Treadmill n smart training
 

If you’re a CrossFit stud, preparing for sfas, spartan race, etc. This is not for you. If you’re a FOG/POG/FAG w chronic injuries/ailment/pain n striving to stay in hardass zone but not crossing over to dumbass zone, hopefully this is an encouragement.

Just an SF n SWG EOD reject here but by God’s grace I get to support the conduct of foreign policy at the front line for last few years. Lockdowns were aplenty so treadmill was the default. I’ve never liked it back at Bragg but hey the show must continue. In a nutshell, I pick a number that’s non negotiable. It was 7 miles/week for me. Then I go with a mile or 1.5 a day. How long and how fast depend on the knee n health status. Set a weekly goal and no matter what, hungover, sick, minor injuries etc., I complete the set run. I make sure the intensity is consistent via max HR. Nothing hard core at all n I never ran beyond 1.5 miles. I set the elevation to 2.0. Unlike in the past, I ignored the Marines n SMU hardcore training n stick w my plain regiment. I also cook my own food n there isn’t much processed food here. I interspersed weight/tabata about once a week.

Well, 8 months of this n I dropped 20 lbs! Lighter than high school weight yet more muscular. The knee pain also disappeared, which leads me to believe our knees are truly assigned max (continuous) load bearing weight. During last apft, I ran the quickest in my 10 years of service.... at low 14, wearing boots in the rain! ( the no nonsense NCO saw those are not helping me so he let me make the call).

to recap: listen to your body, maintain intensity based on HR (plateau can mean you need to stick w it just bit longer), eat as natural as possible, drop some lbs...n hijack the brain to make more HGH via intermittent fasting. YMMV but you may be surprised to find yourself performing better than your 10 years younger self;)

Been medically retired for 10 yrs and my chassis has taken so much abuse that the cumulative effect has cratered me for the last couple years. I can't turn the old reliable types of cardio/core activities so I'm looking at a VersaClimber for rehab/recovery. I know they're a bit intense for the uninitiated but I need something that is as low impact as possible. Not a fan of ellipticals and the best treadmill I ever came across was the "Curve". But one day of a good run is always followed by a bad weak of angry knees.

Unfortunately, the VersaClimber is probably the one machine I have spent the least amount of time on. I'd love to try one out for a bit before cutting a check but there are no dealers/vendors in the area and most of the gyms aren't equipped with one. My attraction to it is that, from what I understand, it allows for a full body workout, focusing on the core, and has one of the smallest footprint of all the machines out there. For my situation, I'm looking at their sports/physical rehab model that is designed for broke dicks, such as myself.

I'm also looking at it for safety reasons. The cold, wet weather is moving back into this region of Idaho, and some days can be a serious gut check to go outside. And with the days getting shorter, it can be potentially hazardous to maintain the same morning routine of going for a walk due to the increased presence of rutting bulls or cow moose, often accompanied by calves, both of which I have previously encountered

I've had to undergo double shoulder surgeries in the past 18 months, which is what kicked me into the dirt. I don't know about the rest of you, but recovering from one shoulder surgery, let alone two, pretty stops all other physical activities. Even walking can be too much for the first few months. Now that the core is hilariously weak, the spinal damage I incurred way back in my early years has created a myriad of problems for me. Sadly, I foresaw this problem way back then that if I ever got down to such a low level of fitness. Now, the trick is to try and and work my way back without irritating the spine, which is difficult without a good cardio/core workout that I can improve incrementally.

FOG here - all the usual injuries from an active youth - knees, back L5-S1, carpel, etc., etc...

Not ready to quit yet, so been having a good time recently with a Concept 2 rower.
No impact and you can work much of the body and heart rate. Fast, convenient, just another experience for some folks. YMMV

Tread mill training
 

Some professional runners who are milers use the tread mill for pace training. Tread mills can fit right in for CFers too.

C2 rowers and Airdyne bikes are also great for non impact.

my heart goes out to you. Talking about double (or triple) whammy. Not sure if the fact that you foresaw it makes it better or not.
Have you checked out water-borne exercises i.e. look for aqua boot camp or swet boot camp or pool core exercise as keyword on youknowwhattube.
I understand access to pool can be a limiting factor.

I myself has finally entered the zero ego zone :D i.e. I used to think for strength those cables are lame and dumbells and olympic lifts are the warrior way! Well, with my wrist and fingers tendon often in kaputt mode, I have gone to the cables, resistance band, machines, and pool. Not going to use swollen wrists as excuse for atrophy and pity party.

The days of pain also gave me a humbling revelation. I worked at post ortho as my first medical job and used to think why are these patients so lazy. They slept a lot and not starting the prescribed physical therapy pronto....
Well, having experienced chronic pain that wakes one up from sleep, I truly appreciate how the body is constantly is revved up mode with pain and thus you can be so tired you sleep aplenty (w poor REM stage)

Yes, injuries and age can be humbling...but they can also be valuable lessons for the young studs.

I often read wise words of advice here about potentially overtraining - and taking great care of your body - from those who know best. I grew up in the age of “rub some dirt on it...”

Now, the age of zero ego for me too. I used to function on 2-4 hours of sleep a night no problem...now...let’s just say that with old age and pain...I now find that naps are seriously underrated !

I had to grit my teeth and swallow my frustration while talking to a young 18E I worked for on my last contract gig. Last year, he informed me that he was diagnosed with a severely torn rotator cuff. I believe the damage went through multiple layers of tissue groups and required a heck of a lot more repairs than mine did. And as of today, he's telling me that he's already back to doing 12 dead-hang pull ups, yoga, weight training, and actually made a static line jump. I kinda hate him.

However, he said part of his quick recovery was due to the use of HGH, which I don't quite understand how that might affect my other chassis issues, so I'll wait to see if the docs think it's a good idea.

I did get to provide a sobering revelation to the young stud: I've got almost 20 years on him and f*ck load more road damage than he does, which may be why I'm struggling to get everything realigned and in tune again. He laughed and admitted that my point was well taken. Hooray for me.

On the bright side, my massage therapist was able to isolate and grind out the knot of scar tissue and muscle in my pec, near where the last surgery took place last December. I can now raise my arm forward and across the chest with little irritation.
:lifter

^^^ Great news on the progress. Keep pushing as much as you can.

I would be interested in how he came to the conclusion that HGH helped his tendons since HGH and anabolics have no affect on skeletal muscle....I can see it though being helpful in overall healing just not on ligaments or tendons....in fact most SOF shoulder damage during GWOT was caused more than likely by anabolic useage overseas where their muscle strength exceeded their tendon and ligament strength and as a result the strain damaged their shoulder while bench-pressing far more weight than their skeletal muscle was strengthened to handle since it only gets thicker and stronger at 1/3 the rate of muscle, So a good rule of thumb is to train high reps low weight 1 day medium the next and heavy 1 every 3 days.

I too have rotator cuff damage but have been able to heal it with physical therapy and retraining the muscles that I had neglected that actually holds the joint into the socket back and down....good news is they heal over time.

Have you considered TRT therapy? it would be essentially the same thing as HGH for your bodies repair mechanisms and overall health

TRT? I'll look into it.

As per your weight training routine, I'll consider that as well.

I'm also going back to increasing the frequency of my deep tissue massage sessions to help, primarily with the spine issues. I had been going every couple of weeks when I lived in Colorado, which was made affordable by my good friend and therapist who gives a military discount. I've been told that my level of desired intensity borders on "rolfing" (sp). If I don't come out of there feeling like a baby seal after a clubbing, it wasn't deep or intense enough. The flip side of it is that you're off the resistance training for a day or two after to allow the tissue to recover and have to chug lots of water to flush the junk out of your system.

TRT has been well researched and studied by physicians in the field unlike mainstream opinions on TRT the evidence shows it is actually good for heart health there is natural aging then there is the life of a GB.

What I was saying about weight training is the ideal training rhythm to get results without stressing skeletal muscle to the point of tearing without adequate recovery time for them to strengthen and thicken....skeletal muscle is similar to a fresh short thick rubber band used only when needed compared to one that is over stretched too often and loses is resistance and begins to tear. Connective tissue can be strengthened and thickened unlike a rubber band but you get the concept. It is the connective tissue that gives the structural strength and power to strongman athletes, they most of the time are large people with large thick joints or the freakishly strong normal sized people with abnormal connective tissue density and thickness

Tore up one shoulder at about age 26, and wasn't doing the other one any favors with stupid heavy bench pressing.
Kept training until about age 30 and most of the issues were covered by the gifts of youth.

Started weight training again about age 43, and started getting regular massage therapy about a year later.
Regained strength quickly, but rotator cuff issues certainly caused some limitations.

Massage therapy and exercise selection did much to fix things.
Took about eight months on the massage table (weekly) and continued training until rotator cuff muscles were no longer a problem.

Opinions on exercise selection WRT shoulder health:
-no bench pressing (flat, incline, or decline)
-use snatch grip high pulls or snatch grip deadlifts (with straps so grip isn't a limitation) to improve shoulder strength/stability
-do standing barbell presses to build long-term shoulder strength

Dropped serious training a couple years ago, but still consistently plink away at standing barbell presses.
Shoulders are now bullet proof at almost 48 years old.

I have adopted a total body workout 3 days a week and, although I'm stuck with the "sissy" weights for the time being, it really seems to be making a difference. For upper body work, I was doing light weight dumbbell presses on the floor for several months but as I was able to increase the weight, it became difficult to get the heavier weights into position to press them without irritating the shoulders. Now, I'm back at the bench but with racks set on both sides to stop the bar, which prevents my upper arms from going past parallel to the floor. The number of reps are low and slowly executed but I also added resistance bands to provide constant tension with the lighter weight.

Having to relearn how to do squats and deadlifts properly is also a challenge but proving beneficial. I've got trash for knees, which, along with the lower spine, more so on the left side, make it tricky to execute repetitions. But I'm making progress, even if it is barely perceptible. Good thing I have my own little gym rack in the garage to avoid public mockery.

The goal is to increase weight/resistance at a glacial pace to avoid any more setbacks in my personal chess match between my will to get back to being active and the myriad of chassis damage I've been saddled with.

Dumbbells and movements using light weights can often be a problem, especially when rehabilitating injuries, because jumps in percentage overload are too great.
Going from a 10lb dumbbell to a 15lb one is a 50% increase whereas going from 100lbs on the barbell to 105lbs is only a 5% increase.

Snatch grip deadlifts out of a rack (starting at the top position and lowering) would allow you to pick your range of motion.
Does great things for shoulder stability and the heavy weight used allows for very gradual percentage increases in overload.

Medicine ball throws, the two hand underhand throw in particular, are a way to get higher loads on the muscles with low risk of injury.
Using a natural, explosive full body movement will find and overload the muscles particular to your anatomy, current condition, and injury history.

I've had luck using 1.25 and 2.5 lbs. wrist weights to get incremental increases in DB exercises.

If your local spot has a Jacob's Ladder, I'd recommend that. It's pretty intense, very intuitive, and doesnt require long periods of time to get an effective workout.

I'd compare it to bear crawls up stairs. But it also has stationary holds so you dont have to worry about wrist/shoulder problems while still going fast (cardio) or slow (hips and down endurance).

Also a reverse hyper for those with lumbar and sacrum issues. Forces the vertebrae to naturally move and pumps fluids into the stiff joints.

An alternative to weight training, that scales easily with minimal equipment is gymnastics. Gold medal bodies and r/bodyweightfitness are good resources about starting.

well, I had to stop taking methorexate since suppressing immune system doesnt make much sense with COVID. Thanks to it, I also had the worst GI and worst flu few weeks back (who knows, could have been covid as I had the symptoms). As I was bed bound, I gained weight and my knees quickly reminded me I'm out of "specs." I also noticed my resting HR was 54, which was high for me since my baseline was 37. I was going downhill

Without the DMARDS, the pain and swelling expectantly return. Since running/sprinting gives me pain/swelling for days afterwards, I have downgraded to walk/trot. I put the treadmill machine to max elevation at 15, then walk at 3.3 and trot at 4.0 back and forth for 12 to 13 min or until the forehead is sweating profusely/200-210 bpm. I do this daily after fasting from 8pm-noon and just before lunch (hunger and fasted low intensity make the best spice btw, I cook the same for days and it's tasty each time!). In the evening few times a week I do core and cables to spare the swollen wrist.

I'm glad to report that after some time I dropped 3-4 lbs, and am 8lbs away from the goal. Also, that daily inclined walk fasted cardio is even a better substitute that my resting HR has gone to 33! I am still building back to bench press baseline though, which was body weight + 10 lbs