Tag Archives: lifting

Life, Parenting

It’s Happening: Lose Atrophy, Gain A Nerve

1 Comment

After being tossed around (aka referred to) by doctor after doctor, I finally have an official date to fix my entrapped nerve. I shared the details of the long road to diagnosing the reason for my severe atrophy of the right infraspinatus and supraspinatus muscles in this post, and finally found a doctor confident enough to hopefully fix my nerve. I guess you could say, he’s got nerve. eh, eh?

The issue seems to be an inflamed ligament in one of the shoulder joints which is causing an impingement on my suprascapular nerve running through it. This, in turn, is not allowing the nerve to signal any growth to my muscles past the impingement. Hence the atrophy. I already shared a pic of my caved in shoulder blade in the other post, so I’ll spare my three readers a repeat visual. You’re welcome, Gary.

Surgery will commence on June 22nd. It will be a day procedure and hopefully I’ll be on my way to recovery quickly thereafter. Of course, the following onslaught of medical related bills might put both my wife and me under! Nah, we have good insurance, it’ll be more like a little needle prick to draw blood. It sucks, but hopefully it’s for a good cause…..fixing me.

Going Mom is doing good about trying to keep me in good spirits since I know I will lose the ability for a lot of the things I do daily. Playing with Avery or simply picking her up to go potty or play helicopter around the house will be out. And lifting weights? Nope, at least not for 3 months.

It’ll be hard to do lower body lifting since things like squats and deadlifts require the use of your shoulders too. At least I can do lower-only riding on the new Schwinn Airdyne we bought. But again, Airdyne “workouts” with Avery will be out for a while.

I expect to do lots of walking and body weight moves like squats, lunges, karate Ninja Turtle kicks (hey, why not?), and maybe sit ups. We’ll see, I’m sure I can get creative, I’ll drive myself crazy otherwise. I mean, I am Going Dad afterall. What’s going to drive me absolutely nuts though, is the lack of playtime with Avery. So much of what we do when we play involves having a good set of arms and shoulders. Just one won’t cut it for (safely) turning your kid into a helicopter. And going high in the sky while swimming just ain’t happening this summer.

A video posted by RC Liley (@going_dad) on

Okay, after the soon approaching surgery that is. Her laugh is infectious! In a good way.

But like my wife keeps saying, this might be just what I need to actually focus on gaining some healthy weight (it’s been one of my goals for years), letting my entire body heal from day after day of high intensity exercise, and starting fresh. I won’t be dormant by any means, but heavy lifting is obviously out. I’ll admit that I could use the break, and am kind of excited about having the chance to start over in a sense.

As long as I can type, I’ll be sure to share my progress and what I’m finding to keep me sane. With the love and support of my mom, wife, and Avery, I am positive I’ll be good to go in no time. Maybe the help of a physical therapist as well. Oh, and as Avery says, healing hugs and kisses help too.

nerve surgery, atrophy, parenting, dad, toddler,

We have a family beach vacation coming up. Right when we return is when I’m having the surgery, so I’m going to make the most of it and toss that cutie all around. Safely of course. 🙂

Going Healthy, Going Strong, Life, Parenting

What Counts as Exercise?

4 Comments

Many parents, at-home and working alike, succumb to the “I don’t have time” mantra when it comes to exercise, but it’s  an important part of life and is worth making time to do.

You might think exercise is something that requires special equipment or is only done at a gym, but you might already be “exercising” without even knowing it. Exercise falls under several definitions, and one way it is defined is that it’s a regular or repeated use of a faculty or bodily organ. Knowing this, I’m positive we all have a long list of things we do every day that count as “exercise” and we never thought of it as such.

Carrying your kid around the house or grabbing them before they grab the cat’s tail would definitely count. And teaching them to perform different exercises like push-ups or yoga (maybe a combination?) proves beneficial too.

exercise, fitness, kids, toddler, parenting, workout, yoga

 

Chores and daily tasks like going for a walk, mowing the lawn, vacuuming, mopping, doing laundry, and engaging in playtime with your kids are all great ways to fit in exercise and accomplish your laundry list (pun intended) of things you need to get done.

In a nutshell, movement of any form is, in and of itself, exercise. An important thing to remember is to be consistent with your movement and make sure it’s something you enjoy. If your stomach churns just thinking of going for a run, don’t do it, you’ll never stick with it. Ride a bike, walk, swim, row, hike, or……clean house. The point I’m trying to make is, keeping active, however you so choose, helps to make a better you.

As parents, we need to be excellent role models and should let our children see us being active and living a healthy lifestyle so they will hopefully follow suit and WANT to be like mommy and daddy. Note I said “healthy lifestyle”; this means exercise and good nutrition! If you are trying to lose weight, you can workout all you want, but without good nutrition, your results will be minimal at best. Sleep is vital too!

Finishing a great workout session is NOT a pass to go pig out on packaged, processed junk or order takeout without thinking of what you’re actually putting in your mouth. Trust me, I’m guilty of this and know firsthand. Read the ingredients or, better yet, choose food that doesn’t even need a label.

No matter your fitness goal; lose weight, gain strength, maintain current level, etc., we will all benefit from moving more and practicing good nutrition for the quality of life it provides. If you are already a conscious eater and get a good dose of daily movement, good for you, keep it up and hopefully you are inspiring others!

I’m on my feet most of the day and rarely sit down until night (I stand at the counter to use my computer) and move around a lot with Avery. She’s usually really good at “working out” with mommy or daddy and has her own equipment to use too.

She is well aware of my upper/lower body split, but she ends up doing full body every day. Then we keep active by playing or doing anything outdoors, weather permitting. Lately, it’s all about her WOOM 1 Balance Bike. We named it Rocket, just like on Little Einsteins.

playing, daddy, kids, parenting, woom 1, balance bike

Whatever you choose to do, try to do it with your family as much as possible. Kids mimic and idolize parents more than we realize, so being a great role model with ensure they grow up to make better decisions on their own.

 

Do you struggle with motivation or have no issue with exercising or nutrition?

If you have kids, do they join you when exercising?

Going Strong, Life

An HIIT Kettlebell Workout Routine to do During Nap Time

2 Comments

This HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workout routine is perfect for the time-strapped parent (or anyone short on time) as it provides a high-revving training stimulus in 30 minutes or less. That is, of course, assuming you push yourself out of your comfort zone. If there’s one carry-over from my years of marathon training to strength training, it’s learning to push far beyond my level of comfort to reach and/or surpass my goals.

But there are differences. With marathon training, it’s all about doing more; more miles, more time on feet, and essentially, more running! When training for strength, you focus on lifting more weight or adding more sets/reps, but doing too much creates a point of diminishing returns. Muscles need to rest and recover in order to repair themselves and grow stronger, and that means doing less might be best.

That’s an extreme Cliff Notes version as there’s definitely a lot more to strength training than just lift heavy, eat a caloric surplus (focusing on quality food sources), rest, repeat. I could blabber on and on about this topic, but I would need to have a blog devoted entirely to the subject as it is extremely vast. Plus, I have an HIIT routine for the time-strapped parent (or anyone really) I created that I want to share. Hopefully you’ll find it effective.

Once your kid goes down for a nap or you’re graced with a patient child, try this routine for a full-body blast that’ll have you full of endorphins once finished.

hiit, workout routine, fitness,
I’m waiting for you!!

6 Rounds for Time

6 *Pull-ups or Chin-ups

10 Burpees

15 Push-ups

10 1-arm **Kettlebell Swings (each arm)

15 V-Ups

*If you can’t do pull-ups/chin-ups, try inverted rows or dumbbell bent rows
**If you don’t have a kettlebell, use a dumbbell or anything you can old and securely swing

I was feeling this the next day and loved it! If you really push yourself, expect to take about 15 to 20 minutes to complete. I added 5 minutes of biking before and after but it’s not required.

Give this routine a try and let me know how you liked it (or didn’t like it) in the comments below. This is also a great finisher after pure strength training with compounds exercises like squat, deadlift, bench, etc.; just shorten it to 3 rounds.

Parents need to keep fit too, and HIIT routines like this allow us to get a good strength and cardio workout in when there’s not a lot of time. If you can (or if nap time was a failure), have the kids join in to let them see how “fun” keeping active is, and you’ll be leading my example.

What are your current fitness goals?

Do you like HIIT routines like this or prefer standard cardio options like running or biking?