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What's your workout today? - September 09

Using the artofmanliness.com body weight exercises. On top of that, I realized I am very soggy in the midsection, so I am going to do two-a-days: Treadmill for 20 min, two times a day. Then body weight exercises during the second session. Combined with healthy, home cooked food, I am well on my way to lose the extra 25 lbs I carry.

By the way, has anyone tried the You Are What You Eat (BBC) 11 week diet overhaul?
 
Every day every day every day

5 mile run on the mill @ a mild incline @ about 8-10 min/mile
core workout in the gym
lap swimming in the pool
10 mile paddle in the outrigger canoe ('scept tuesdays)
surf, if there's waves (kinda flat right now)
 
In case anyone is having trouble staying motivated, I wrote up this little mantra last night while mentally preparing myself for today:

I am the swift sword. I am the invulnerable shield. I will not quit. I will never give up. I will never surrender. I am a warrior.

Good luck on your exercise journey!
 
Was on a Cruise in the Caribbean last week so no cycling. I ran 5 days of the 7 and lifted weights 4 days. I tallied 28 miles on the treadmill for the week and put in the much promised long day on Saturday when I did 11 miles in 95 minutes!

I did a ton of snorkeling as well, two days off the beach and that involved a lot of leg work. There was a barrier reef off the beach we were at in Roatan, and while the water was at most 15' deep the swim out to the reef was between 1/4 and 1/2 mile, it was pretty easy though with the added buoyancy of a rash guard and very salty water little effort was required to remain afloat. I even took my 10 year old out onto the reef with me...she wore a vest though, and she had no problems with the swim (then again, she is a competitive swimmer).

Anyway, I don't think I have much to worry about when I face the scale when I get home later tonight.
 
35 miles on the bikes today..part of it dodging cars. We were on a stretch of wide 2 lane when an idiot decided to pass several cars. He could have clearly seen us if he wasn't preoccupied with his cell phone. He decided that he need to stay on our side of the road nearly hitting myself and my son. I never yell at a car, but this time I was furious. I was really hoping to get his license plate ,but was unable. After that we decided to take the tougher route back with less traffic. Overall a great ride at a little less than 18 mph for the trip.
 
My knees have been killing me the last few days so I took yesterday off, I tried to run tonight, but I mile into it, I knew they would never hold up, so I turned around and walked home. This is driving me nuts.
 
My knees have been killing me the last few days so I took yesterday off, I tried to run tonight, but I mile into it, I knew they would never hold up, so I turned around and walked home. This is driving me nuts.

Are you still screwing around with your position on the bicycle? If so its likely the cause of your knee pain. When poorly positioned on the bike, in regard to seat height especially, your knees take a lot of stress. When properly positioned on the bike cycling is good for your knees.
 
Are you still screwing around with your position on the bicycle? If so its likely the cause of your knee pain. When poorly positioned on the bike, in regard to seat height especially, your knees take a lot of stress. When properly positioned on the bike cycling is good for your knees.

I put the bike seat a few days back to the original position, where I had it for weeks. I thought raising it might make the pedaling easier, instead it just hurt my knees. The pain is focused around my knee cap, above and below it. The pain has diminished since I moved the seat back, but it hasn't gone away. I don't know if I could be just doing too much riding since I'm not really in that good of shape yet and I've upped my mileage to around 200 a week in the last couple weeks.

How high should a seat be positioned ideally? I have short legs so my seat is lower than most because of that, but to be honest I don't really know exactly where to put it and my LBS isn't much help.
 
I think adjusting seats is a tricky affair. Alot of it is down to personal preference.

You should not be fully extending your leg on the downward stroke.

I always try to position my seat, so that when I sit on it, I am over the bottom bracket.
 
I put the bike seat a few days back to the original position, where I had it for weeks. I thought raising it might make the pedaling easier, instead it just hurt my knees. The pain is focused around my knee cap, above and below it. The pain has diminished since I moved the seat back, but it hasn't gone away. I don't know if I could be just doing too much riding since I'm not really in that good of shape yet and I've upped my mileage to around 200 a week in the last couple weeks.

How high should a seat be positioned ideally? I have short legs so my seat is lower than most because of that, but to be honest I don't really know exactly where to put it and my LBS isn't much help.

You should take it into a shop for a quickee fitting. If you are doing it yourself you have to remember a lot of things. As you raise your seat you need to also move it forward, vice versa for lowering it. Then you also have to change your cleat position on the bottom of your shoe relative to your new position as well...especially if you have any angle built into your cleat position.

You might also find that as you ride more your position changes. Your flexibility will increase and your *** will decrease. Your saddle will compress as well. All of this needs to be accounted for as well.

These days many people are promoting a mid-foot cleat position, which will require a lower saddle. Current practice is to try and get the heel a bit lower than it has been in the past, with you being able to drop your heel slightly below parallel when at bottom dead center on the crank. This also makes for a lower saddle. This concept is not new either, it is what works best with clipless pedals because it allows you to de-weight the returning pedal the most. If you are able to visualize, and then feel while pedaling, the idea of scraping dog crap off your foot, that is what the bottom of your pedal stroke should feel like. Don't try and "pull" up on the return stroke as it has been proven that even the most biomechanically efficient pedalers do nothing more than de-weight the returning pedal better than those of us who are less efficient.

In the pre clipless days, with clips and straps, higher seat positions were more in favor because they promoted a toe down pedalling motion. This was favored because it allowed you to jam your foot into the clip and transfer the most energy into the pedal as possible. This has, obviously, become obsolete.

So...as you can see, there are a lot of considerations when discussing seat height.
 
Good work fellows! I have been resting for a week and some change. My joints really needed it. I was just going to lift light, but this worked out better. Wednesday I came back with a Chest/Back workout. Went fairly heavy, but not all-out. Had a pretty good set.
 
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