Maybe Less is More

My impulse is always to add more when I need to make a change. It's reasonable when you spend time as a gym rat. Add more weight. Add more reps. More stretches. More cardio. Go faster. Go harder. Unless you're injured. Then you have to cut everything to the bone and only do the bare basics of what's not going to make anything worse. A lot of times that's just a matter of trial and error. It can really test your patience though...

My sciatica has been nagging me for the past several days. I'm starting to cut items from my gym routine to see if it helps. I realize that some things that have slowly crept into the core and stretch list might be creating problems. Like the very subtle sitting cross-legged and rolling the spine down from the head/neck until elbows are resting on the ground in front of your legs. It feels good at the time, but it's a bad stretch for people with lower back issues, like sciatica. 

The same goes for the one-legged hip thrust, although I had hoped that this movement might alleviate sciatic pain. I do feel that movement in my glutes and hips the same way I feel those rapid air squats in my quads. But my hamstrings are really sensitive and threaten to spasm without much provocation. Lemme see if my sciatica is any better this weekend.

I do manage my two sets of pull-ups although I felt disappointed in my core weakness during the first set. I had trouble keeping my torso rigid even with crossing my ankles. A floppy core makes pull-ups so much harder. The second set, although shy a rep, actually was the better set since I could keep my body straight. 

The fellow on the treadmill facing the Stretch Cage seemed surprised to see me pull my face up over the roof of the contraption. Very few people do pull-ups at the gym, and they're usually guys, and usually they do them on actual pull-up bars. I can't get my hands around those things, which means I can't get a reasonable grip. I'm not doing pull-ups to stress my forearms and elbows! But doing it my way, I will feel it in my lats a day later. Which means, to me, that it's effective and that's what counts. 

When I get back to my car, its thermometer reads 101F. Luckily, that's not the actual temperature but still, I'm happy to be inside with a/c. Not only do I use a sunshade on the windshield but I've also purchased some cheap beach towels to toss onto the leather car seats because damn those are hot! There's a sunglass holder over the rear view mirror but it's too close to the car roof so it'll singe your ears if you put them on right away. Now I leave my sunglasses in the cup holder to keep them a wearable temp. Pups went to the park earlier to play with some canine friends. Which meant I got to the gym later. It wasn't too crowded although the kids did start emerging as the day wore on. Glad I figured out how to plan my routine.

22 July 2022
Blazing Sciatic Friday

Precor elliptical #1
Program 1
Time: 25 min + 5 min cd (5000)
Distance: 248
Cal: 280
Avg Hr: 151, 207-94

HGPU 22

Crunches 60
Piriformis/Hip/Pencil Stretch
60 Dead Bugs
   Skip 10 one-leg hip thrust each leg
Elbow Plank 60s
Quick Child’s Pose
Cat stretch 12x
Fire Hydrants 25 x 2
Bird Dogs 60s x 2
Child’s Pose
Push-Ups 25
Air Squats 25
Upper body stretch
Eye yoga x 3

HGPU 21