ANOTHER MILESTONE

After another long hiatus from the blog, I'm back, and I've made it past another milestone.  On Thursday December 3rd, I hit the 6 week post-op mark!  I know it doesn't sound like much, and I've only been walking now for 2 weeks (2.5 as of today), but 6 weeks marked another hurdle!  I'm now able to perform a whole host of additional exercises for my hip, and the great thing is that these additional exercises involve movement (I still have to do my isometric exercises though).  Also, I am no longer restricted on my range of motion (ROM)!  I can progress as far as my hip will allow...which means I can do whatever I want so long as it doesn't hurt!

For example, ever since my first rehab appointment, I have only been able to perform 3 exercises:  squeezing a ball between my knees, pulling my knees apart with a belt wrapped around them, and an "ankle-slide" which is basically a leg curl with only the friction between my sock and the floor (in other words, no friction) as the resistance.

Now, however, I can actually add in some strengthening exercises for my hip musculature.  I can work (lightly) my hip flexors, hip rotators, and hip extensors, so basically all of the muscles in each plane of movement.  They aren't terribly strenuous, but that's OK.  Eventually I'll add resistance bands around my knees or perform some of the hip extension movements with one leg at a time to increase the load.  I also perform a couple of balancing exercises on one leg to work on stabilization around each of my joints.

This also means that I can now do things like pushups, reverse pushups, and planks which require the body to be extremely rigid through the hips.

I started swimming a couple of weeks ago as well, although I was using a pull buoy to isolate my arm action.  It's basically just a flotation device that you stick between your legs to keep your legs from moving and also to keep them from sinking.  This morning though Lauren and I went to the pool to swim some laps and I was able to do some kicking!

I think that's about it for now!  I've got a couple more blogs lined up, so for the next couple of days there will be some activity here.  Be sure to check back.

SKILL SESSIONS

First, I've fallen behind a little in my blog posting, but I should've updated it on Thursday November 19th.  Thursday was the first day in 4 weeks where I walked.  I know, it doesn't sound exceptional in any way, but when you've been on crutches for 4 weeks, it's kind of a big deal!!  I told Lauren that if I ever take anything for granted again I should be shot!

Now onto my regularly scheduled blog post.  There are about a hundred various goals that I have (or have at least thought of) in my training, however I usually don't get around to most of them unless they are one of my big primary goals.  Now that I have some extra time to spend in the SHOP, I decided to work on two in particular:  the muscle up and handstands.  Both of these skills require a certain degree of strength, but technique and other components (such as balance) play a much greater role.  Practice is the best way to accomplish them.

As of Friday night, I can scratch one of those off my list (in terms of accomplishing, however I will continue to do both of them).  Here is some footage of a muscle up:

The first one looks pretty good, but the second one was quite a struggle.  Now that I can do them, I will work on doing more of them in succession.

As for handstands, I'll keep practicing.

GETTING IT DONE

Since my hip surgery, a lot of people have been asking me if I am still training or just "enjoying the time off."  If I was taking time off, I would be hating every minute of it.  Fortunately I have come up with ways to simply work around my (temporary) limitations, and in fact I am still making some nice gains on certain lifts (pullups, weighted dips, handstand pushups, rows, grip training, etc.).  I've even started mixing in some work for my left leg (the good leg), such as DB RDL's and single-leg squats.

So to answer the question, of course I'm still training!!  You just gotta get it done.

Here was my routine this morning:

POWER

A1  Lying Med Ball Chest Pass (thankfully the SHOP has high ceilings)

A2  Scapular Wall Slides (for shoulder health)

MAX STRENGTH

B1  T-Bar Rows

B2  DB RDL's

C1  Weighted Dips (bodyweight plus 100 lb. weight vest

C2  Single-Leg Squats (left leg only)

D  Neutral-Grip Pullups (using Eagle Loops...to train the hands and grip)

Here is some footage of this morning's session, and feel free to laugh at the fact that I have to hop around on one leg to get around the SHOP:

Weighted Dips

It's much harder to get a heavy weight vest on with only one good leg!

Single-Leg Squats

I finished up my session with a short ride on the Airdyne (arms only).  You can see the Airdyne in the foreground of the above videos.

I'll post another blog this weekend to show some other examples of how I've been getting it done!

WTF??

I came across this WTF moment from one of the blogs that I follow (Mark’s Daily Apple):

American Academy of Family Physicians Launches Consumer Alliance With First Partner: The Coca-Cola Company

Quoted from the second paragraph of that article:

“The Consumer Alliance is a program that allows corporate partners like The Coca-Cola Company to work with the AAFP to educate consumers about the role their products can play in a healthy, active lifestyle.”

WTF?  No Coca-Cola product can play a role in a healthy, active lifestyle!  That doesn’t mean they should never be consumed, it just means they are an exception to a healthy, active lifestyle that can be tolerated in moderation.

Seriously, it should be obvious, but the very next sentence states the clear reason why the American Academy of Family Physicians is partnering with Coca-Cola (emphasis mine):

“As part of this partnership, The Coca-Cola Company is providing a grant to the AAFP to develop consumer education content on beverages and sweeteners for FamilyDoctor.org, an award-winning consumer health and wellness resource.”

There are so many things wrong with this that I don’t even know where to begin.  Why does a consumer need education on sweeteners?  How about “avoid them”?

FOOD ISSUES IN THE NEWS

I’m going to deviate a little from my usual format.  I read several articles (all short, don’t worry) online today about various “food issues” in the news.  I’ll give you the link, then a few of my favorite excerpts, and possibly a comment or two from me.  So, here are a couple of articles from USA Today that I found interesting:

Critics blast Kellogg's claim that cereals can boost immunity

Favorite Excerpts:

“Of all claims on cereal boxes, "this one belongs in the hall of fame," says Kelly Brownell, director of Yale University's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. "By their logic, you can spray vitamins on a pile of leaves, and it will boost immunity."

“The idea that eating Cocoa Krispies will keep a kid from getting swine flu, or from catching a cold, doesn't make sense," says Marion Nestle, nutrition professor at New York University. "Yes, these nutrients are involved in immunity, but I can't think of a nutrient that isn't involved in the immune system.”

Fat in fiber's clothing? Nutrient-spiked foods top shopping lists

Favorite Excerpts:

“A report released Thursday finds that even in a weak economy, people will pay a premium for products seen as preventing a health problem or providing a good alternative to sodas and empty-calorie snacks.”

“The industry calls these products "nutraceuticals" or "functional foods."

[DS] I love how they came up with a term (in particular “nutraceuticals”) instead of just calling it “food.”

"It's really a junk food dressed up to look prettier than it is," he said. "People are going to be deceived into thinking a lot of these products are especially healthy for them when there's little evidence they are. There's more hype to these products than there is reality."

“The biggest worry is that adding a nutrient will give "a health halo" to foods and lead to overconsumption, she said.”

FDA's food label crackdown: Sugar cereals are 'Smart Choices'?

I actually blogged about this topic here.

Favorite Excerpts:

“The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that nutritional logos from food manufacturers may be misleading consumers about the actual health benefits of cereal, crackers and other processed foods. The agency sent a letter to companies saying it will begin cracking down on inaccurate food labeling.”

[DS] I am holding off my excitement until they actually start cracking down on this problem.

“There's a growing proliferation of forms and symbols, check marks, numerical ratings, stars, heart icons and the like," said Hamburg. "There's truly a cacophony of approaches, not unlike the tower of Babel.”

[DS] It looks like all of these labeling programs are actually designed by the food manufacturers themselves.  Is that not ridiculous??  Talk about a case of the fox watching the henhouse!

Kellogg adds fiber, hoping to bowl cereal consumers over

Favorite Excerpts:

“Some 80% of Kellogg cereals will have at least 3 grams of fiber per serving by the end of 2010. That may sound small, but foods with 3 grams are rated a good source of fiber by the government.”

[DS] Has anyone else noticed the theme here?  The basic take-home message is that cereal = CRAP!

“Adding fiber alone won't make a product better, says Michael Jacobson, director of the consumer group, Center for Science in the Public Interest. "You can gussie up any product by adding fiber and vitamins," he says, but says what consumers need to check for are added sugars, sodium and dyes.”

RECOVERY - DAY 12

It's about time I did a beard update:

Beard - Day 12

I had my first follow-up appointment with the doctor today, and he decided to leave my stitches in for another week to let the portholes fully heal (no big deal).

Today was also my first day of rehab.  I met with the PT and we went over everything from when I first started noticing problems in my hip to the first doctor's appointment all the way to the present.  He did a few minor ROM tests on my hip (flexion to 90 degrees, abduction to 20 degrees) and I had no problem meeting those.  All that means is that flexibility does not need to be improved over the next few weeks...I'm already past where I need to be.  After that, we focused on a few isometric exercises to try to stave off muscle atrophy in my leg.  Put a soccer ball between your knees while laying down (knees bent to 90 degrees) and squeeze for 5 seconds and then release.  Repeat for 2 minutes.  Then, same position, but with a strap around my knees and try to spread my knees for 5 seconds and then release.  Repeat for 2 minutes.

That's it.  I can do them as often as I want, but not really anything else until my leg is ready for load-bearing activities.  Not very exciting, I know.

Since this was kinda short, maybe I'll cap it off with a "WHAT I HAD FOR DINNER" post...

Tonight Lauren and I enjoyed a glass of Ravenwood's Red Zinfandel (don't bother looking it up...it was an "affordable" wine, but very good nonetheless) with turkey tenderloin, grilled eggplant topped with raw feta cheese and grilled okra.  One word...RIDICULOUS.

I guess that was kinda short too...

Oh well, now I'm off to do some of my exercises and then hit the sack.

MORE FOOD LABELING BULLSH*T

I've touched on food labeling practices in a few prior posts (here and here), but there's a new one that is hitting supermarket shelves all over the country:

Smart Choices Program

"Helping Guide Smart Food and Beverage Choices"

The whole purpose of this label (according to the website) is to give consumers a quick way to identify whether or not a food product is healthy.  If the product has this label, well then it must be healthy (I want to emphasize my use of the phrase "food product" since fruits and vegetables do not have packaging or labels and therefore cannot display this label).  To qualify for this label, foods must meet a comprehensive set of criteria ranging from total calories and fat content to vitamin and mineral content.  To summarize, they have three categories (quoted directly from their website):

Nutrients to Limit - These are nutrients that Americans need to eat less of in their diet for better health (total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, added sugars, sodium).

Nutrients to Encourage - These are the “nutrients of concern,” that is nutrients lacking in the diet, as identified by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (Calcium, Potassium, Fiber, Magnesium, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E).

Food Groups to Encourage - These are groups of foods, rather than individual nutrients, that are recommended in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (Fruits, Vegetables, Whole Grains, Fat-Free/Low-Fat Milk Products).

Generally speaking, those categories seem to be a step in the right direction.  They even make exceptions in the "Total Fat" category for items like nuts, seeds, avocados, and fatty fish since they contain high amounts of healthy fats.  That's good, right?

Now if you've read my other blog posts about food labels or my thoughts on the food industry in general, you're probably sitting there just waiting for me to tell you how much I hate this new labeling system...well WAIT NO LONGER!!

As I mentioned earlier, the first strike against this program is that it can't apply to whole food items like fruits and vegetables since those items do not include any packaging in the first place.

Strike Two is the following:

Froot Loops qualified for this "Smart Choices" label??  ARE YOU KIDDING ME??  Froot Loops are nothing more than sugar circles in milk.

Strike Three will involve a quote from their website:

"The Smart Choices Program encourages balanced eating by evaluating foods across every aisle and section of the supermarket."

By eating "across every aisle," that simply encourages people to buy food products and not whole food items (which are located on the store periphery, not on the aisles).  Buying food products is fantastic for the manufacturers, but pretty much terrible for the consumer.

A few more sample products that apparently meet healthy criteria:

FUDGSICLES, MAYONNAISE, AND REGULAR PEANUT BUTTER!!  It's probably best that I can't tell what the product is behind the Fudgsicles because I would probably just get really pissed off.  Also, please note that Natural Peanut Butter (made only from peanuts) is a great food choice.  Regular Peanut Butter (made with sugar and partially hydrogenated oils) is NOT a great food choice.

There's also more B.S. on the horizon...foods will soon be marketed as "Better for You" foods.  It is important to note that the industry is not calling them "Good for You," and there's a reason for that.  3 slices of double-fudge brownie cake is definitely "Better for You" than 4 slices of it.