Nearly two months has passed with my new scale (BMI, fat and lean mass, weight) and the result is - 3 kg and 2% less fat. I think the speed of declination is appropriate, to me it shows that this will be a long-term effect? Anyway, I will try to establish this and keep up for the next coming months. The change in diet has been minimal, slightly smaller portions and care with carbohydrate intake. The training in the gym and outdoor running is regular but could certainly be increased. When spring arrives, I am quite certain that running will become more regular (3 x a week is a good measure).
During the running exercise today I got thinking that I'm such a lucky bastard! Since I'm closing in on the inevitable half-century celebration of my time on Mother Earth (less than two years from now) and as many other males in this age the body constitution have changed. Imagine that I would have been any other guy with no other experience from exercise than graduate school or military service, what a mountain to climb it would have been to start exercise today! Although the initial exercises (after a periods of no activity) for me produce aching muscles and slow progress - I still feel enough well-being and mental strength to get me keep on going. I am very thankful to previous years of running and gym exercises since my major driving force today is the JOY! I enjoy the mental prepare before exercise, I enjoy during performance, and last but not least, I enjoy the endorphines and muscle tiredness after heavy exercise.
27.2.11
14.1.11
Monitoring will push improvements
I've recently purchased a new gadget, a WiFi-scale, that hopefully will enable further improvements regarding my body compostion. The scale measures weight and body mass (fat percent) and each measurement is transferred instantly and wireless to a personal web page. Since my gym exercises don't really show steady weight improvements I am also interested in my body composition as well. I am a strong believer of the good old quality assurance approach where all measurements are of use. If you can display your numbers of relevant parameters, everybody will understand (intuitively) when a diagram show slopes or changes. This is called "the data will show in your face". I like this way of working with myself, and the real advantage with the automatic monitoring and documentation is that you will never get tired of this, neither will you try to manually adjust any figures.
I also do some parallell monitoring (manually) of waist and blood pressure/pulse at rest. These are true health parameters, especially in my age, being male and having a stressful work. I will report back in this blog the rate of improvement in all these parameters. I will not change diet or exercise in any dramatic way, rather try to find a steady slope, rate of change. I believe that slow change will be much more longlasting and the overall goal is to find a balance where I can find healthy figures and a nice way of living. I will try to level out in a number of years and never really quit doing this. Improvement is a constant joy!
I also do some parallell monitoring (manually) of waist and blood pressure/pulse at rest. These are true health parameters, especially in my age, being male and having a stressful work. I will report back in this blog the rate of improvement in all these parameters. I will not change diet or exercise in any dramatic way, rather try to find a steady slope, rate of change. I believe that slow change will be much more longlasting and the overall goal is to find a balance where I can find healthy figures and a nice way of living. I will try to level out in a number of years and never really quit doing this. Improvement is a constant joy!
15.8.10
New injuries - in my other knee
Before summer I was travelling in my work and during a flight change at Arlanda, Sweden, I had to run between two gates. I carried my backpack and another bag, and during the run the bags started to swing, making my running unstable. I was of course aware about my unstable knee (right) and trying to avoid to much rotational stress on that one I probably forced more into the left knee. I could just feel a twitch or so during the run and no sense of that something was wrong later in the plane. 1 ½ hour later after arrival to Skellefteå and in the transfer bus, I experienced pain. The pain accelerated and a short walk late that night in the city was a real challenge. Next morning was awful, I hade severe difficulties in walking. I visited a pharmaceut, buying some anti-inflammatory gel (Ipren 5%) and some support for the knee. The best I could do was rest, but it wasn't compatible with my duties at that time. Although I was lucky having a "private" driver during several hundreds of miles driving those days in the northern parts of Sweden.
A couple of weeks later - pain was still there at exercise, so I visited a doctor. He said that it probably wasn't any alarming injury, more of a lightly torn cross ligament or so. He prescribed Voltaren as a patent solution, not really my favourite (I didn't either bother to get it at pharmacy). My plans for summer exercises and running was now far away, I had to focus on recovery and continued my gym exercises.
A couple of weeks later - pain was still there at exercise, so I visited a doctor. He said that it probably wasn't any alarming injury, more of a lightly torn cross ligament or so. He prescribed Voltaren as a patent solution, not really my favourite (I didn't either bother to get it at pharmacy). My plans for summer exercises and running was now far away, I had to focus on recovery and continued my gym exercises.
12.1.10
New decade - new challenges
Restart at the gym between holidays and all the X-mas food. I tried the running belt - and it felt just OK! No sense of stiffness from my knees, so this will become a slow rehab into a possible running outdoors in early spring. I hope the belt with it's built-in cushion will enable this recovery. Last winter's experience with a possible injury of my left knee wasn't very encouraging. I'm now also fighting a weight increase due to the loss of calorie burning exercises. The gym training doesn't really help in this - muscle mass is heavier than fat! I decided instead to use the tape measure. Waist and breast, biceps and forearm. I won't reveal my measures yet, but one target is to reach 40 cm for biceps - which may happen soon.
I came across an interesting diet during a work mission a couple of weeks ago. My colleague was caught and also bought the cook book, LCHF by Annika Dahlqvist. It is a form of an extreme GI-diet with focus on very low carbohydrate intake. All carbohydrate food exceeding 10 grams per 100 g is not allowed or should be minimised. But it's recommended to eat high protein and high fat, in this way you will be encouraged by more tasty food and also to feel satisfied or done after a meal. The fat should preferrably be based on pure butter or organic rapeseed oil or olive oil. I'll try to gradually transfer to this diet. I took one step in mid-September, by omitting candy and sweets from my intake. The reason then was tooth ache and although the tooth is fixed now, I lost my taste for sweets. The LCHF diet is supported in parts by a well-known Swedish physician, Martin Ingvar, who recently published a book about brain function and food intake in different popular weight loss diets. Martin, who is neurologist, discussed the LCHF diet in an interview in a Swedish news paper, explaning that fat is essential for body functions and that carbohydrates are playing a major role in welfare diseases.
I came across an interesting diet during a work mission a couple of weeks ago. My colleague was caught and also bought the cook book, LCHF by Annika Dahlqvist. It is a form of an extreme GI-diet with focus on very low carbohydrate intake. All carbohydrate food exceeding 10 grams per 100 g is not allowed or should be minimised. But it's recommended to eat high protein and high fat, in this way you will be encouraged by more tasty food and also to feel satisfied or done after a meal. The fat should preferrably be based on pure butter or organic rapeseed oil or olive oil. I'll try to gradually transfer to this diet. I took one step in mid-September, by omitting candy and sweets from my intake. The reason then was tooth ache and although the tooth is fixed now, I lost my taste for sweets. The LCHF diet is supported in parts by a well-known Swedish physician, Martin Ingvar, who recently published a book about brain function and food intake in different popular weight loss diets. Martin, who is neurologist, discussed the LCHF diet in an interview in a Swedish news paper, explaning that fat is essential for body functions and that carbohydrates are playing a major role in welfare diseases.
8.10.09
Recapture
This blog has been down for a rather long time, but since I revoked my other blog (Swedish Fear Culture) I got inspiration to write some in this as well. I have not been able to continue my running exercises the last ½year, I got injured? last winter after a normal exercise. I was running in cold winter up north in Sweden, about -4˚C and some snow on the streets, rather icy conditions. I was very careful because of the slippery track and probably tried to avoid a slide with my recovered knee (my right limb). Getting a slide with a floppy knee with no cross-ligaments to speak about is somewhat a nightmare, and probably something I'm mentally very aware of. After doing my 5 km´s I was back, stretching a little too hard (with such cold limbs) but no sense of that something was wrong. The morning after my left knee! was very stiff, I had to limp the whole day. For several days was this stiffness going on, worsened by sitting. But I had no pain during motion. Walking seemed to ease up a little bit. After two weeks the problem was gone and I tried some running again. No sense of stiffness or pain directly after exercise but next day, now with pain. I had to take some ketuprofen cream on my knee to get some release. Again, walking was alright. Slowly, I tried to get into running again - but the knee was not happy.
My own analyse of this problem is that I have captured a meniscus problem. Something that needs medical treatment. I'd like to visit my old orthopaedics again to discuss this but I haven't really decided yet. This time I must visit a private clinic, i.e. I have to pay the bills myself. My alternative plan is to increase muscle strength in the left knee as well so I've joined a gym club. Three times a week I'll visit the gym with a rather fixed training schedule. I used to do lots of gym in my younger years and I´ve also been back a couple of times the last 25 years so it is a quite well-known activity. The schedule consists of:
- 10 mins of bike exercise, last min sprint to max pulse
- three exercises for abdomen, torso and back, 40-100 reps.
- one exercise for breast muscles ,3o erps.
- one exercise for upper back and lats, 30 reps.
- one exercise for leg (quadriceps), 30-40 reps. per leg
- one exercise biceps, 30 reps.
- one exercise triceps, 30 reps.
I perform this in a rather high tempo, mixing and changing between muscle groups, and it lasts for approx. 40-45 mins. It should be quite similar to a running exercise that long, I expect the average pulse to be at the same level. I've been doing this for 1½ month now or so and it is really nice. My body is responding by swelling, the capillaries in my old muscles increase much faster than any fiber growth and you can see the evidence by looking at your muscles now being a lot more red than a month ago. But you need to be really careful with your ligaments, these are not at all that flexible as they were 20 years ago. I can feel some aching and stiffness in some of them and you have to remind yourself all the time to hold back in weights. We'll see if this will have effect or not on my bad knee (left one).
My own analyse of this problem is that I have captured a meniscus problem. Something that needs medical treatment. I'd like to visit my old orthopaedics again to discuss this but I haven't really decided yet. This time I must visit a private clinic, i.e. I have to pay the bills myself. My alternative plan is to increase muscle strength in the left knee as well so I've joined a gym club. Three times a week I'll visit the gym with a rather fixed training schedule. I used to do lots of gym in my younger years and I´ve also been back a couple of times the last 25 years so it is a quite well-known activity. The schedule consists of:
- 10 mins of bike exercise, last min sprint to max pulse
- three exercises for abdomen, torso and back, 40-100 reps.
- one exercise for breast muscles ,3o erps.
- one exercise for upper back and lats, 30 reps.
- one exercise for leg (quadriceps), 30-40 reps. per leg
- one exercise biceps, 30 reps.
- one exercise triceps, 30 reps.
I perform this in a rather high tempo, mixing and changing between muscle groups, and it lasts for approx. 40-45 mins. It should be quite similar to a running exercise that long, I expect the average pulse to be at the same level. I've been doing this for 1½ month now or so and it is really nice. My body is responding by swelling, the capillaries in my old muscles increase much faster than any fiber growth and you can see the evidence by looking at your muscles now being a lot more red than a month ago. But you need to be really careful with your ligaments, these are not at all that flexible as they were 20 years ago. I can feel some aching and stiffness in some of them and you have to remind yourself all the time to hold back in weights. We'll see if this will have effect or not on my bad knee (left one).
3.9.07
Progress
Back home again after an intense weekend in Stockholm. And a new experience from a VERY nicely arranged half marathon. The S:t Eriks-race was beautyfully routed throughout the watersides of Stockholm. And almost all the track was flat asphalt, just the way I prefer. So there was nothing to complain about and the running went quite fine. Here are my results:
10 km 0.52.49
21 km 1.56.18
Speed 5.30/km
The first 10 km was very easy, after 3 km I achieved the "flow" and I really enjoyed everything: the atmosphere, small chats with other runners, body working perfectly, the track and the audience. But then after some water at 13 km I started to feel some nausea, but I tried to endure and at the 16 km water station I was also a little dizzy. I concluded that I underestimated the water and salt loss so I drank a whole cup of sports drink and walked for ½ km. Then I recovered and the rest of the race was OK, I tried to speed up a little bit the last km so that my final time would not exceed 1.56. Although I had some problems in the last third of this race I improved from Göteborgsvarvet with about 8 minutes. But the best of all - I had no bad knee feelings! I think I have planned my training quite well this summer, in order to strenghten the surrounding muscles of the knee, but I have not really achieved any speed improvement. I am happy that I did this race - just to get the feeling that a well performed half marathon is a nice experience. My frustrations from the Göteborgsvarvet have gone now, and I'm still ambivalent if I will register for the 2008 race. But I have no doubts about going for the S:t Eriks race next year (13 sept 2008) again! It would be nice to do it together with someone from the western part of Sweden.
10 km 0.52.49
21 km 1.56.18
Speed 5.30/km
The first 10 km was very easy, after 3 km I achieved the "flow" and I really enjoyed everything: the atmosphere, small chats with other runners, body working perfectly, the track and the audience. But then after some water at 13 km I started to feel some nausea, but I tried to endure and at the 16 km water station I was also a little dizzy. I concluded that I underestimated the water and salt loss so I drank a whole cup of sports drink and walked for ½ km. Then I recovered and the rest of the race was OK, I tried to speed up a little bit the last km so that my final time would not exceed 1.56. Although I had some problems in the last third of this race I improved from Göteborgsvarvet with about 8 minutes. But the best of all - I had no bad knee feelings! I think I have planned my training quite well this summer, in order to strenghten the surrounding muscles of the knee, but I have not really achieved any speed improvement. I am happy that I did this race - just to get the feeling that a well performed half marathon is a nice experience. My frustrations from the Göteborgsvarvet have gone now, and I'm still ambivalent if I will register for the 2008 race. But I have no doubts about going for the S:t Eriks race next year (13 sept 2008) again! It would be nice to do it together with someone from the western part of Sweden.
14.8.07
Perceivement
It became quite a long summer delay in this blog. The normal routines were broken up by family life and many short travels around in southern Sweden. The training has not been very intense, but regular. My previous ambition to increase my rounds to 13 km has not really been successful. Instead I tried to run by the hour. I'm running for 30 mins and then turn back again. I was thinking that you could the "see" your improvements by the extra meters you would gain over time. Well, it doesn't improve that fast any longer. Anyway, I've kept to this training routine just for a change, I think I'll manage something like 11,5 -12,5 km depending on the track profile (and outdoor temperature).
There will be more challenges after this summer. I'm leaving my job position after 12 yrs at the same place. We will do a "total make-over" of our house including tearing down the middle part of the H-shaped house and also add an extra part on the north side. I'll probably be quite occupied by all these changes but I think that the running will be even more essential in order to make place for mental and physical restoration. I will also start regular gym training again, one reason is purely vain. I've noticed that my calfs have increased in size (39 cm in diameter) by the running and that is nice to my leg shapes - but they are now 1 cm larger than my biceps! Personally, I think that could do for female bodies but not for a masculine body sculpture. The other reasons are of course more normal - I need to keep the quadriceps very strong to stabilise my knee. Running helps a lot but not for short, heavy loads. Fx., last weekend I got some help to carry my wooden jetty that the last winter storm brought up on the landside. It was very heavy, I'll guess > 150 kg and we had to carry it over a slope of rock, at least 100 m. I was afraid of course to miss one step and slip away. I almost did, but I "saved" myself by hitting my leg (with the heavy piece) right beneath my bad knee. That has now become a problem during my running, in the last round I felt knee pain after 7 kms. I hope not my plan for the S:t Erik half marathon is in danger.
There will be more challenges after this summer. I'm leaving my job position after 12 yrs at the same place. We will do a "total make-over" of our house including tearing down the middle part of the H-shaped house and also add an extra part on the north side. I'll probably be quite occupied by all these changes but I think that the running will be even more essential in order to make place for mental and physical restoration. I will also start regular gym training again, one reason is purely vain. I've noticed that my calfs have increased in size (39 cm in diameter) by the running and that is nice to my leg shapes - but they are now 1 cm larger than my biceps! Personally, I think that could do for female bodies but not for a masculine body sculpture. The other reasons are of course more normal - I need to keep the quadriceps very strong to stabilise my knee. Running helps a lot but not for short, heavy loads. Fx., last weekend I got some help to carry my wooden jetty that the last winter storm brought up on the landside. It was very heavy, I'll guess > 150 kg and we had to carry it over a slope of rock, at least 100 m. I was afraid of course to miss one step and slip away. I almost did, but I "saved" myself by hitting my leg (with the heavy piece) right beneath my bad knee. That has now become a problem during my running, in the last round I felt knee pain after 7 kms. I hope not my plan for the S:t Erik half marathon is in danger.
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