Post a Picture of Yourself!

xSamhainx said:

Watch out for the machines, I'm convinced now that they are not good for you. They isolate certain muscles inappropriately, you really need to have the balance factor of free weights, plus you really wont lift more than you should w/ free weights. The actual weight resistance of machines is dodgy.

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I think the thing with the machines is that they force you into very specific trajectories, and if that particular movement isn't good for you, or if they're just set up a little bit wrong for you, pop goes the weasel. Free weights or the pulley don't do that, because you're the one who determines how things move.

Of course, if you have very poor body awareness or coordination, you can do free weights "more wrong" than machines. IOW, the impression I get is that machines are good for (a) absolute beginners with a trainer to set the machines up for them, or (b) advanced bodybuilders who know *precisely* what they want to train, and which machine will give it to them. For the rest of us… perhaps not so good.

But yeah, I prefer free weights and the pulley as well. I only do my legs on machines these days, because my knee problem stops me from doing squats — a 90 degree knee angle plus weight = trouble, and leg curl and leg extension machines are an OK alternative.

Free weights are my favorite way also. Definitely. And you don't need a lot. Most of the weights you need are already on your body. Body-weight training is definitely my favorite way. I personally only need weights for the upper body (biceps, triceps and deltoids). Plus a pull-up bar is also really useful. No machines for me. And I hate treadmills. Running outdoors is way more fun, if you have decent outdoors that is.

Its still winter here in cali, a bit cold yet. Must have gotten down to at least 62 last night, brr

xSamhainx said:

Its still winter here in cali, a bit cold yet. Must have gotten down to at least 62 last night, brr

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You sound just like my father. He calls me from Florida to complain about it being in the 50's. I don't even bother to remind him that's about 40 degrees warmer than where I am.

xSamhainx said:

Dr just basically told me to take it easy for a couple months, keep it stretched and do yoga (again, I'm in california lol). He thinks I may have strained my rotator cuff, if it isnt better soon I'm gonna do the MRI thing, that's the next step.

Sports injuries are hell, because they can pretty much prevent you from doing what you like to do almost completely until youre healed. It's a stress breaker for me too, to be able to push myself to the limit. Yoga is pretty fun to do, and it can push you pretty hard too, but it's just not the same. Doesnt give that self confidence boost and weight maintenance that weight training does.

In the meantime, cardio's gone out the window too! Thankfully a friend just gave me an old "vitamaster" treadmill, now there's no excuses!

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I can sympathize on the quack-tors.

Last March I severely injured my back at work (in the navy) and everybody I talked to told me to just wait a while. My worst mistake was never going to a civilian doctor… I didn't figure it out until I was already out of the navy but the reason they didn't want to treat me was because they thought I was faking it to get disability payment on my way out of the navy.

So, long story short, my back is fucked. I used to love running but now I simply cannot. I've only tried two stints of running since March and both times it put me out of commission for at least two weeks. The only exercising I can do is simple things like a handful of pushups and leg lifts. It's hard to know exactly what exercise will tweak my back so I have to stick with what I know will work.

EDIT: Forgot to contribute to the picture collection…

That's one sick picture, man. Like it.

I injured my back years ago laying sod, Korplem and I know how frustrating and painful a back injury can be. 40 years later I still have to do my exercises and watch how I move. My advice would be to go to a civilian doctor and get a diagnosis on how bad things are. Sometimes muscle relaxants for short term relief of spasms and exercise will take care of it. The back exercises that will help you function are mostly focused on strengthening your stomach muscles, and done faithfully, they'll keep your pelvis lined up properly with your spine so it doesn't slip back into the injured area where your nerves are being pinched. After it heals a bit, a chiropractor, though longterm an expensive and kind of a quackish remedy, can also help twist you back a bit to where you need to be. Don't give up. Unless you've seriously ruptured a disk or something, you can can get back to a relatively normal life. Avoid surgery if you can—they like to fuse your spine(or they used to;maybe it's better these days) and that makes you even less flexible and able to do anything, plus gives you more pain and often a nice painkiller addiction along with it.

Good luck. You can find some good info and exercises here:
Mayo Clinic: Back pain

Thanks, that's good to know.

Hey, no charge even. If I got paid by the word for all the advice and wisdom I dole out here to you fortunate people, I'd be rich…Of course if I got what I deserve, I might be banned.

Damn, Korplem, that sucks.

I would also suggest seeing a really good yoga instructor, preferably one who's used to working with people with injuries. Yoga can do wonders for back pain, although of course it's not a miracle cure or anything. The good thing is that you're (a) pretty young and (b) used to doing physical stuff, which means that your body has a lot of capability to heal itself *and* you're among the people who could best benefit from disciplined stuff like yoga.

I must say we have some very good looking peeps hanging around here!

Magerette, you'd be very rich, indeed.

PJ, you're probably right. General stretching seems to do a lot so yoga might be just right.

And, Temptress, I can give you that pig's number if you're interested... although, he isn't as talkative as he was before the operation...

As someone who occasionally suffers with intense back pain, I can endorse everything Mags said. Those stomach exercises REALLY help, as do back support 'cushions'.

Please, dont let my prior posts convey the message that Yoga has not helped or is worthless - it's actually been helping, in my opinion. My fiancee got me into it when we first got together, Ive been doing it semi-regularly for about a year and a half now. I think it's been helping my shoulder recovery, I just wish it was going faster ( I feel like I'm about 80% now). I think if I just let sleeping dogs lie and did no stretching, I wouldnt be progressing at all.

It's been very helpful in other areas as well, for instance, I had always suffered terrible migraines for years. Yoga has totally cut those down to practically never, stretching my neck and spine has released the tension that I think used to result in the headaches. I used to have frequent back pain too. Keeping your hamstrings loose is actually really good for your back as well. Bust out the forward bend, downward/upward dog, staff pose, the bridge, lotus - really good for back! Be careful tho, definitely take it easy if youve never done it before.

I never thought I'd be able to touch my toes, it was really a big thing for me the first time I could actually grab them. It can never hurt to be more flexible. Ok, well yeah it can hurt at first... lol

Korplem said:

PJ, you're probably right. General stretching seems to do a lot so yoga might be just right.

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Yep. Plus, it's about a lot more than just stretching. In particular, it makes you really work the "core" -- the deep abdominal and lower back muscles -- and it works the spine by rolling, tilting, and turning it in all directions. That's exactly what many back injuries need to heal, and it'll even mitigate the symptoms of stuff that can't be healed (e.g. permanently deteriorated disks). Then there's stuff like astanga yoga, which will give you a muscular workout that'll make any gym rat sweat -- although it's about strength, not bulk.

(Disclaimer: I don't practice yoga as yoga, although I do do a half-hour series of yoga-based stretches about three, four times a week. I've also been lucky enough never to have had serious back pains, but for the minor ones I do get, those stretches clear them right up.)

Exercise (and support cushions since mine is a sitting job) did it for my back injury.
It was a rather severe case too. for about six months after the incident I felt constant
pain that amped to excruciating levels when trying to get up after sitting on a chair for
anything above 30mins…

I first tried the DRX machine but even though I was indeed better at the end of the
treatment I cannot really recommend it as anything but a last resort (several doctors
dispute its effectiveness and its very expensive, at least around these parts if your H.I
doesn't cover it).

Anyway a couple of months after the DRX treatment the pain came back so I decided
(after that crisis went away by itself) to heed the Doc's advice and start exercising. I
started out slowly doing crunches and back strengthening exercises and stopping when
starting to hurt and now 8 months latter I feel very very good ! I haven't been
bothered by my back for almost 5 months and I have upped the program to include
pushups and even a bit of arm strengthening with a 12kg weight (Lying down
ofcourse).

You guys are making me want to investigate some yoga classes. I tried it briefly many years ago, but I'm severely hampered in my physical fitness efforts by the fact that I absolutely hate to exercise, even though I enjoy the benefits of it when I do. I love physical activities like gardening and swimming but I find stationery exercise deathly dull and boring, so I always drop out over time. But I know my arthritis would benefit from some flexibility training. Thanks for goading me into checking it out.

Mags -

Here's a good beginner's one that I still do to this day, I usually pause it and inject a few of my own but it's a good general outline.

Tigress is big on this one, Yoga and the Art of Aging

Bookmarked both vids. Very cool Sammy. Thanks. I'm also going to check out the local talent for classes, as I'm not at all self-motivated at home.

@Korplem, not sure of the pig you mean. I was looking at the pages starting at page 1 and stopped around page 10 or so. I must have missed something somewhere along the line. I don't need anyone's phone number. I'm married. So if there's some drama going on in the pic place, I'm not interested. I was just looking at peoples faces aged from 12 to 60ish and made a comment.

he's talking about his picture above, of him drinking a fake (maybe!) pig's blood.

grody to the max! ='.'=