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Flexibility Self Change Project Results

Adam — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 11:51:10 +0000

Before the program my daily exercise patterns contained little to no regular flexibility training. During the program I sustained four weeks of regular flexibility exercise excluding two missed days (see Figure 1 for a graph of the sessions). At the outset of the program I anticipated that more specialized settings for flexibility training such as the gym and yoga class would be the most influential factors. Over four weeks I only used the gym on one occasion and attended yoga class twice. In contrast, shorter workplace stretches and home workouts were far more numerous at 13 and 15 occasions respectively (see Table 1 for a complete record of the sessions).

The workouts were identified and recorded by location including: office, home, gym, or yoga. In practice those distinctions proved excessive as workouts were really were of three varieties: (a) 10 minutes of stretching that could be done anywhere without breaking a sweat (b) 30 minutes of more intentional stretching related exercise that included changing into looser fitting clothing and the use of a yoga mat or (c) 60 minutes of yoga class with basic yoga equipment and an instructor (see Table 1).

The first week total minutes aligned with the time investment I anticipated at three-four hours per week entering into the self-change project. Part of the time spent during the first week was wasted, as I had to keep referring to diagrams and lists of stretches that I hadn’t yet memorized. After the gym session on Tuesday of week one, I went for a short 25km ride on the bike and reported “feeling really good, with legs surprisingly loose and strong. I can’t help but wonder if it isn’t connected to the past two days of stretching”. I went into the first yoga class inspired by the first few days of success but was surprised by pain in my left wrist. I noted in the log “I might need to come up with an additional coping strategy if the pain persists next week.” I missed a Saturday session due to family commitments.

The second week saw a slight decrease in total duration but was marked by daily stretch exercise. This week involved four evenly distributed home stretch sessions, three office sessions, and the weekly yoga class. In the workout journal, following a 20-minute brief home session I commented, “This week has felt balanced. I have enjoyed each session and none of them has felt like a burden. I intentionally cut today’s home session short to remind myself that I am in control of the time. That control is important to me”. Suggestions from my yoga instructor and from a reply posted to my blog helped me manage my wrist pain more effectively.

The third week was the most difficult. I was traveling so no stretch program occurred on Monday. I did regain a few minutes of free time the following morning before breakfast. In the training log Tuesday March 2nd I recorded, “Phew, yesterday I didn’t have a moment of free time and was worried today would be the same. Fortunately breakfast isn’t until 8:30am. I should be able to manage 15-20 minutes for stretching each morning if I use my study breaks for the course well”.

Week four was characterized by a backlog of work because I had been away for four days the previous week. One of the coping strategies I had set-up was “do something, no matter how small, and it will be better than nothing”. I retreated to this strategy for four days in a row doing portions of the office stretch series as breaks. The qualitative reflection during this period was brief with sometimes only a word or two, “relief” appeared in the training log during that period as the stretching had become one of just a few study/work break options.

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Izu Cycling

Adam — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:45:25 +0000

After recently retiring my old pocket rocket, my new Bike Friday turned a week away into great training. I’m just finishing a week scuba diving with grade 10 on the Izu pennisula. It is a spectacular area with abundant marine life and amazing cycling. My daily morning ride was 53k past beaches and two mountains including Heikawa Pass and over 1000m vert gain. The downhills were equally engaging with sustained speeds in the high 60’s and maxed at 72.5kph. These photos were both taken outside of Ito on the way up the 8k snake of a climb to Heikawa pass at about 6am. Great fall memories!

This is some ideal cycling terrain - ocean and hills...yum

The road below is just a few hundred meters earlier of the same climb. I love Izu!

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more diving pics

Adam — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 06:59:12 +0000

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diving morning 2

Adam — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:24:36 +0000

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bike friday slowly coming together

Adam — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 10:22:36 +0000

i’m waiting for a package of components from the uk otherwise i’d be riding this already. the worst of it is the order i placed says “processing” not even “shipped”…

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new pocket rocket arrives

Adam — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:09:15 +0000

after waiting for a fewweeks for my custom new frame the shipping co. rolled up and dropped off this work of art. can’t wait for the rest of the components to arrive!

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My First UFO sighting with a picture to prove it

Adam — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 09:08:34 +0000

OK for all the skeptics and myth busters out there here is a picture with real UFO sighting caught on film. Other than putting this image into the panarama maker I have not altered it any way. The UFO is flying over the mountain on the right side of the image. They tried to abduct me into space but using the knowledge I gained from the “Worst Case Scenario” books I resisted mentally and poked one of them in the eyes when it tried to grab me. Any bets on what this really was? I’ll post a higher res jpg. of the UFO. Hint - It was an actual object.

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Panarama Shot from the Moonscape

Adam — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 09:00:27 +0000

I'm still having a great time with Panarama Maker 5. It seriously couldn't be easier to take a bunch of stills that you snap and combine them into a much more dramatic photo. This is another series of photos I took on Mt. Asama Sunday. This is about half-way up and I had been hiking for about 40min when I stopped to take these.

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Looking Down into Mt. Asama’s Crater

Adam — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 08:52:06 +0000

On the last day of my summer vacation I ran up Mt. Asama before breakfast to get my heart rate up and have a look around. With a broken spoke on my road bike trail running was about all I could do for the same level of intense climbing until I could get my bike to the shop to be repaired. Just before all my bike savvy friends insult me for not being able to fix something as simple as a spoke, Easton requires damages of this sort to be returned to the factory to re-center and balance the wheel. They are smooth as butter on the downhills so I'm happy to oblige on this one. Anyway here is a look down into the crater of the volcano near my in-laws vacation place in Nagano.

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Summit Shot on the Edge of the Crater

Adam — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 23:43:34 +0000

Good time getting to the top this morning. 1145m vert elev gain in approx 5k. Sustained effort in a volcanic moonscape.Happy times.

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