The TFP Health Club

Everything I've read insists on making sure you take rest days, and if you are pushing really hard, rest weeks. Weeks where you are still riding but not at top speed or distance.

 

If I push really hard on one particular day I'm making sure I take a rest day after, I've already started to notice the massive difference in performance by taking them. But by rest day, it means I walk into work and back home as apposed to riding, works out to be a 40 minutes walk each way. I need to feel like I'm doing some form of exercise each day, and I absolutely refuse to catch the train into work anymore (our public transport here has gotten pretty bad).

Oh, and I think I might take up Yoga to stretch this tightly bound body of mine out. I've started to become very disciplined with stretching, mountain bike cits puts enormous strain on my lower back for some reason.

 

My guess, regarding your low back, is that your bike doesn't fit you quite right OR your posture sucks OR your core muscles don't have quite the endurance they need to keep you in good alignment. Or any combination of those, really. Rest days will help, yoga will likely help, but you also may want to throw in some core work with your stretching.

 

Pony is right. Yoga will definitely help with your core strength but you should also have a look at your bike and make sure it has been set up properly. It doesn't take much to make what should be comfortable unbearable.

When I was a bike courier, the end of the first day saw me in a lot of pain. One of my friends helped make a few small adjustments to my seat and... the pain was gone. The same can also be said for how you've set your bars, etc.

 

At the moment I know it's pretty much going to be my very stunted hamstrings and weak core strength. The bikes are all setup as best they can be.

It's tricky when you train hard and then spend the rest of the day sitting down. But I've been doing a lot of stretching lately, even when I'm not exercising. It's starting to make a difference.

 

Man, I really enjoyed pilates class with the reformer machine.
It's cool to find something that I can do most of the actions for a full 45 minutes.
I still need to find a way to modify some of the stuff when I have to use my wrists, but I really like being aware of all of my muscles.
I'm going to save up for a package deal and move up to twice a week for 5 weeks when I can.
Until then, it'll be the gym when I'm at home and walking while I'm here in DC.
Of course, I walked to Starbucks twice yesterday and had to take three showers.

 

I'm still under 230, even after spending a week on vacation, and one very hefty meal at a Brazilian steakhouse. Don't think my knees and feet are going to allow me to continue martial arts though. They've been steadily swollen and painful lately.

 

Also, Glucosamine can help with knee issues. It's a supplement that is often derived from prawn shells. It's helped me with my knees. That and cross training. I run, swim and bike and the different range of motion and impact helps build the muscles in different ways. Takes the stress of just running or whatever.

 

I've been taking fish oil in excess of 3 grams a day for a while now, and osteo biflex, and it helps, but sometimes they swell up anyway... I will up the fish oil and see what happens.

 

I take fish oil and glucosamine supplements for my knees. I can't really tell if they help or not; my knees are pretty shot.

I've been on these horse pills for half a decade now and I'm thinking about ditching them for x months to see if I'm wasting my money.

It's not like they're repairing my knees. Hell, both my knees and ankles click loudly when I run. It sounds like plastic aglets bouncing or something.

...

noodle, turns out no amount of squirts of delicious chocolate syrup can disguise the nastiness of gainer powder.

You should have seen the faces I made earlier. I was all "Ah-ha!" then "Huh?" then "Oh, God... it just masks it first!"

 

Okay, so I totally hate things that claim to taste like delicious Oreo sandwich cookies and use the generic "cookies and cream" flavor, right? I mean, cookies 'n cream has never once actually tasted like anything I want to have in my mouth. Not ice cream, not that horrible Hershey's bar, nothing. Yet I just ordered 6 pounds of protein in that wretched flavor. My logic? It'll make the chocolate malt and chocolate mint taste that much better.

Calories ahoy!

 

I got into yoga very regularly about 6 months ago, and while it is definitely good for core strength and "flexibility," (I put it in quotation marks because it's such a complicated issue), the best thing about it, especially with regards to other training is the body awareness it gives. I am much more familiar with my limitations and imbalances.

 

Did you use an immersion blender?
Try the scoop of ice cream trick, too.
Of course it's just going to mask it, tard.

 

Thanks, mom. I'll just stick to the chocolate flavors. It's already a lot of work mixing the shit in a glass after I get back and I'm all shaky and starving.

 

225.2 lbs this morning. I have lost 20 pounds this year, so far. Woot.

 

Behold: Breakfast of Champions. You know how I take my training seriously? I eat a sensible diet. HAH.



Not pictured: 19 gallons of skim milk. Yeah, I don't know what the deal is with the JD... it always seems to disappear like that.