gluten free, way to be...?

so there's a lot of hype on this gluten free diet thing.  obviously it's mainly out there for those suffering from celiac disease or for those who have some sort of sensitivity.  i decided to read a couple articles today on it, mainly bc i'm interested in gluten free products--currently my favorite bread to eat with my eggs in the morning is Rudi's gluten free whole grain bread.  it's simply delicious and with that as well as having people around me who have to eat gluten free, i am sort of on GF kick. 

so i've actually tried to be GF for a week once.  epic fail.  i may have mentioned it before i can't remember. basically, i did pretty well for a few days but i was at the point where i was working ohhh like 14 hour days and having to stop at sheetz or somewhere awful for a meal and it is extremely hard to find something filling that is gluten free and readily available in this area.  so that's basically the cause of my failure--also the fact that i was choosing to be GF by choice made it much harder to stick to it.

regardless if you're intolerant or tolerant of gluten, it's an extremely hard thing to do.  for smaller areas, there really are a minimal amount of choices and it is a bit more expensive.  but i've found that it's a bit easier (if you have the option) to eat partially gluten free.  i don't have a problem with the taste of GF products.  like i said i love the bread, and you can eat like most mexican things (corn tortillas, rice, etc) and i looove mexican food.  i've even baked with it, and the last thing i made, peanut butter blossom cookies for christmas, were actually super awesome!

so, advantages of GF diet are less bloating, possibly better digestion, and weight loss.  from what i read, a good amount of the population has some sort of sensitivity to gluten, so even trying out a couple things could actually have a lot of positive outcomes.

i made a gluten free (i think) pizza the other day...

the crust was a premade crust (Udi brand) and i just kind of used things i had in the house--tomato sauce with some spices, spinach, green pepper, roasted red pepper, chicken, and 2 kinds of cheese-brick and colby.  and it was actually super delicious. 

problem with GF is that it is harder to get your fiber, at least from the "bread" products you use.  i'm sure if you use like quinoa and items like that on a regular basis you'd be find, but the bread that i eat is pretty low which is another reason i've chosen to only be part GF.

i think the GF idea is a good one.  i think that it can promote better eating--you're staying away from a lot of crap to be honest--and maybe you'll find out that you had an intolerance along the way and stop it from causing any real serious damage.

work out like a cripple part dos

so part two of working out like a cripple. today is more of a "cardio" day. i suppose you could consider it the more fun day? depends on how much you like working out/physical therapy though.  i basically rotate between yesterdays regimen and todays; every other day--normally you only do pt 2-3 times a week but since i work here i basically just do it everyday/3-4 days a week.

anyways, today is the jumping program as well as the day i do my running intervals.  running isn't necessarily what is required, i'm not really sure how much i'm actually supposed to be running but i'm basically an unofficial pt patient since my insurance sucks and i can't schedule real appointments so i don't get feedback unless i ask for it.  so i basically play it by ear, depending on how my knee feels. so you could do some sort of intense bike/eliptical/stepper workout -- cardio of choice basically. but i "like" running the best.

so i usually start with the jumping program. i think it's the harder of the two, at least by the end.  the jumping program they have here consists of 3 weeks where the intensity increases each week.  if you're healthy, you should go through the jumps 3 times, but i kind of have to work my way up to that.  i wouldn't do it everyday, every other day, maybe only 2 times a week depending on your fitness level and amount of gym time you get per week.  i am currently on week 2, and the only difference between week 1 and 2 is the duration of time you do each move. each move i do is for a duration of 25 seconds; if you want to start at week 1 just cut back to 20 seconds.

so per training session there are 8 moves.  and as i said youll go through 3 times.  i have a fancy little training timer that you can set the time for the resting period, the exercise period, as well as the amount of repetitions so i end up setting it for 24 repetitions, 25 second (or whatever the exercise period is) exercise, and i give myself a 15-20 second rest period.  i'm usually pretty antsy to get through it and it's a better cardio workout if you don't take too long of a break.  you can also take breaks between sets, you're probably supposed to actually, but as i said i just want to get it over with most of the time.

so here are the moves:

wall jumps - i call these "block jumps" because i am a volleyball player for life.  find a wall, bend your knees, jump and reach as high as you can on the wall. i do them at a steady pace as of now for my knees sake, but i would do them a bit quicker than you want to if you're able. i'll be there someday

tuck jumps - pretty common jumping technique. jump in place and bring your knees up as high as you can.  once again i do these at a steady pace, more so to make sure i'm landing correctly, but doing them at a quicker pace is my suggestion

squat jumps - once again pretty common and self explanatory.  essentially do a squat and on your way up spring up.

barrier jumps (side to side) - basically a typical plyometric move.  i just use a line, but you can use a towel or flat object, or if you're feeling dangerous something a little more 3D. and you're just going to jump over it side to side quickly. these are easier for me to do, well easier on the knee, so i do them as quickly as i can.

barrier jumps (front to back) - same thing except jumping front to back as quickly as you can.

180 jumps - for these you're just going to jump from front to back, doing a 180 degree turn.  these you don't have to do as fast; you want to make sure you're landing evenly

broad jumps - okay so these are different for me than they are you a little bit.  you're going to start on 2 feet and essentially leap and land on one leg.  try and go as far as you can and stick it for a few seconds.  these you don't necessarily have to time.  technically, you're supposed to do 5 total during week 1 and 10 during week 2 but it's easier for me to just time it.  so you're going to do the same thing but you're going to do both legs.  i just do my bad leg because it takes me a bit longer.

bounding in place - also called skier jumps, you're just going to go from one leg to another in place, side to side, at a steady, quick pace

and that's it! after you've gone through them 3 times of course.  doesn't seem like much but i was a lot sorer the next day than i thought.  i usually do some single legged leg press and some calf raises after and that definitely heightened my soreness the first couple times. but beauty is pain right.

okay so that's that now it's time for my run/your cardio.  since i'm not allowed to go too fast yet, nor for very long i have been doing interval sessions.  depending on how much time you have or want to spend, i've been doing 5 minute walking warm up then 5 minutes of running, 4 minute walk, 4 minute run...and so on...down to 1 minute, and then maybe a few minutes of cool down.  the highest i'm allowed to go speed wise is only 6.0 mph at this point, but for those normal people out there i would start out at a nice jog and the lower your running minutes get maybe increase the speed a little each time.  i'm not always a huge fan of the walking intervals so sometimes i'll do a 3 minute warm up and do 2 minute walking intervals in between.  but you can kind of adjust that part yourself. also, i always have the treadmill at a 1% incline.  if you start doing it that way you'll never even notice and you'll increase your calorie burn.  it's win win.

so that will be my therapy for today. as well as lifting. blah. good thing i work at a gym.

work out like a cripple

okay so weird title, i know it contradicts itself, but seriously, doing physical therapy i have worked some muscles i never knew existed in my body.  every time i have to do PT for something, like oh the 3 years of my life from knees or the double dose of shoulder therapy i've had, i become probably the most tone i have been, and we're talking even when i was heavy into athletics.  i can remember my freshman year of hs when i was doing shoulder therapy and my mom commenting on how toned my arms were.  keep in mind freshman year i played softball, basketball, and volleyball so really they should have already been pretty toned. and even after, i can remember her saying i should start doing some of the things i had done in therapy because of how nice it made my arms look. 

same with my legs.  now i have never been very confident in my legs. but having done 6 months of therapy at a time on multiple occasions has shown me that the weird techniques they have me do really helps tone up my legs.  i mean, i can barely run at this point and all i've been doing are balance and strengthening techniques and i've been able to see a big difference.  and it's not like i wasn't working out before.

so coming to my point, i wanted to share a couple days worth of PT that i've been doing.  most of the things i have to do are probably going to sound pretty foreign to those who haven't been through knee therapy themselves, and i'll explain the best i can but they are ass-kicking...literally and figuratively.  so here's what i did today, and let me tell you i am not going to be able to walk tomorrow.

for starters, i always do some kind of warm up.  since i knew they were going to be adding things onto my list, i just did a moderate bike workout on like a level 8 for 10 minutes. nothing at all too taxing. thank goodness for that decision

i'm not going to explain every exercise, but for a lot of these i will. if all else fails, google it. you know you'll get some sort of answer.

okay so next i did the "bridge inchworm".  a bridge, which is basically where you're lying on your back and you do a pelvic thrust (best way i can describe it), you basically are in bridge mode the whole time and you walk your feet out in tiny steps keeping your butt off of the ground and then you walk them back in. that's 1; if you can do 2 sets of 10, which is what i did, i'd say you're good to go.

leg press (both legs--i had been doing single legs) - 3 sets of 10

Bosu ball squats - flip the bosu ball so that the black flat side is up, stand with your feet apart so that you're balanced and do a basic squat 3 sets of 10



"bosu ball torcher" - stand like you were while doing squats in squat position for 1 minute and have someone basically play catch with you. do this twice

heel downs - basically a single legged squat on a step 3 sets of 10

planks (yes i do planks for my knee therapy--strong core heals everything) - 2 min front, 1 min left side, 1 min right side, 1 min front--NO BREAKS HERE

calf raises - i do seated with weight 2 sets of 30

single legged heel raises - calf raises off of a step, no weight 3 sets of 20

single legged squats with a press - squat on one leg and at the top, holding dumbbells, do a shoulder press 3 sets of 10 (my knee could only handle 2 sets today)

hip machine - to the side and to the back 3 sets of 10

unilateral bridge - okay so here we are with the bridge again. these really suck let me just tell you. so you're going to have one leg straight and one leg bent and you're going to push up into a bridge and lift your straight leg with it.  essentially you're doing one legged bridges 3 sets of 10 each side

monster walks - side step with some sort of resistance band in a squatted position - i do 2-3 laps up and down a hallway

split squats - put one leg up on a low table and squat down with your other leg.  3 sets of 10 each side. make sure not to let your knee go over your toe!

multi-directional lunges - so for these you're just doing a basic lunge but you're going to do a front lunge, a side lunge, and a reverse lunge; if you're feeling imaginative like me i did them at the angles in between as well. it's kind of awkward but it adds some extra burn.  i only did 2 sets of 8 which was essentially 2 sets of 35 since i went 5 directions.

kickers - okay so these i stood on a balance pad with one leg and with the other had a resistance band around my other leg and attached to sturdy pole. you're going to lift out to the side, turn the other way and swing inward, turn and lift to the front and the back and do 30 at each position.

okay. i'm sick of typing all this, it's making me feel like i did it again. woof.  but that was basically it for the hard stuff. i did some stretching and icing at the end and i am gonna call it a day!

tomorrow i get to do my jumping program and run. that's all i'm gonna tell you about it today, so until tomorrow :)

"new year, new you" ehhh...

happy new year!  with a new year comes all those "resolutions".  i personally am not a big fan of resolutions.  i don't think they're anything anyone gives a hoot a bout come a month or 2 into the "new" year.  i am especially not a big fan of the "this year i'm going to work out and lose weight!" resolution.  let's be serious, if you haven't lived a healthy lifestyle in the past, just because a year was added onto the count doesn't mean you're going to be anymore serious about it now.  i am all for the lifestyle change, but i don't think that that has to start just because it's the new year.  if that's really what you need to keep you motivated, okay, but from my personal experience, meaning myself and witnessing what happens in the gym, it usually isn't something that lasts.  it gets cold and snowy and people lose motivation and become busy and blah blah blah blah. i mean i can't judge, like i said, i've been that person, but i've also learned from it so take it from me, if you want a new you, you're good to start anytime.

that advice doesn't go very far right now considering it is the new year, but don't look at it as a resolution. make getting healthy a lifestyle change, and don't just make it about losing weight; feel better about yourself and work on living a longer life!

anyways...you won't find me doing anything different.  i guess i'm biased because i have always been athletic but as you know the eating thing has always been a problem, so the whole dieting thing is hard to stay away from.  if anything, i want to keep up with my workouts, drop some sweets from my diet, and just try and be happier...and maybe pay off my credit cards. OH and blog more :)