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Injuries and keeping fit - any tips?
So yesterday morning the inevitable happened. I lost the rear end on a wet corner. Luckily it was on a quiet backstreet. A 4hr visit to Manly Hospital revealed a broken shoulder blade and other bangs, knocks and scrapes. It should heal ok and quickly too but I was wondering what does everyone else do to stay in shape whilst they can't be on the bike? Any tips for exercise and diet?
Cheers
Phil
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Oh man, that sucks. Hope you heal up with no residual effects.
I'm not sure there is any magical formula aside from to do what your physio tells you to do and not rush back.
I'm guessing in your case you could sit on the trainer and spin gently? Swimming and whatever weights you can manage comes later I guess?
Yeah it sucks big time. It's even harder having an 8mth old to run around after too. Not fun
Sitting on a trainer sound like a good idea though
Hope it heals soon. I broke an elbow 2 years ago and was told by a cycling physio to do plenty of hill walking as it will keep you in reasonable fitness for the bike but will raise the blood flow and help you heal a bit quicker. For keeping the weight down Id just cut out potatoes and bread.
Staying in shape will mainly be diet, plus whatever the physio recommends. For the best results, stick to the tried and tested formula - avoid processed and packaged foods, eat balanced meals of protein, carbs and fat (roughly 40 / 40 / 20 but there is a lot of room to tweak those numbers depending on various factors). Eat larger breakfasts and taper food through the day, avoiding starchy carbs in the evening (rice, potatoes, bread).
Nuts and fruit to snack on, and I personally eat around 6 meals a day, all about 300 - 400 calories each but there is no evidence that eating 3 larger meals works any better / worse.
Best thing to do if you're serious about stopping weight gain when not exercising, work out your daily recommended calorie intake (various calculators online) and then track your food calories for a week or two to see how you go. Once you know you're not exceeding your recommended amount and your getting the right mix of food, you should be OK.
And really bad luck
Good thing about a shoulder is it seems to heal up quick
Got no tips on exercise or diet, I would end up drinking too much beer and doing nothing
It also sucks with the little one, not to mention getting dressed.
Use the physio or osteos recommendations and get back into what you can as you can
Get better soon
Oh crap
I broke my collarbone well and truly 6 weeks ago and am itching to get back on the bike!
For the first couple of weeks I just took the dogs for a walk each morning, then I bought an indoor trainer and have been trying to do an hour on that each day. You can sit up and pedal and as your shoulder gets better start holding onto the bars.
I'm hoping to get the all-clear from the doc to go back to ridng next week!
You need to keep an eye on you weight tough as it's easy to put it on.
BTW have fun trying to sleep...
Bad luck Phil. Either become a couch potato like I did over the Christmas break, put on a few kg then come back highly motivated and train your butt off or spin on a stationary trainer. I can lend you one if you would like. The problem with trainers and toddlers is they either want to stick fingers into spinning wheels or they make a lot of noise when the toddlers are in bed which leads to trainers being packed away in the garage and not used - thus the availability of mine to lend you!
Call me if you'd like to borrow my trainer.
Thanks for the sympathy, support and advice guys. The next few weeks are going to be tough.
@Fatboy
Thanks for the offer of the trainer Craig, hopefully I should be able to borrow my neighbour's (he never uses it). If I can't then I'll let you know.
Cheers
Phil
Sorry to hear about the injury.
Take plenty of pain relief and try to sleep as much as possible - sleep will be a challenge. Don't rush back to the trainer. Take your physio's advice on that.
Just read about this... sorry to hear about at Phil. Training wise, as long as you are giving the ticker something to do it's better than nothing, even a 30 minute brisk walk a day is a good thing. Is there any reason you can't do lunges? Shouldn't put any stress on the upper body and are really good.
Those rear wheel slide outs are a b**h, I had a both wheel slide out at the bottom of the west head lookout hill before it was resurfaced, I think I was lucky to get away with my life on that occasion. Mend well...
Hey Phil
When I done my shoulder around 18 months ago, my left leg was a mess too so I couldn't get on a trainer for quite a while. I had to try to keep the leg moving and basically spent about 3 hours a day walking ( with a walking stick and a sling for the arm... I looked like a geriatric from behind, but then my wife would say that I always looked like that...). When it rained, I'd get a lift to the Mall and walk round and round for hours . . . not very exciting but the Endone tabs helped while away the hours !
My big problem was that I developed an incredible desire for chocolate ! So needless to say I put on around 12 - 15 kilos. Once I could get on a trainer, it started to come off again but in my mid 40's I've found that it gets harder and harder to drop excess weight. I'm commuting regularly but it I've still only managed to drop about half the weight I put on. This year my plan is to concentrate on trying to get back to my fighting weight of 90kg. Maybe wishful thinking......
Although it's hard at the time, I think I would concentrate more on not letting the weight pile on to begin with. ( Damn that chocolate !!)
I've a Kurt Kinetic fluid trainer which is pretty quiet as trainers go, If you want to borrow it, let me know and I'll bring it over for you.
Hope you heal quick.
CB
I would prefer a broken shoulder to a buggered back. I haven't been allowed to swim, cylce, run or anything for the last 8 weeks. I got the OK to walk about 3 weeks ago but walking is soooooo..much fun..not!!! I can't even lift my kids up
. The worst part is the psychological impact from going from so much exercise to doing bugger all. I used to run about 40-50kms a week and ride around 100km. To just lie down and do nothing really does your head in. I can't even blame it on an epic stack, sadly it is just wear and tear
Hang in there Phil, and if things start getting you down just remember there is always someone out there worse off than you
@cambo... Maybe that's my problem too, I've been in pretty much the same boat for the last few months and yeah, going from being active to zero is a killer. Luckily I could still walk about and do other stuff, you must be in real strife. Keep it up though, it'll get better!
It's important to keep your spirits up and find something meaningful to do instead of the many hours you'd normally be having fun working out. Find a few decent books? Learn a language? Fix all those little things around the home that you've been putting off? Become an artist? Whatever works for you - just don't become a couch potato!
The talk of chocolate here is interesting... but remember that eating goodies to make yourself feel better now will just make you feel much, much worse afterwards. Resist the urge and reward yourself later (with something other than food!) for not giving in.
Sorry to hear about your mishap and subsequent time off the bike. Hope your recovery is swift. As for staying in shape I'd go with the long walks uphills .... may as well take the pram + bubba with you and earn some brownie points with The Mrs !
probably not as silly as it sounds! hoping you have a speedy recovery Phil.
Got back on the bike today. Sat on the trainer for an hour or so following a spin class mp3 I found on the old internet machine. Man it feels so good to be spinning those legs again. Now i know i can handle the bike I'm going to start alternating my days spin/weights to get me back up to pace. Though I'm still a long way off a lap or two of the Dam. Fingers crossed I should be good for the Willo Classic and The Mont.
keep it up mate. you should buy a mask and try a few of those altitude sessions at Joels!
They REALLY hurt!
Maybe look into something that could be easily accommodated with your injury but is something that might not get sufficient attention such as core training and mobility and functional movement.
Have a look for a functional movement screen and use see if your body is sufficiently mobile / strong. You can easily re-build CV fitness but if your body needs attention then now could be a good time.
I've been off the bike for about 2 months now (mind you I'm travelling, not injured) and the time off has been very interesting in terms of identifying problem areas.
Oh and following Gazza's comment above, I can assure you that altitude training really does work. Plus you get drunk really easier afterwards (maybe thats just the Bolivian beer though.....?)
Hope you heal soon.
Matt
@Gazza - sounds interesting - care to tell us more?
Joel at Cyc'd has this machine* that you attach your face to that sucks your face off and air out of your lungs whilst you sit on a trainer pedalling your legs off. Supposed to make you HTFU apparently.
When the shoulder is better I'll definitely give it a go.
*actually it's one of these Interval Hypoxic Training Workout Systems more info here: http://www.livestrong.com/article/342686-altitud...
Simple, just raise your heels off the ground up & down.
Can be done on flat ground but best on a step, (depending on balance, maybe do it some where you can hold to something like a hand rail with your good shoulder/arm) so that your heel goes lower than your toes, this will stretch your calf muscles more & require more strength to get up again.
Start doing both feet at the same time then if you have the balance/strength do 1 at a time.
It will strengthen the muscles in your legs particularly your calves & really good for strengthening your ankles.
I'm now back on the bike properly. I got back onto the commute train this morning. Bumped into a couple of riding buddies which made for an enjoyable first ride back on the bike. The shoulder felt great, no problems at all. So glad I no longer have to get the bus to work anymore.