obax

I need a little advice about how best to modify the Advanced Bodyweight Workout. I know I can't do everything on the list, and have a few questions about what I can do instead. 1. I am dubious about the one-legged squats. If this is too much, could I do 30 bodyweight squats instead of 10 one-legged and 20 bodyweight squats? Is there some other alternative to the one-legged squats that I could do instead, or would it be better to just skip them until I'm ready to do them? 2. What exactly is a jump step-up? 3. What's a good alternative to the dips? There's no way I can even do one, let alone ten. What's a good way to work towards a dip? That's it for questions. I also can't do a pull-up or chin-up, but will be substituting inverted rows for those and working my way up to real pull/chin-ups. Thanks much to anyone with advice. My currently workout is getting kinda stale, and I feel like this is just the ticket to get me out of my motivational funk. -obax Edit: Ah, so I went and reread that article, and turns out there are answers to my questions already there... *ahem* Well, except for question 2, I still don't know what a jump step-up is... But it does bring up another question: What's a decline pushup, and if I can't even do a regular pushup (I'm planning on doing knee pushups for the workout), will I be able to do it? Anything I can do instead? I'm leaving my original questions up there just in case anyone has anything to say about that... Thanks again, -obax, who promises to reread ALL of the article BEFORE she asks questions about it in the future

I have an achilles/ankle/heel issue myself (no one can figure out exactly what it is, besides painful), and know how aggravating it can be. I'm not going to try to diagnose you, as I'm not any kind of expert, but generally I've found icing the injury can be helpful (no more than 10 minutes or so at a time, 2 or 3 times a day), as well as heating the muscles around it (at the same time as the icing, if possible). The ice reduces any inflammation at the injury site and the heat relaxes the surrounding muscles to loosen up the whole area. Other than that, strengthening and stretching the muscles surrounding the injury is alway a good idea. Any injuries I've had in the past were ultimately the result of weakness and tightness in my muscles. Go slow at this, overdoing it can just hurt things again. For example, for my issue, I was given hamstring, calf and soleus (lower calf) stretches, and strengthening exercises for my calf and soleus, as well as my ankle (the muscles that rotate it from side to side, I dunno what they're called), and told to do them 3-5 times per day. Consider consulting a physiotherapist if the pain persists for, say, a week or two, or if it gets worse. I'm not one to go running to the doctor for every little ache and pain, but I can tell you, with my own mystery issue, waiting and hoping it'd get better wasn't a good treatment option. One thing my physiotherapist told me was, continue what you're doing exercise-wise, but don't increase anything until the problem starts to resolve itself (the idea being, that if you hurt yourself while doing A, increasing to B while you're injured is just going to make it worse). I incorporated my physio exercises/stretches into my workouts by doing my regular workout, then doing my exercises, then stretching (everything, but making sure I did the ones I was told as well as all my usual ones), and then did my other reps of the physio stuff throughout the day. Try no to do too much too soon, and take rest days if you need them. I generally take one rest day per week, but if I feel I need to, I will take an extra one or even two, especially if injuries are flaring up or if I feel like I'm taxing my body too much or getting sick. I'd rather take an extra day off than push it and hurt myself (I just try to make sure I don't do this too often and only when I really need to). Listen to your body, it will tell you what is good and what is not good. I hope things start to feel better soon. The hardest part for me trying to get over my issue (which has never completely gone away) was the lack of progress at first. I had to stay at the same level in my various workouts for something like 8 weeks, which was frustrating, and it was probably at least 5 or 6 before my injury really started to feel better. Not that I'm saying that'll be the case for you, but it can be hard to stay positive during that time. And for me, finding a positive attitude was a turning point, once I stopped being frustrated at being injured and starting thinking of it as what I needed to do to get where I was going (ie. injury-free), I started doing a lot better. Good luck!

From Guelph, ON (near Toronto). I'm new here, so hello!

An introduction: This 'posting on a forum' thing doesn't come naturally to me. I'm a 31 year old wage slave, training to be a copper. I'm currently working on increasing my beep test score, but really my goal is overall better fitness such that the police testing/training is a (relative) breeze. This paleo diet intrigues me. I don't think I'd like to do it always, until the end of time, but I certainly will try to incorporate it into my daily life (I already eat little in the way of grains or junk food (my one weakness being Coke), so hopefully I can continue the trend and just add in more veggies and fruit). So: Hello to you, people I don't know! I hope that maybe one day I will know you! -obax