Re: Post your daily exercise routine

Hi Surfermom, it's totally freezing here. I haven't checked outside as have woken too early and going to have another snooze, but the cars were covered with a light dust of snow last night. Roll on Spring!

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

Morniong folks.
Don't think I will be going far today, my lower back is not good.
I will do a some gentle stretches indoors today instead, try and loosen up a bit.
Hope you all have a good day.

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

Good morning Mups and Annie........I don't think Surfermom will be up yet....But good morning to you when you eventually stir from your slumbers.....

Sorry to hear about your bad back Mups 'tis the season' apparently...."Tell me about it"
You're an early riser Annie, or haven't you gone to bed yet?...

With a wind chill of minus 5 I made my way down to the surgery yesterday as planned. I walked the three quarters of a mile steady, it felt good to be out, but I struggled on the way back, which seemed to aggravate my Piriformis for the rest of the day.....So all in all...A Fail....

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

I don't want to turn this Fitness and Exercise thread into a discussion about Statins (I believe there is one elsewhere) but suffice to say, before you can study Statins or their effect you must understand Cholesterol and why it's there....

Cholesterol is not the bad boy it's made out to be, one of its many functions is to rebuild damaged cells. We all know that exercise, and indeed just everyday life, breaks down muscle tissue and this is constantly being replaced with stronger cells. Floydy's muscles are a product of damaged cells that have been replaced by stronger cells.

This would explain the muscle weakness and deterioration in a someone who has taken Statins for any length of time, by interfering with normal cell growth.
An overall reading of say 6.5 is meaningless unless you break it down into its constituent parts. HDL is the 'good stuff' it wraps itself around the LDL (bad stuff) and prevents it sticking to arteries. So we need high levels of HDL and low levels of LDL but with an overall reading how do you know which is which? A Statin lowers all Cholesterol.

Then we have Triglycerides, stuff made from the sugars in the blood (also bad stuff) this also has to be factored into the overall reading.....I could go on and on.... I won't, but I hope this explains just some of the reasons why I don't take statins......

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

Mups, so sorry to hear about your back. Several of us literally feel your pain. I hope the stretching relieves some of the tightness.

Well done Annie! You must feel good that you have broken the ice. Your comments about the time made me laugh. A few years back, I took a spinning class on a cruise, as a novice, that nearly killed me. The last ten minutes I watched the clock half praying and half willing the minute hand to move faster as I pathetically panted and pedaled. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why my performance was so terrible in comparison to the rest of the madly spinning people around me. Come to find out, most everyone belonged to a university cycling team. It figures! I think I am still stiff from that class .

Oh, OGF, I commiserate. It's not much fun hearing about other people's running when you are like a racing horse stuck in the barn. But, don't you have some housework to occupy your day?

Here, I will save you the effort:

The sun is out, and I'm not far behind. With my back inexplicably loosened up yesterday, I am hoping for another good afternoon of (not <--for you, OGF) running. I'll check in later.

Have a nice afternoon, everyone!

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

I blame it on the weather, all our ailments. It wasn't like this a few weeks ago...my back is actually fine again but neck ache is back with a vengeance again so I'm thinking it has something to do with my over-exertion with the strength exercises last weekend. When will I learn?!

I know nothing about statins, so I cannot be part of the conversation, but I reckon OGF knows if it's best not to take them considering his medical history. A little at a time, Bob and if you only manage a brief walk, so be it for the time being. It's best not to overdo things. Same with you, Mups Maybe Annie has it right. Maybe we should all take up yoga to stretch our weary bodies?

Surfermom, you're getting back into the swing of things with the weather your side easing slightly to run, if not surf so much yet. Soon be summer.

Me, I'll be back training again hopefully very soon when my neck feels a bit more flexible. No point in making things worse

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

Foxy, I understand what you were saying about cholesterol.
My Dad died with his his second heart attack.
My Grandad also had heart problems.
So when my cholesterol started creeping up, the GP advised statins because of the family history.
I refused, but did agree to taking a junior aspirin daily, and working on losing some weight instead.

This went on for ages, then much later another blood test showed my cholesterol was still creeping up. Again they suggested statins.
Again I refused.

Eventually, a few months back, I agreed to try them but only as long as they prescribed the lowest dose possible. They put me on just 10 mg.
I had another blood test after a month as I know they can affect your liver as well as other things, but the result was good. Much lower total cholesterol, lower LDL, and only slightly lower HDL.
I feel OK on them so far.

I have stopped taking them the last couple of weeks though, as I have had a lot of unpleasant headaches, so while medicating for them, I left off taking the statins as these 'drug cocktails' bother me.

I'll see how things go, and play it by ear.

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

You are correct Mups, 10mg is the lowest dose of statin, and if they are causing you no problems then keep up with them. There are also different types of Statins and if you are taking one that suits you, all the better......

Had quite a bit of trouble today with the Piriformis, feeling pain whenever I bend down or rotate from the hips. I really do feel in a bad way at times.. Fortunately the weather is making it easy to abstain from running and walking by flooding South Yorkshire in an Icy blast from Siberia making the wind chill factor around minus 8 degrees C. To add to this we've had our first real snow today, and even as I write this I can see some large flakes blowing through the light from the streetlamp outside my window.

Although I was struggling with mobility I still managed to visit the cinema at Meadowhall in Sheffield. (about 30 miles down the motorway Surfermom) and saw a brilliant movie called 'Finding Your Feet' a feelgood film to warm your cockles and bring a lump to your throat (Highly Recommended).... I noticed that as we left the cinema my pain had almost disappeared. This is a good sign and suggests to me that my injury responds well to rest....It wasn't long until the pain returned though, about the same time I was devouring a teacake and cup of tea in M&S.. Although I'm not exercising anymore, my appetite is still as voracious as when I was......

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

Foxy, I do wish you would try one of these, it really does help my bum muscle pain.
I find mine plays up if I lay on the opposite side to the pain e.g. it is the muscle on my r.h.s. that is painful, but strange as it might seem, it is better if I lay on that very side.
If I lay on the opposite side - the left - the muscle on the right starts playing up.
I keep that pain pen next to my bed and give myself a few quick blasts with it and it settles down again for a while.

http://www.boots.com/paingone-pen-10048135

If you decide to give it a try, please read the instructions carefully though, because you mustn't use it on neck arteries.

Failing that, what about a sport's massage?