[Jarric]

On 4/16/2024 at 3:59 PM, Mad Hatter said:

I've also done a blind simulation and that was really, ummm, eye-opening. At first it was fun when we had to for example touch random sculptures and figure out what they were. And then it turned horrible when we had to cross a street. Of course it was all fake, we were inside and there were no real cars, but it was still terrifying and overwhelming.

 

Wow, yeah, that sounds really full on. I'd like to give something like that a go - I appreciate that sticking a blindfold on for a few hours is not the same as experiencing what it's like to live as a blind person, but it sounds like it would still be a thought-provoking experience.

 

On 4/16/2024 at 3:59 PM, Mad Hatter said:

I wouldn't get your hopes up toooo much. 😕It's so often that MRIs show problems but the person is perfectly pain free and functional and vice versa. Unless it's something super obvious like there's no cartilage left or an acute injury. I do also hope it shows something useful but I also would take it with a pinch of salt.

 

Yeah, it's a fair point, I shall try not to get too hopeful. It's just such an usual presentation of symptoms, I'd like to get more than contradictory guesses from different physios.

 

On 4/16/2024 at 6:30 PM, Kishi said:

 

Hey, I'm right there with you. I want to do all the things all the time, and it's hard.

 

I would be loathe to advise counter to what the physios and doctors and imaging are going to tell you - again, I can't stress enough, I'm just a guy on the internet with impaired information - but in terms of practical/practicable advice I'd probably want to know what it is you're doing before I try to advise you. Maybe if I know what all you're doing, I can give you something useful in terms of cramming it all in or making it more efficient, or maybe even advising around what might not be so necessary.

 

If you want!

 

That would be great, thanks so much for the offer.

 

So at the moment, physio exercises are:

 - single-leg, bent-leg calf raises - 1x20ish

 - single-leg squats, focusing on glute engagement, straight back, knees not tracking past toes - 1x12ish

 

Doing that every day is easy, I mostly do them betweent sets at the gym, and as it's only 1 set of each it doesn't take long if not. The call I had with a different physio to book the MRI suggested doing them less than daily (maybe 3x per week), but doing 3-5 sets. I haven't implemented that yet; would need to find a good way to fit it in.

 

Unrelated, the single leg squats are definitely doing something even with low volume, because my pistol squats have improved about 500% in the last 2 months.

 

I also decided last weekend to try and do some ankle exercises when I've got free evenings sat on the sofa - specifically these ones from GMB: https://gmb.io/feet/ . So far I've only done them twice, but it feels like even a couple of times per week they might be useful. I've also noticed that doing the ankle circles whilst weight bearing on the ball of my foot seems to aggravate the same area of my knee as running, which is interesting.

 

My gym coach has got me doing eye focusing exercises, which are in theory 20 seconds 3x per day (actually doing 1-2).

 

In terms of general exercise, I'm in a crossfit-style gym Mon, Wed, Thurs, Fri (1 hour each), and I go cycling Tues, Sat, Sun (probably 2 x 40 minutes and 1 x 90-120 minutes). I also go bouldering Wed and Sat, for anywhere between 1 and 3 hours of chilled-out climbing.

[Jarric]

Pathfiner update

I'm super far behind on updating, so let's start with the important stuff!

 

We had Pathfinder on Tuesday night, and we went to explore the cellar of the abandoned house we were in. We found a creepy chair-device use to create undead from the living, but before we could examine it we were attached by a giant, hideous leech creature (a leecher? A leeture?)

 

Our wood kineticist was first in the firing line - the leecher grabbed him immediately, dealing a bunch of damage, and then drained all of his blood in round 2. Meanwhile the rest of us failed a bunch of knowledge checks to identify the thing, but we did learn it was weak to fire. I spent an entire round trying fashion a flaming arrow, before missing it entirely the following round.

 

At this point, in real life, I went to the bar. When I came back our rogue was also unconscious and drained of blood, and the kineticist was losing his final grip on the mortal realm.

 

Trying to be heroic I dragged the kineticist out of the way. Then I stepped up to the creature, turned back to my companions, and told them to run. And then I blew up my mechanical composite bow, in a blast of fire.

 

Funny thing, turns out that this creature wasn't weak to fire . We'd failed that check too.

 

Our druid dragged the rogue away, whilst the creature was busy leeching unlife out of the summoner's shadow companion. To save the shadow, and deprive the leecher of another meal, the summoner pulled out a dagger, cut off his own shadowy hand, and the summon winked out of existence.

 

The kineticist breathed his last, failed his recovery check, and died. Then the leecher turned on me. He rolled a fucking crit, grabbed me, and drained me dry all in one turn.

 

Whilst the druid fled with the rogue's unconscious body, the summoner hung back to try and save me. A brave choice, but a poor one, as the leecher managed to get close enough to him to drain all of his blood as well.

 

So, after session 4 of this campaign, 3 of the 5 PCs are dead and we were quite frankly lucky to escape a TPK. Tune in next week to meet our new characters, I guess!

[Jarric]

Week 3 wrap-up

Week 3 was so long ago I don't remember it, and I've talked about most of it anyway, but the final scores were:

 

The cartographer: 3/7 days doing art. Appears this very much dropped off at the weekend.

The muscle: 6/7 days kneehab. Saturday was tricky as I was out drinking and eating amazing food for most of the day, but otherwise we're good here.

[DarK_RaideR]

14 minutes ago, Jarric said:

So, after session 4 of this campaign, 3 of the 5 PCs are dead and we were quite frankly lucky to escape a TPK.

I actually love this. So many RPGs these days go to such lengths to make character death nigh impossible even with lots of effort, unless it's "dramatically appropriate" (plot armor, much?) so it ends up being a no stakes game going from one place to the other without much challenge and the thrill to go with overcoming said challenge. Life sucks and some times things go wrong, not because you made a mistake but because of a dice roll or something completely out of control. You learn to take the hits, lick your wounds, get pissed off and come back stronger.

[Sea-to-sky]

15 minutes ago, DarK_RaideR said:

actually love this. So many RPGs these days go to such lengths to make character death nigh impossible even with lots of effort, unless it's "dramatically appropriate" (plot armor, much?) so it ends up being a no stakes game going from one place to the other without much challenge and the thrill to go with overcoming said challenge

Pathfinder is pretty brutal. It is really easy to kill players accidentally in it as a DM ive been told. we definitely ran away a decent amount playing 2e.  
Plus the poisons/curses/diseases are not fun and very hard to get rid of. 
 

[Sea-to-sky]

35 minutes ago, Jarric said:

 

So, after session 4 of this campaign, 3 of the 5 PCs are dead and we were quite frankly lucky to escape a TPK. Tune in next week to meet our new characters, I guess

Sorry to hear you guys had a partial TPK dude.  Any chance of resurrecting you all?

[Jarric]

27 minutes ago, DarK_RaideR said:

I actually love this. So many RPGs these days go to such lengths to make character death nigh impossible even with lots of effort, unless it's "dramatically appropriate" (plot armor, much?) so it ends up being a no stakes game going from one place to the other without much challenge and the thrill to go with overcoming said challenge. Life sucks and some times things go wrong, not because you made a mistake but because of a dice roll or something completely out of control. You learn to take the hits, lick your wounds, get pissed off and come back stronger.

 

Yeah, it was actually a really fun session. Annoying not to be able to take the character concept to a high enough level for any of it to work, but that's the way the dice roll.

 

Also, I 100% could have run away, rather than trying to be heroic and getting myself killed. Some of the others not so much

 

 

10 minutes ago, Sea-to-sky said:

Pathfinder is pretty brutal. It is really easy to kill players accidentally in it as a DM ive been told. we definitely ran away a decent amount playing 2e.  
Plus the poisons/curses/diseases are not fun and very hard to get rid of. 
 

 

Yeah, though to be fair there was nothing accidental about this . Posions/curses l/diseases are good when they're interesting - when they just put a road block in the game not so much. I'd take diseases being interesting but not stopping you from playing over realism in that case.

 

9 minutes ago, Sea-to-sky said:

Sorry to hear you guys had a partial TPK dude.  Any chance of resurrecting you all?

 

Nah, we're level 1. We onew what we were gettibg into when the GM suggested we roll up 2 characters before the game started - this adventure path is notoriously lethal.

 

That said, if I need a new character in a year's time I might resurrect him then, if I can find a thematic way to do it. Or I could just introduce his identical twin

 

[Sea-to-sky]

1 minute ago, Jarric said:

Nah, we're level 1. We onew what we were gettibg into when the GM suggested we roll up 2 characters before the game started - this adventure path is notoriously lethal.

 

That said, if I need a new character in a year's time I might resurrect him then, if I can find a thematic way to do it. Or I could just introduce his identical twin

Ah well. At least you were warned. 
chances are you might bump into your ex character as undead if thats what you where investigating. That would be my evil twist as a dm

[Jarric]

On 4/19/2024 at 2:01 PM, Sea-to-sky said:

Ah well. At least you were warned. 
chances are you might bump into your ex character as undead if thats what you where investigating. That would be my evil twist as a dm

 

Yeah, I wouldn't put it past him! Mind you, this adventure is scary enough without him throwing anything more cruel on top.

[Jarric]

Week 4 so far

Monday was a good day. Art was done, can't remember what I sketched but it was something. Kneehab done at Crossfit, which was deadlift day. Deadlifts felt heavy as fuck, so I stopped at 140kg (308#) x 5. I managed a 100ft sandbag carry at 110kg  (242#) though, which is pretty cool. Also had a nice lunch with a colleague, and a physio call in the evening to agree the MRI.

 

Tuesday  was a good day. Art was a quick sketch of something at the aforementioned Pathfinder horror show. Which reminds me, I need to put a new colour of ink in my fountain pen to match my next character. Kneehab was done before my morning bike ride. Calories were high, as we had cheese and biscuits for dinner and I had a couple of beers at Pathfinder.

 

Wednesday was a good day. Art was not done, but Kneehab was done at Crossfit. My knee felt a bit weird doing squats at Crossfit, so I kept it medium weight at 90kg (198#) x 3, 80kg x 5, 75kg x 7. Then we had pistol squats, and I got to show off the results of a couple of months of kneehab exercises by busting out 5 reps of pistol squats in front of everyone. They were suitably impressed, which was vindicating. 

 

It was also a fairly busy day - I had a guy round to price up some carpets, booked in my MRI, spent a bunch of time on the phone to insurance trying (and failing) to get the MRI signed off after I'd booked it, and went to help my dad plant his tomato plants for the year. Dad was on quite good form, and was able to do a lot of the planting himself, which was good. Then bouldering, and home for a lovely pork paprikash cooked by WW.

 

Thursday was a good day. Art was some sketches of hats in front of the TV (yes, really). Kneehab was done at Crossfit, which was sandbag loads, power cleans, and wall balls.  After work I had quick call with a different physio, who needed to sign off on my MRI scan to get it covered by the insurance. Ended up staying at work quite late with all the faffing on insurance in the day, and then spent a bunch of time on a very easy, very scary bit of DIY: hanging a mirror. The mirror in question is 1.14m (3'9") across and quite expensive, so the moment when I hung it on two screws I'd stuck into our aging walls was a bit tense! So far it hasn't fallen off the wall, so I think we're ok. All that made dinner quite late, so WW whipped up some quick paneer burgers.

 

Yesterday was a good day. Art was a late night sketch of my feet (hey, it all counts!) whilst I was sat on the sofa watching Free Guy. I've never seen it before, but really enjoying it - it had a little more depth than I really expected from a silly-concept, Ryan Reynolds comedy. Kneehab was done at Crossfit, which I haven't written down but definitely included overhead press, bench press, and weighted chinups. Worked late again, and still didn't get everything done I wanted, but had to call it at a reasonable time so we could go to the supermarket. Ended up having a late night watching the film, which meant a lie in this morning.

[Kishi]

On 4/19/2024 at 7:47 AM, Jarric said:

So at the moment, physio exercises are:

 - single-leg, bent-leg calf raises - 1x20ish

 - single-leg squats, focusing on glute engagement, straight back, knees not tracking past toes - 1x12ish

 

Doing that every day is easy, I mostly do them betweent sets at the gym, and as it's only 1 set of each it doesn't take long if not. The call I had with a different physio to book the MRI suggested doing them less than daily (maybe 3x per week), but doing 3-5 sets. I haven't implemented that yet; would need to find a good way to fit it in.

 

Gotcha. It sounds like you're feeling better doing what you're doing, so I wouldn't want to present my advice as something to challenge what you're doing or to replace it or anything like that. Maybe just another optional approach, if you want:

• RE: the calf raises, I would suggest maybe doing a set of single-leg straight-leg calf raises of similar volume, since they apparently hit the calf muscle a bit different and a mix of these along with bent leg can have some therapeutic/bulletproofing effects. If you're comfortable, you can build up to doing these at a deficit too, so you do these over a longer range of motion. Or you can add weight to these. Or both.
• Also, I'd advise experimenting with tibial raises. Tibs work out to being a kind of balancing structure against the calves, and they're a stabilizer for sudden changes in running, like when you run up and have to gather your legs under yourself to spring. You could totally superset these with the calf raises: both movements will draw blood and metabolites to the affected regions and may promote healing over a long enough period of time.
• RE: the single-leg squats, I do pretty much the same thing right now. It's dope.  My approach has been to do them touchdown style off an elevated surface. At first, I had to use a stick to help deload the movement, and I would step down from a stair onto a yoga block. I'm now doing that without the stick. My next step from here is to play with height; if I can't go lower without pain even with assistance, then I'll be switching up to adding sets for a while at my present height. I dunno what yours look like yet; if you can do pistols, you're probably a lot stronger with these than I am, but hopefully this gives you something useful in terms of assistance and avoiding pain.
• If you're comfortable with it - if you can find a high enough surface and enough assistance - maybe try doing some split squats with an emphasis on driving the knee forward. Go up on the ball of that front foot. Get real deep into it. Again, though, physical comfort is key; if you can't do this without any kind of pain at all, it's not a good idea and you should avoid this tip.

On 4/19/2024 at 7:47 AM, Jarric said:

Doing that every day is easy, I mostly do them betweent sets at the gym, and as it's only 1 set of each it doesn't take long if not. The call I had with a different physio to book the MRI suggested doing them less than daily (maybe 3x per week), but doing 3-5 sets. I haven't implemented that yet; would need to find a good way to fit it in.

 

Yeah, as someone who's on a 3x per week approach, I can confirm that you're pretty much obligated to make the kneehab its own thing at that dosage. It's up to you. You'd definitely get more volume on 3x per week and 3-5 sets per exercise, but more is only better to a point, and past that it's... not. So, I dunno. I'd honestly say to give your present program 12 weeks or so and see if you feel better or worse. Unless something changes suddenly out of nowhere, there's no reason not to take what benefit you can while you can. You can always add volume later.

 

On 4/19/2024 at 7:47 AM, Jarric said:

I also decided last weekend to try and do some ankle exercises when I've got free evenings sat on the sofa - specifically these ones from GMB: https://gmb.io/feet/ . So far I've only done them twice, but it feels like even a couple of times per week they might be useful. I've also noticed that doing the ankle circles whilst weight bearing on the ball of my foot seems to aggravate the same area of my knee as running, which is interesting.

 

Yeah, I'd probably watch those weight-bearing ankle circles if I were you. I'd advise finding a ROM that doesn't aggravate your knee and just kind of hang around there for a bit. As you develop and remold those tissues, you should find that your pain-free ROM increases. That borderline isn't something to run away from, to be clear: it's something to run up to and push on so that it expands.

 

TL;DR, sounds like you're doing fine and you're in good hands. If you want to play more, there's stuff you can do. Just don't work to pain or through pain. Burning in the muscles and ligaments is good. But in the joint? No good.

[Sovalis]

I also enjoyed Free Guy more than I expected to. It was fun. 

 

Great update! Glad you are drawing!

[Jarric]

On 4/21/2024 at 6:36 AM, Kishi said:

 

Gotcha. It sounds like you're feeling better doing what you're doing, so I wouldn't want to present my advice as something to challenge what you're doing or to replace it or anything like that. Maybe just another optional approach, if you want:

• RE: the calf raises, I would suggest maybe doing a set of single-leg straight-leg calf raises of similar volume, since they apparently hit the calf muscle a bit different and a mix of these along with bent leg can have some therapeutic/bulletproofing effects. If you're comfortable, you can build up to doing these at a deficit too, so you do these over a longer range of motion. Or you can add weight to these. Or both.
• Also, I'd advise experimenting with tibial raises. Tibs work out to being a kind of balancing structure against the calves, and they're a stabilizer for sudden changes in running, like when you run up and have to gather your legs under yourself to spring. You could totally superset these with the calf raises: both movements will draw blood and metabolites to the affected regions and may promote healing over a long enough period of time.
• RE: the single-leg squats, I do pretty much the same thing right now. It's dope.  My approach has been to do them touchdown style off an elevated surface. At first, I had to use a stick to help deload the movement, and I would step down from a stair onto a yoga block. I'm now doing that without the stick. My next step from here is to play with height; if I can't go lower without pain even with assistance, then I'll be switching up to adding sets for a while at my present height. I dunno what yours look like yet; if you can do pistols, you're probably a lot stronger with these than I am, but hopefully this gives you something useful in terms of assistance and avoiding pain.
• If you're comfortable with it - if you can find a high enough surface and enough assistance - maybe try doing some split squats with an emphasis on driving the knee forward. Go up on the ball of that front foot. Get real deep into it. Again, though, physical comfort is key; if you can't do this without any kind of pain at all, it's not a good idea and you should avoid this tip.

 

Yeah, as someone who's on a 3x per week approach, I can confirm that you're pretty much obligated to make the kneehab its own thing at that dosage. It's up to you. You'd definitely get more volume on 3x per week and 3-5 sets per exercise, but more is only better to a point, and past that it's... not. So, I dunno. I'd honestly say to give your present program 12 weeks or so and see if you feel better or worse. Unless something changes suddenly out of nowhere, there's no reason not to take what benefit you can while you can. You can always add volume later.

 

 

Yeah, I'd probably watch those weight-bearing ankle circles if I were you. I'd advise finding a ROM that doesn't aggravate your knee and just kind of hang around there for a bit. As you develop and remold those tissues, you should find that your pain-free ROM increases. That borderline isn't something to run away from, to be clear: it's something to run up to and push on so that it expands.

 

TL;DR, sounds like you're doing fine and you're in good hands. If you want to play more, there's stuff you can do. Just don't work to pain or through pain. Burning in the muscles and ligaments is good. But in the joint? No good.

 

That's brilliant, thank you for the feedback. I'm definitely going to take that on board and incorporate some of it. At the moment what I'm doing feels a bit random (other than the daily physio exercises), so I think I'm going to play with it this week and next week. I have the MRI Thursday, hopefully get the results next week (when I'm also travelling for work), and I can then come up with a plan to start with more formally next challenge.

 

10 hours ago, Sovalis said:

I also enjoyed Free Guy more than I expected to. It was fun. 

 

Great update! Glad you are drawing!

 

Thank you! I'm glad to be drawing too. I'd like to be doing bigger pieces and spending more time on them, but sketching every day is a good habit too.

[ViperN7]

On 4/14/2024 at 12:33 PM, Jarric said:

I'm speaking to a consultant about my knee on Monday, so I want to get my thoughts in order about it beforehand. Figured I'd share it here whilst I'm writing it up, in case anyone has a brilliant idea. Spoilered for size

 

  Reveal hidden contents

The injury

I injured my knee 11 weeks ago, on 30th January. I was out on a run, and about 2 miles in I felt some discomfort in the knee. I decided to push on, but by 4 miles in it was too painful to continue and I ended up walking/limping the final 2 miles home. The knee hurt for a couple of days after that.

 

I've tried running every couple of weeks since, to see where I'm at, and every run becomes too painful to continue after 3-4 minutes. Last week (10th April) I tried to run and made it to 5 minutes 20 seconds, which is possibly progress or possibly just a good day.

 

Presentation of symptoms

Running causes acute pain within a few minutes, on the inside (left side within the joint) of the right knee. Aside from running, and walking immediately after a run, I am able to do everything pain free, including sitting, standing, walking, cycling barbell squats, single-legged squats, and deadlifts. Today (14th April) I went of a long hike to test that out, and found that after just over an hour of hiking (just under 4 miles) the knee started to hurt. I had another 4 miles to walk back, and over that time discovered:

• Prior to the pain occurring, I had been noticing increased fatigue/tightness in my right ankle and right calf
• Walking uphill increases the pain to acute, and downhill decreases the pain to a point where it can sometimes be ignored. Could this imply that moving out of greater ankle flexion is worse, and could the pain be caused by ankle tightness or calf stiffness?
• The pain is constant whilst walking, but if I really slow down it appears to occur on each step at about the point that my right foot leaves the ground.
• If I lock my leg, so that the knee doesn't bend at all, there is no pain.
• Walking backwards downhill reduces pain, despite the increased ankle flexion of doing so.
• 5 minutes of rest from walking granted about 30-60 seconds of pain free walking.

Treatment so far

I spoke to a virtual physio, who said it was likely a cartilage tear, gave me some exercises and said it should heal up in around 6 weeks. After a few weeks of no progress I was referred to an in-person physio, as I wanted to get a closer look, and also ensure that my running form wouldn't cause a reoccurrence of the injury once it had healed up. The second physio said it was likely weakness in my soleus/gastrocnemius causing me to overpronate, and prescribed calf exercises and single leg squats. I have been doing these daily (barring missed days) for 6 weeks.

 

What I want now

Really I want to understand what's going on that running causes pain but nothing else does. If the treatment is a case of not running for 6 months/1 year then so be it, I have running events in June and July but if I have to miss them there's not much that can be done. What I don't want to do is rest for a year and then find at the end of that period I'm no better than where I started - if I'm doing something for a long time I want to make sure it's the right thing. I also want to make sure that other things I'm doing, such as cycling or squats, aren't exacerbating the issue without my knowing. Finally, I want to know that my running form isn't going to re-injure me once I am healed.

 

Background - activity and previous issues

At the time of the injury I was running 3 times per week - two runs of 6-8 miles and one of 10-12 miles. I had actually reduced milage a few months earlier from when I was doing 4 runs per week, in order to focus on speed instead of distance, and that had been feeling really good.

 

2 years ago I had a separate issue with the right knee, but rather than acute pain during exercise this was constant discomfort throughout the day, which seemed to be exacerbated by running and squatting, particularly deep squats. I discovered that was caused by tightness in the right hip flexor, and foam rolling that hip flexor granted immediate relief.

 

I have also in the past suffered from snapping hip syndrome in my left hip (as a teenager, and again in my 20s when I took up running). I'm fairly sure that this is down to lack of activation in my left glute, causing me to instead use my left IT band and right QL. Glute activation exercises before running and heavy lifting seem to deal with this. 

 

How did the consultation go? 

 

This is not medical advice. I am not a doctor. Definitely talk to your physio.  But here's my two cents (do you say two pence?). 

You can investigate potential muscle involvement. How does it feel to massage or foam roll around your knee? For example: How's your soleus, your gastroc, everything that attaches on the inside of your knee (the adductors, inner hamstrings, etc?) How's your quads, especially your vastus medialis and rectus femoris? How does it feel to trace the gastroc down or the adductors, hamstrings, and quads up? 

If you don't know what they're supposed to feel like, you can compare to your left leg. 

That may give you more precise information about where the problem is  (and where to focus your efforts.) 

However, remember that having a muscle problem does not guarentee that that's the only problem. 

 

Also, how does it feel to jump in place? 

That may help you differentiate between high impact (shared with running and walking up inclines) versus particular movements or angles. 

 

Good luck! 

[Jarric]

On 4/23/2024 at 7:55 PM, ViperN7 said:

But here's my two cents (do you say two pence?). 

 

No, we say two cents usually, think we've taken the whole phrase from the states.

 

On 4/23/2024 at 7:55 PM, ViperN7 said:

How did the consultation go? 

 

It went fine thanks, it turned out to basically just be a formality to get ne referred for the MRI. The MRI itself was last night, so now just waiting on the results and hoping it shows something useful (or even just rules out a couple of things).

 

On 4/23/2024 at 7:55 PM, ViperN7 said:

You can investigate potential muscle involvement. How does it feel to massage or foam roll around your knee? For example: How's your soleus, your gastroc, everything that attaches on the inside of your knee (the adductors, inner hamstrings, etc?) How's your quads, especially your vastus medialis and rectus femoris? How does it feel to trace the gastroc down or the adductors, hamstrings, and quads up? 

If you don't know what they're supposed to feel like, you can compare to your left leg. 

That may give you more precise information about where the problem is  (and where to focus your efforts.) 

However, remember that having a muscle problem does not guarentee that that's the only problem. 

 

Also, how does it feel to jump in place? 

 

I might try and do this more formally at the weekend, but from what I've already noticed Ive got the following. Bear in mind that it's my right knee that's injured.

 

The left hip is generally tighter, particularly on the outside, I think caused by lack of glute activation on the left. I also get tightness in the right QL, I think likely related to the lazy left glute.

 

Range of motion is noticeably worse in the left ankle.

 

I get more tightness in the hip flexor on the front of the right hip, and this may be related to the actual problem as there's a hip flexor that runs over the front of the hip to the inside of the knee.

 

My physio noted that my calf raises looked weaker on the right, though I didn't notice much of a difference before he prescribed me calf exercises and I can't find any difference now.

 

Single leg squats are definitely weaker on the left, probably from the aforementioned lazy glute and tight hip flexors.

 

I haven't noticed any other differences between the two legs, and nothing hurts when I prod it. Nothing hurts when I do anything other than running or distance walking, although after my last hike I'm getting pain on shorter walks than before suggesting I've made it worse.

[Sea-to-sky]

37 minutes ago, Jarric said:

No, we say two cents usually, think we've taken the whole phrase from the states

Apparently we exported our version of it and then got the American/australian version back again. “Two-penny” or “Tuppence worth” or something similar is the old british version.

We use this version in our house, i got it from my grandfather. 
 

sorry to hear the leg issues are still plaguing you. Hope they improve for you over the summer. 

[Jarric]

On 4/26/2024 at 1:18 PM, Sea-to-sky said:

Apparently we exported our version of it and then got the American/australian version back again. “Two-penny” or “Tuppence worth” or something similar is the old british version.

We use this version in our house, i got it from my grandfather. 
 

sorry to hear the leg issues are still plaguing you. Hope they improve for you over the summer. 

 

Oo, that's interesting, I didn't know that!

 

And thank you. I'm sure it'll be better in time, I'm just hoping to have a bit more of a plan to deal with it soon.

[Mad Hatter]

On 4/26/2024 at 1:42 PM, Jarric said:

The left hip is generally tighter, particularly on the outside, I think caused by lack of glute activation on the left. I also get tightness in the right QL, I think likely related to the lazy left glute.

Perhaps, but that begs the question why it's "lazy" in the first place. One place to look is how you move in daily life, for example do you maybe sit asymmetrically, too long in the same posture, lean on one hip when standing? For example my QL sometimes gets extra tight when I spend hours reading on my side like an idiot and I also go to bed lying on my stomach with my leg hiked up and sometimes it causes weird hip pain/wonkiness. That aside, lazy is such a weird term to me, I mean if there's no signal why should a muscle put in work? If the body can solve the same problem in a different way is that wrong, or is it just the most efficient solution? 🤔

[Jarric]

On 4/29/2024 at 5:39 PM, Mad Hatter said:

Perhaps, but that begs the question why it's "lazy" in the first place. One place to look is how you move in daily life, for example do you maybe sit asymmetrically, too long in the same posture, lean on one hip when standing? For example my QL sometimes gets extra tight when I spend hours reading on my side like an idiot and I also go to bed lying on my stomach with my leg hiked up and sometimes it causes weird hip pain/wonkiness.

 

Sorry I've taken so long to reply to this - I've been thinking about the response quite a lot but it's not been a great week or so to actually log onto the forums.

 

Anyway, the hip issue is something I've had since I was a teenager - I hit puberty, my hips grew, and I had IT band issues. (It's much more common in teenage girls. but apparently my body didn't see my sex as a reason not to give me child-bearing hips.) The issue then went away for several years, and it was only when I started exercising in my mid-20s that I realised that the problem hadn't actually gone away, I'd just stopped doing any exercise. The hip thing is definitely exercise-induced, and only happens when I do certain exercises (running and squats really) without my glutes being properly engaged. 

 

On 4/29/2024 at 5:39 PM, Mad Hatter said:

That aside, lazy is such a weird term to me, I mean if there's no signal why should a muscle put in work? If the body can solve the same problem in a different way is that wrong, or is it just the most efficient solution? 🤔

 

I'm not generally a fan of using negative words, like lazy, to describe things my body does. I would generally say that it's not a very helpful thing to do, so I appreciate you calling me out on it.

 

With that said, the muscle isn't activating, and as a result other, smaller muscles are having to do the work of the glute in addition to their own work. So it's definitely not more efficient, it's less work for the glute itself but the body as a whole is working harder trying to do big jobs with small muscles. You are of course right that it's not the muscle at fault, but rather my ability to activate it, and knowing that it's activation that's the problem made it fairly easy to solve over time. In a similar way I'm now trying to learn to activate my pecs on bench press, rather than doing the entire lift with my traps  

[Jarric]

Challenge wrap-up

 

The cartographer

 

On 3/27/2024 at 3:06 PM, Jarric said:

The cartographer

 

Goal: Draw every day [+3 CHA]

 

This is the thing I did worst at last challenge, so it's getting special attention. I've still not cracked a regular drawing habit, so if anyone has any tips on getting to that or any idea where I can get more inspiration/accountability then please let me know. Ultimately I just want to get a pen or pencil in my hand for a few minutes every day.

 

Things I could draw (just so that I don't get stuck on the thinking about what to do stage, this gives me an easy list of options):

• High Rollers fan art
• My current Pathfinder party
• My players' D&D characters
• The adventuring party I use for these challenges
• Animal drawing exercises from the drawing book I have
• Calligraphy practice from the calligraphy book WW bought me
• Draw along with the Sketching Hour on CNE Games Twitch.
• Stuff in the Quentin Blake drawing book I've only just remembered I have
• I found a cool April character drawing challenge online (under the spoiler below)
• Whatever else takes my fancy

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

Score: 24/35 = 68.6% = +2 CHA

 

I'm not too disappointed with that result; I definitely did a lot more drawing than I would have done without this challenge. It's still not the regular habit I'd like, and I'm still not sure how to make it one, but as long as I'm doing a bit and I'm enjoying it that's all good. This will stay in next challenge.

 

On 3/27/2024 at 3:06 PM, Jarric said:

The muscle

 

Goal: do my kneehab™ exercises every day [+2 STR]

 

I buggered up my knee 8 weeks ago whilst out on a run, and it's pretty much no better now than it was then. I've been really good at sticking to the physio exercises for the last 3 weeks, because I'm doing them as part of my morning workouts and making them a priority, so I just need to continue with that.

 

I saw the physio today and he basically said this just needs more time, so I'm focussing what I can control (kneehab) and hoping the rest will take care of itself.

 

Score: 32/35 = 91.4% = +2 STR

 

I got very good at sticking to this, and got some good ideas for other things to try as well. I've now had the results of my MRI, which I'll talk about next challenge but are basically fairly minor. Next challenge the goal will stay, but will include an element of pushing harder with some dedicated workouts.

 

On 3/27/2024 at 3:06 PM, Jarric said:

Other stuff

I'll also be doing a lot of the usual stuff, I just won't be tracking it as part of this challenge to take some pressure off. That includes:

• I've signed up for the latest weight loss PvP, so I'll still be tracking calories daily and seeing if I can lose 11lbs in the next 12 weeks
• I'll be keeping my Duolingo streak alive (at 562 days currently) studying French and Dutch. I've also started playing with Lingopie for French.
• I'll be making an effort not to spend money most days, to build up some savings and stop frivolous spending
• I'll be going to the gym 4 times per week and climbing twice per week as ever, and I'm going to try and cement in the 3 times per week cycling in lieu of running
• Maybe clean the damn house occasionally?  At least enough for the boiler service and the new internet installation.

 

I actually started tracking my goals from Monday, even though I wasn't posting the challenge until today, so time to hit the ground (metaphorically) running.

 

So, about the other stuff:

• I started the challenge at 163.9lbs, and as of Monday of this zero week I'm 161.2lbs - not a huge weight loss in 5 weeks, but it's in the right direction.
• Duolingo streak hit 600 days today. I entirely forgot about Lingopie.
• I really need to re-do my personal budget, because I seem to be haemorrhaging money somewhere.
• The gym and climbing continue to go strong, subject to a few real life things interfering with the odd session. Cycling went less well, so it may form part of my kneehab goal next time round.
• Well we got the boiler services and new internet installed, but cleaning was still minimal. Electrical works and possibly a new carpet next challenge will make me do a touch more tidying.

Overall I'm reasonably happy with how the challenge went. It was just the kind of low-key challenge I needed, and I did an ok job of updating here (though it got worse as the weeks wore on), so I don't think I'll be putting much more pressure on myself for the next one.

[Mad Hatter]

12 hours ago, Jarric said:

I'm not generally a fan of using negative words, like lazy, to describe things my body does. I would generally say that it's not a very helpful thing to do, so I appreciate you calling me out on it.

 

With that said, the muscle isn't activating, and as a result other, smaller muscles are having to do the work of the glute in addition to their own work. So it's definitely not more efficient, it's less work for the glute itself but the body as a whole is working harder trying to do big jobs with small muscles. You are of course right that it's not the muscle at fault, but rather my ability to activate it, and knowing that it's activation that's the problem made it fairly easy to solve over time. In a similar way I'm now trying to learn to activate my pecs on bench press, rather than doing the entire lift with my traps  

Oh no please don't see it as me calling you out! If anything I'm calling out the industry. It's such a ubiquitous term I've also been nodding along thinking it makes sense until this moment. 

 

I'd argue that whatever that it is, or was at some point, more efficient in some way. Maybe muscle weakness, tightness, maybe to avoid pain, maybe some other thing. If your traps are ultra strong (hello climbing!) then the body will favor them to solve the bench press problem, rather than the measly pecs. Relearning how to lift is less efficient, in the short term. Bodies are very smart but also very stupid. They don't have a clue about bench presses or how to maximize them in the long term, or to activate the glutes when they can use the stabilizers just fine, thank you very much. 😄

 

11 hours ago, Jarric said:

I'm not too disappointed with that result; I definitely did a lot more drawing than I would have done without this challenge. 

That's really good for such a tricky habit to crack!

[Jarric]

8 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Oh no please don't see it as me calling you out! If anything I'm calling out the industry. It's such a ubiquitous term I've also been nodding along thinking it makes sense until this moment. 

 

I'd argue that whatever that it is, or was at some point, more efficient in some way. Maybe muscle weakness, tightness, maybe to avoid pain, maybe some other thing. If your traps are ultra strong (hello climbing!) then the body will favor them to solve the bench press problem, rather than the measly pecs. Relearning how to lift is less efficient, in the short term. Bodies are very smart but also very stupid. They don't have a clue about bench presses or how to maximize them in the long term, or to activate the glutes when they can use the stabilizers just fine, thank you very much. 😄

 

Yeah, that's a very good point - I guess if the muscles it's using are working, why try to use different ones? Thanks for the perspective.