grass fed beef.  I honestly felt like there wasn't really much more I could do but I've learned that I should start eating fermented foods.

Fermented foods?  When I first heard about that I thought it mean spoiled foods, but that's not quite right.  A fermented food is sauerkraut, for example. Pretty much every culture has a fermented cabbage dish, and the reason is it's a great source for healthy bacteria.  Otherwise called probiotics.  Some may turn their nose at the idea of fermented foods, good thing I am up for trying anything to eat, like the time I was up in Quebec for my 30th bday.  Seems that probiotics shouldn't be taken lightly, they can help decrease anxiety and depression.

This nutrition stuff can really get complicated.  Hell, I just found out my sea salt isn't naturally made because it's white and what I need to look for is Trader Joe's Himalayan sea salt, which is pink.  Back to the probiotics, for this week I've been buying teas that are fermented, but this week I should get my hands on some really fresh whey and will make my own fermented beet drink to have at breakfast.

It's always something, I can always eat better, sleep more, and stretch more.  I'm still finding my limit on these.  Funny, I think it's easy to find your limit on working out.  I mean, I could work out more, and I am going to this upcoming week, but if I do that it means I have to do even more work on recovery.

Speaking of working out more, I am now incorporating Pilates into my weekly routine, so that means I'll be doing two-a-days, at least on Tuesday and Thursday.  I'm pretty excited about this because I've always had issues keeping a hollow body on gymnastic movements.  I arch my back and my ribcage pops out all the freakin' time.  This is because I don't have great control over my abs, I still don't have a great neurological connection to them.  Pilates' work on the core/abs will help with this.  There is a chance I'll be doing this on a reformer with Kristin and her sister, so that will be even better.

This upcoming week I could see a lot of different things happen, it should be interesting. Tweet

Oly Competition: Epilogue

My Badge

I had a great time at the competition, hard to believe it's over.  I've competed in three or four crossfit competitions, and I have to say this one was a lot different, and all was pretty much in a good way.  First, I knew exactly what to train for.  This allowed a focus and a specialization that was pretty awesome.  Crossfit competitions, being what Crossfit is, is all about testing your weaknesses on an off day.  You don't know what's coming so you have to train for everything, but even if you train for everything you can think of, the competition may come up with something you've never seen before.  This is exciting, but it tends to make it all about pure athleticism rather than skill.  At least, that is my own take on it.  Now there's nothing wrong with that, it's just that I'm a person that likes a test of skill.

...That's probably why I prefer Oly lifting to Power lifting, because the Olympic Lifts are about coordination and technique in addition to strength, where power lifting is more about sheer strength.  I liked the fact that I knew exactly what to expect, and that this competition would catch me when I'm peaking.  It's testing me when I'm at my best, rather then testing me on an average day.  Two different goals, but I prefer the former, but that's just my humble opinion.

Guys warming up

Secondly, these competitions are different than crossfit competitions in that all eyes are on you.  Instead of working out side by side other competitions, it's just you, on the platform, with three judges and that light box behind you.  It's a pretty awesome feeling.  I love performing in front of people, whether is singing or dancing solo in front of thousands of people at SMU's sing song contest or playing the upright bass in Orchestra, I enjoy the rush of all the attention.  You don't have to worry about what others are doing around you. You just approach the bar, lift, and then turn around and see if the judges decided whether it was a good lift or not.
 

A guy in his 40s who is way strong

And third, the sport just places so much more emphasis on technique than just gutting it out and letting slop happen.  I've always been big on perfect technique, quite the opposite of the stopwatch whore who will do anything for a faster time.  And lo and behold here in the Oly world technique is something you want to have all the time, since in the competition you only lift six times, with at least 2 minutes in between lifts.

Oh, and one more thing, Oly competitions have weight classes.  To me, that's huge.  Although, Olympic Lifting, like crossfit, favor the shorter competitor, at least the guy that weighs 60 kilos isn't competing with the guy who weighs 120 kilos.  At least not directly (the lifter that lifts the most weight with respect to body weight wins an award. This also favors the smaller, lighter guy).

The Platform, made of Japanese hardwood

...There were 12 lifters in my weight class (94 kg), by far the most popular weigh class.  I manages to lift more than one guy, the only guy who was taller than me.  So I got second to last, but I didn't do this competition to beat other people, I did this all for myself.  And I am pretty damn happy with myself.