Diet and Fitness

That’s a fair distance… what’s the longest you’ll do in training before the event? How’d it feel?

Longest run I’ll do is probably 11 miles.

Felt pretty strong, I think all the squats, deadlifts and calf raises when I couldn’t run have helped.

It was a pivotal run really. If I couldn’t do 4 or 5 miles today then with 11 weeks to go then there was probably no chance of getting my mileage up by 0.5m per week to where I need it to be to stand a chance of getting round.

It’s going to hurt in the morning :weary:

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Ugh. Ok…so I wasn’t sensible enough it seems. Gambled and lost- feel rank today :-1:

I feel your pain :weary:.

Stiff as a board this morning, back and hips giving me hell.

A really interesting little film. I’m one of those who feel miles away from being able to do that kind of squat having watched my children do it effortlessly when they were small. That is a new target for me along with being able to stand up from sitting cross legged without the use of hands/arms. (Much harder than it sounds)

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It’s a great stretch and strengthener by itself, but it also points you towards other mobility limitations in say hips, ankles etc which can be helped by other stretches and dynamic movements (Google Kelly Starrett for probably the best source of these).

I’ve increased the depth of my 3rd W squat just by sitting in it daily for a couple of mins upto 30 mins in front of the TV. I tend to focus on pushing my butt vertically down, whilst keeping my back straight and as vertical as possible, with most the weight on my heels. Also rocking back and forward and side to side helps work on the soft tissue and open up more room to sit deeper.

Surprised to find I can do the 3rd world squat without issue. Sat like that for a couple of minutes last night. Got bored quickly as i had nothing to do, so gave up.

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My ankles (or more likely the supporting ligaments around them) are currently way too inflexible to keep my feet flat on the floor. That’s what I’ll need to try working on.

I spend most of my working day in that position, i can’t kneel so adopted it as my at the kids desk position. Never realised it was actually a good thing to be doing.

What happens if you try to squat down low with your feet flat?

If I didn’t hold on to something in front of me I’d fall over backwards. Or my heels would rise up.

i am a long way from balancing with flat feet - Has anyone got size 11 stilettos?

Might be ankle, might be hip, or most likely a bit of both.

Let’s see if we can eliminate the ankle first. The simplest way to release pressure on the ankle is to gradually point them out until you can get your ass down between your calves. However what I’d like you to do is stand with feet shoulder width apart, pointing straight forward and get down low as you can, lean your body weight forward if you have to.

From there lift one foot and extend your leg right in front of you (called a pistol squat). If you have enough functional strength then you should be able to get a decent balance. Don’t worry if you fall over, just try again and adjust your weight.

Now try the other leg. It’s common to be better one side than the other. The pistol position forces the weight bearing ankle to flex and adjust. Basically if you can’t do a pistol for even a few seconds then it’s ankle mobility problem.

Try it out and let me know how you get on. If it’s ankle then there are exercises that will help increase flexion and range.

Found the video which I knew I’d seen which has the test I described above -

Also this is useful around ankles and squatting -

I’m losing weight - won’t be long before I’ll be able to tie my shoe laces again :+1:

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Nice one Jim. Step one - able to see your feet, step two - able to touch them :slightly_smiling_face:

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When I was in my teens I used to do Tae Kwon Do. I enjoyed it & was able to pick it up quite well except for kicks made to the side where I never seemed to be able to get my foot as high as it should go. (No problem to the front). Despite lots of stretching exercises it never improved.

10 years ago I was experiencing a lot of pain in one hip which proved to be arthritis. I had to have the joint re-surfaced. On being X rayed, it became apparent that the joint, rather than being a sphere rotating in a cup was more elongated so movement to the side was restricted. I asked the specialist if that would have limited my flexibility in lifting to the sides & he said it would have.

Now I’m trying this kind of squat I realise that to do it requires a freedom of moment which I still don’t have. That said, it does feel quite good to be trying it even if I do have to hold my self upright by hanging on to something like a table leg.

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:stuck_out_tongue:

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Risk of an eating disorder pursuing that goal :wink:

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