Epiphanies And Paradigm Shifts Are Rare, But Matt Fitzgerald Gave Me One Of Each: Train To Recover

"How you think about an issue will determine your relationship to it, so think wisely, which is a life-long process of learning." FitOldDog "Get more out of your training by doing it backwards. Your fitness increases not while you run but during the recovery process that unfolds between runs. The stress of running flips a number of hormonal and genetic switches in various parts of your body, allowing each ... Read more

Recovering From A Serious Injury Or Ill-Health Is A Structured Work Of Art – Advice On Femoral Neck Fracture Rehabilitation For Luis, Please?

Hi folks! Painful as pain is, it's here to protect us from ourselves. Just ask someone with leprosy. Post-surgical repair, that's fine. Today I received a tweet from a cyclist that I admire, Luis, asking for my thoughts on recovery from a subcapital hip fracture (broken neck of femur, where it enters the hip joint), but with no pain. Yep! He fell off of his bike - these things happen. The absence of pain is ... Read more

From Surgery Recovery To Safe Exercise And Training, Case In Point: Back To Back Inguinal Hernia And Prostate Repairs

Question from a reader on a comment stream of this blog: "Kevin, I recently had both surgery to repair a hernia, as well as prostate surgery. Because of decreased capacity because of the hernia as well as the trauma of the two surgeries, I have lost a fair amount of muscle mass, strength, and tone. What kind of training regimen do you suggest for me to get back in shape? What exercises should I avoid to let my ... Read more

Safe Rehabilitation And Subsequent Exercise Following Aortic Surgery Depend Upon Base, Pace, And Your Dreams For The Future

Alan Martins says: March 1, 2014 at 9:35 pm "I totally agree, was also told not to play golf and go for little walks! What? If I’m going down, it’s going to be with a smile on my face. Live life!" Welcome! Only you can really decide the best exercise plan for your mind, heart and body, when dealing with the rigors of aortic disease - but deal with it you will, one way or another. Increasingly, ... Read more

In Major Pre-Race Training Then You Have A Sore Throat And Feel Bad So What Do You Do?

  Hi folks! Thanks for stopping by! A cold can turn into pneumonia, which can kill you, so get better. That's safe exercise for better health. What do you do when sickness gets in the way of your training, having caught a bad head cold from a kid in your house (happens from time to time - and it just did, again, and I got if from Nick about a week ago before he headed off for his snowboarding ... Read more

Does An Ice Bath Help With Recovery From A Hard Workout?

    Hi folks, My eldest son asked the other day whether an ice bath really helps with recovery from a hard workout, or is just another form of masochism. In my experience, an ice bath or a cold bath can help a great deal. Some argue that the ice isn't necessary, and for shorter workouts I suspect that this true. For hard sets I find that an ice bath really helps. For instance, as I approach ... Read more

Endurance Race Recovery And Context As The Wallpaper Of Life

    "In JKD [Jeet Kune Do], one does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily increase but daily decrease. The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity." Bruce Lee. "Any effort that has self-glorification as its final endpoint is bound to end in disaster." by Robert M. Pirsig, from The Painter's Keys. "If you could wish for one athletic-enhancing gene it should be the one that ... Read more

Three Rs Of Safe Exercise For Better Health

  “We join spokes together in a wheel, but it is the center hole that makes the wagon move. We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want. We hammer wood for a house, but it is the inner space that makes it livable. We work with being, but non-being is what we use.” Lao Tzu, Tao te Ching, Translation by Steven Mitchell Hi folks, Recovery, ... Read more

Disclaimer: As a veterinarian, I do not provide medical advice for human animals. If you undertake or modify an exercise program, consult your medical advisors before doing so. Undertaking activities pursued by the author does not mean that he endorses your undertaking such activities, which is clearly your decision and responsibility. Be careful and sensible, please.