FH Fitness Thread

[Gumbo]

Been bouldering a bit over the last week or so. Helluva workout, really challenging and good fun too.

 

[Scouse]

Been bouldering a bit over the last week or so. Helluva workout, really challenging and good fun too.

Was thinking of joining a local climbing wall type thing with a mate. Would have been more fun than working out in a gym. But with the current numb fingerness that seems a bit daft

 

[TdC]

aye mate, having just read your post properly, you may want to have that looked at by a physio or specialist sports doc. I had a bout of CTS at the very beginning of my studies and it got bad to the point I couldn't drive because I couldn't grip my car's gear lever. being me I had done nothing about it for over half a year because I was hoping it would just go away. three weeks of physical therapy sorted me and I've been fine since.

 

[Scouse]

aye mate, having just read your post properly, you may want to have that looked at by a physio or specialist sports doc. I had a bout of CTS at the very beginning of my studies and it got bad to the point I couldn't drive because I couldn't grip my car's gear lever. being me I had done nothing about it for over half a year because I was hoping it would just go away. three weeks of physical therapy sorted me and I've been fine since.

Oh really? What did he have you doing? Got links to exercises?

I'll go to the doctors tomorrow but I'm interested anyway

 

[TdC]

Well the pain was all in my right hand. If I cupped my fingers or tried to make a fist I would get a pain like a nail was being driven in to my palm. The actual reason I was having that, it turned out, was that some nerve or tendon on the edge of my armpit -towards my back if you follow me- was greatly irritated.

What the physio had me doing at home was to grip a towel in my "good" arm's hand and dangle it down my back. When the CTS was at its worst, I could juuuust grip the towel by slipping my affected arm behind my back (about the level of my bum). Then I would grip and use my good arm to hoist my bad arm up until I couldn't take the pain any more. The first week this was like half an inch or so. Second week already over a foot and by the third week I had stopped doing it. Note I was also visiting the physical therapist three times a week for an hour's massage and thirty minutes of fun and games where the nice lady moved my arm for me. She said I was allowed to cry

 

[Scouse]

OK, you had it way worse than me.

May find myself a sports masseuse whilst I'm at it tho

 

[TdC]

tbh you inspire me to go have a finger looked at. I noticed that my left hand index is painful when I was doing up my laces this morning and it's actually been kind of a issue today: I alternate mousing between hands when at work and home to "spread the load". I did this during my studies and also when I game alot, like I am now with WOT. Work and home combined I'm on a PC up to (and sometimes over) 12 hours a day so my hands take quite a going over.

 

[Tom]

Just googled that. Looks like a right ballache.

Since the ride last week I've developed numbness and tingling at the ends of the thumb and fingers of my left hand. Think it's carpal tunnel. I was hoping it was going to go away, but...

That's simple overuse of your palm, lots of cyclists get it. Too much pressure, the cure is to rest it for a while, it'll go away. Get better gloves and consider raising your handlebars so you're not putting as much weight on your hands.

 

[Scouse]

That's simple overuse of your palm, lots of cyclists get it.

Nah, it's specific to the thumb through to the right hand side of the ring finger (palms down) - classic symptoms of where the median nerve's been over pressured - not the usual overuse numbness (that I've experienced). Could be a problem higher up tho (was carrying a *very* heavy bag on my back for 5 consecutive days).

But yep, am resting. Seat alignment has been changed (I'd angled it slightly forward as I'd been doing a lot of shorter rides with a lot of technical climbs and it makes that a little easier - but pitches your body forward so if you're not careful you can put too much weight on your hands). I've also developed a left achilles problem (which again I'm resting) simply because of overuse. I wasn't in top nick before the ride and have never carried that much weight before, never mind over such long distances.

But ta anyway

 

[Tom]

It might help if you got a proper bike, like me.

 

[Scouse]

It might help if you got a proper bike, like me.

To be fair, it's no more than I deserve for taking my beauty out of it's natural environs and onto tarmac

 

[Moriath]

Sometimes it can be from the constant vibrations like a pneumatic drill guy in the road. As i guess you had a lot of vibs through the handle bars than usual. Some thing like white finger. Iirc

 

[Scouse]

Sometimes it can be from the constant vibrations like a pneumatic drill guy in the road. As i guess you had a lot of vibs through the handle bars than usual. Some thing like white finger. Iirc

Nah. Tarmac is nice and smooth compared to rocky offloading (though I still left my suspension on). I think it was a function of the heavy pack more than anything.

 

[TdC]

a backpack will do all kinds of things to your biking body that you may not be used to. tbh if the feeling doesn't go away fairly quickly I would have it looked at.

also....perfect excuse to invest in some ace bike frame or saddle bags! result!

 

[TdC]

in other news...FTP power training yesterday. I didn't die, though I did sing "A horse with no name" by America for an hour and nine minutes 0_o

 

[Scouse]

also....perfect excuse to invest in some ace bike frame or saddle bags! result!

Already got a really great saddlebag from alpkit which my sleeping bag gets stuffed in:

Spoiler

But I am thinking of one of their custom made frame bags. I'll still carry gear in my Osprey but I'll try to keep it full of slightly lighter stuff rather than cram it in.

 

[Tom]

What's to stop the contents of such a frame bag settling and pushing the walls outward, into your legs?

 

[Scouse]

What's to stop the contents of such a frame bag settling and pushing the walls outward, into your legs?

Yeah, I thought that too, but they're generally pretty taught so there's not actually much bulge room. It'd be a non-starter if that happened, of course.

 

[Tom]

I think I'd rather just have panniers tbh. Not to mention crosswinds...

 

[Scouse]

I think I'd rather just have panniers tbh. Not to mention crosswinds...

Tried that (got some). They make offroading a non-starter. What if I want to go down this?

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzWyNYx_Z-w

 

[Tom]

Well for a start you shouldn't be riding across Mam Tor seeing as it's a footpath But providing the bags are properly designed I see no reason why you couldn't do it on a hardtail.

 

[Moriath]

So public footpaths. Are not supposed to have people cycle on them ?

 

[Scouse]

Well for a start you shouldn't be riding across Mam Tor seeing as it's a footpath But providing the bags are properly designed I see no reason why you couldn't do it on a hardtail.

Jacob's ladder tho.

Got myself an old man mountain rack - that'd probably hold up to some of the battering - but rutty singletrack? or rock drops? not to menion that panniers completely unweight a bike. No thank you sir

So public footpaths. Are not supposed to have people cycle on them ?

It's a bit cheeky. Should use bridleways.

 

[TdC]

I have a hardtail. I don't see the problem. Also that music makes me want to go outside and kill the first, second and fifth person I see.

 

[Tom]

Restrap Saddle Bag

 

[Scouse]

Restrap Saddle Bag

Got a yellow one of these - which is good for my sleeping bag and a couple of other things

I have a hardtail. I don't see the problem

I agree on the music - but panniers completely change the balance of the bike - and some of the stuff there is very steep (but go-pro'd into flatness) - and rocky and far too narrow. Panniers would be a hazard on some stuff (forest singletrack, rutty stuff).

Even on the flat I've found panniers a faff in the UK - so many cycle retarders to get through that you have to stop, get off and lift your bike over with panniers.

 

[TdC]

I don't do panniers when I'm about to fall off a mountain

 

[Gumbo]

To counter some of the cyclieness of this thread. I bouldered again last night for 3 hours. It is so intense, but so much to learn. It's a really friendly atmosphere where I go, and a fella approached me and my mate and offered one tiny piece of advice/adjustment as to how we were trying to do something. What had seemed impossible was suddenly really easy.

I'm thinking of booking onto a course that they run, to get some fundamentals really dialled in. It's so much more than just muscling yourself up a wall.

 

[Billargh]

I got complimented on getting bigger/more defined yesterday, I've only been to the gym once this year and I'm definitely putting weight on. All I do is play either football or basketball once a week.

 

[Exioce]

Found a gym while travelling this week. Small town in Germany, got directed to their "hardcore" section, as they called their free weights area.
Lots of bearded, roided up Teutons watching me as I get shown around.

I proceed to take plates off one end of a barbell on a squat rack, and the thing overbalances and crashes to the ground. Embarrassing...