[Alan Russell]

Alan Russell on April 7, 2018 at 7:52 am · in reply to: KIS strength training questions #9156

Thanks Scott, that’s excellent.

Alan

[Alan Russell]

Alan Russell on March 27, 2018 at 5:32 pm · in reply to: Mobility, myofacial release, imbalances / restrictions / injury #8908

I used my HRM when doing the David Swenson 30 min Ashtanga routine today and got a hrTSS of 19, (33 TSS/hr since it took me 35 mins). So not all that high, but could be something to watch out for in overall loading, if using this routine / something like it.

Alan

[Alan Russell]

Alan Russell on March 27, 2018 at 5:26 pm · in reply to: Hangboard Warm-up at Home #8907

There are some warm-up options here that might be useful: https://uphillathlete.com/rock-climbing-training-arcing/, https://uphillathlete.com/ice-climbing-training-lock-off/, https://uphillathlete.com/ice-and-mixed-climbing-strength-plan-8-weeks-beginner-to-advanced-intermediate/.

Alan

[Alan Russell]

Alan Russell on March 27, 2018 at 6:22 am · in reply to: Mobility, myofacial release, imbalances / restrictions / injury #8898

Reed, I’ve also found these quite good re. ITB / sciatica issues: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YYb9vyj6zQ, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnPxMUYkVdU.

[Alan Russell]

Alan Russell on March 27, 2018 at 4:08 am · in reply to: Mobility, myofacial release, imbalances / restrictions / injury #8897

Jason Crandall’s site looks really good, I like the structured sequences – do you recommend any particular ones, or do you reckon it’s too individual dependent on personal mobility / lack of mobility / injuries?

Does he provide guidance on whether to have Vinyasas between poses and how long poses should be held – not noticed this from my brief look?

[Alan Russell]

Alan Russell on March 20, 2018 at 7:03 am · in reply to: Mobility, myofacial release, imbalances / restrictions / injury #8745

David Swenson’s short form Ashtanga yoga routines (15, 30, and 45 mins) might also be of interest if you’re looking for a daily mobility program.

Alan

[Alan Russell]

Alan Russell on March 4, 2018 at 5:46 pm · in reply to: Intermittent fasting and training #8420

The information here (https://optimisingnutrition.com/) might be of interest.

[Alan Russell]

Alan Russell on January 12, 2018 at 10:53 am · in reply to: GPS watch #7562

I use a Suunto Ambit 3 Sport with a Mio Alpha (for optical HR as I was getting skin irritation from chest straps). I got both from ebay fairly cheaply. The Ambit 3 Peak has more features than the Sport, so could also be worth a look.

You can also now get optical HR integrated into the GPS watch with battery life (on GPS and HR) of 30+hours. Good models to look at (several of which have been mentioned above are:
– Garmin Fenix 5;
– Suunto Spartan Sport;
– Garmin Fexix 3 HR;
– Suunto Spartan Trainer;
– Garmin Forerunner 935;
– Suunto Spartan Ultra.

As others have said, dcrainmaker is excellent for reviews, and I’d also check ebay if you fancy looking for a bargain.

Alan

[Alan Russell]

Alan Russell on September 21, 2017 at 5:14 pm · in reply to: Too much hiking? #6156

I’m a bit confused about how to calculate an appropriate starting volume for training after reading this, though the point about time not being a good way to measure strength training makes sense. It says on page 187 that the calculated time includes strength training, but is this a mistake?

[Alan Russell]

Alan Russell on July 12, 2017 at 2:54 pm · in reply to: Training and goals with 2 injured knees #5583

Hey Seth,

Thanks so much. Ah, now I understand better about the medicine ball, I might look into that. I might leave the TRX and XC ski machines for now until I get more exercises from my physio – I don’t want to buy too much equipment that I hopefully won’t use that much!

Cheers for the advice about aerobic training – good to be reminded that it should respond more quickly than strength – I’m guessing strength will also be more of a priortity for my legs once I’m (hopefully) working them.

Yeah, I think I’m going to need to be really disciplined with my recovery, whatever path it takes. I seem to have been through this process a lot in the last 10-15 years, so I kind of know what to expect, but it’s a bit dispiriting that it’s happened so often. A few things that this experience has highlighted to me is that I’ve been poor at a few of the foundations of looking after myself over the last year e.g. sleep (averaging 5-7 hours / night due to a combination of work, home, and travel commitments – I haven’t managed to fix this yet, but I’ve upped the activity without noticably changing it), activity / training (slackened off for the same reasons as sleep + I work best when following a plan, and I’d lapsed long enough that it would take a bit more time to replan, so the training pretty much ceased – I’m a bit concerned that by upping it now, I’m not following the “continuity, gradualness, modulation” principles, so I may have to monitor and adjust), support system (I’ve always been poor at this, and injury seems to make this harder).

I guess injury helps to understand the limits of physiology, and empathise with the mindsets that help to promote physical change, but the trick I guess is to learn well enough to avoid injury!

Good advice too to learn from the mindset and motivation of those who have and are exceeding your capabilities, despite similar / greater obstacles. I guess the biggest lesson I’ve learned recently is to try to train and care for myself like my life depends on it, because it does.

I’ll post if I find any useful lessons from my recovery, and best of luck with yours – I’m sure you’re getting great advice! This site is an incredible resource and community!

Cheers for fixing the tags!

[Alan Russell]

Alan Russell on July 10, 2017 at 2:23 pm · in reply to: Training and goals with 2 injured knees #5561

Hi Seth,

Yeah, I’m finding it pretty tough, but thanks so much for the reply – it’s great to get good advice from someone who understands fairly well what this injury, and it’s current and potential consequences mean!

That’s good advice regarding workouts. Since I’ve started getting a program, and trying to keep / progress my fitness in other ways, I’ve found that it’s helped my energy level and sense of purpose (I think part of the reason I got injured may have been lack of conditioning due to neglect of fitness), but I also see that if I push too hard, it will hold me back, or I’ll injure something else. I’m doing this: http://www.carnethy.com/downloads/4%20Minute%20Jane%20Fonda%20Gluteal.doc, for glutes, twice a day (I got this previously from a physio when I’ve had knee issues and I think it’ll help keep some strength in my glutes whilst I’m doing less weight bearing – ignore the pictures at the top, they are awful!). I’m just doing pull-ups on jugs on the fingerboard at the moment, to try and avoid injury by going too intense too soon – my goal is 5 sets of 10, a long way from one arm! I don’t have a medicine ball, and I’m not really sure how to use one to support core, but I’m doing the 4 core exercises from TFNA that I think are least strenuous on my knees daily (windshield wipers, kayaker, v-ups (variation on hanging leg raise from video on Uphill Athlete), and l-sit), and dips, v-ups, isometric hangs, and incline pull-ups every 3 days, along with antagonist exercises from Eric Horst’s site. I’ve just been using my notebook to keep track of stuff just now – I’ve got my adapted versions of the spreadsheets from TFNA as well, but I got a bit behind on them – I’ve not really looked into TrainingPeaks.

Those books sound intereseting – “Touching the Void” has sat on my shelf for a while, so I probably should read it (I’ve seen the film and know the story, but I think the book may give more of a personal perspective). I think you’re right about keeping perspective – it’s really easy (for me at least) to get sucked into my own bubble when fighting a significant issue like this. Finding support is something I’m really bad at, particularly when injured, but good advice to stay grateful and celebrate the small stuff.

I think you’re right about it being helpful to focus on what works best now, rather than beating myself up because I can’t do the things I really want, though it’s good to hear that I’m not the only one that finds it hard! Maybe this exercise will be good mental training!

I remember reading a post from Scott to someone else on these forums who broke their leg where he said that he injured his knee badly in 1978, and managed to subsequently return to running, ski-ing and alpinism (after a lot of hard work), so I’m hoping I can manage something like that, but, like you say, being flexible and listening to my body is more important.

Once again, thanks for the reply, and I hope your recovery is going well.

p.s. I noticed after I made my initial post that the tag probably should have been “Illness / Injury”. Is there a good way of moving this post into that tag, to keep things neat? I didn’t want to try putting in a different tag for this message incase I made a bigger mess!