Remedies for Leg Pain and Tightness

Leg muscle tension and tightness comes in many forms. It can be pain that radiats down your buttocks, through your hamstrings in the back of your leg, down through your calf, and maybe even to your ankle through your foot. Or, maybe it's tightness around the knee, ankle, or hip from muscles being tight and you're unable to get them to release.

It's common even when you're consistent with stretching before and after workouts, especially if you're pushing trying to increase your mileage as a runner or bicyclist. Or, maybe, you're changing workouts to one that involves more jumping or hopping type motions, or even just adding more squats to your routine.

A sharp distinctive pain that comes on quickly during a workout and that doesn't go away after a few minutes, but instead gets sharper and starts hindering your full range of motion is likely a sign that you need to go ahead and stop what you're doing before actually injuring the muscle or tendon.

I've pulled my soleus muscle in my calf where it attaches to the tibia when trying to up my running miles and instead of stopping and resting my legs, I tried to continue to run on it for a week. So, what might've been a shorter injury instead put me out of commission for 6 weeks.

Just stop doing the motion that is causing you increasing sharp pain. Icing immediately with one of those gel icepacks will a lot of times alleviate the swelling and inflammation affecting that muscle or the muscles around a joint. And then rest for a few days until the pain stops.

Sometimes an injury can end up affecting the whole leg because it changes your gait as you're limping around. If you're unable to get the tightness of the seized muscle to release, then you might try alternating between those hot and cold packs that they sell at pharmacies.

Usually gentle stretching at this point doesn't really help when the whole leg is involved. If you're into foam rolling then that would be very useful, a professional massage is also a good option. What I like to do is use one of those electric massagers with the long handle and the two paddles on the head that alternate pounding at you, and massage the muscles of the whole leg myself, including the hip flexors, buttocks, and especially the calves. This way you can control how the massager is working around the sore muscle because you're trying to get the surrounding area to release as well. DO NOT massage an actual joint, instead massage the muscles that are tight.

Either way, you'll probably have to rest and not exercise for a while, or at least switch to a low impact workout that doesn't involve moving or flexing the injured area. And go to a doctor is you think it's a serious injury, but hopefully you didn't let it get to that point.

Things you can do to keep it from happening again, increase your workouts and workout intensity gradually, stretch before and after working out, and use an electric massager at the end of the day when your muscles are still feeling tight.

It's normal to be sore, a little achy, or have some muscle tightness, but sharp pain is something you want to take care of before it gets worse. If you have an injury that keeps occurring over and over, you might want to look at your body mechanics. Are your feet turned too inward or too outward, are your feet too far apart or too close together, is one leg a lot shorter than the other, so you might need insoles for that one foot? Just look at your form when you're exercising and see if there's anything you might need to fix.

Stress, the Toll It Takes on Our Lives and What We Can Do to Mediate Its Affects.

I want to talk about stress and the toll it takes on the body and the mind. How stress can affect every aspect of our lives and in the end even damage our organs.

My focus when it comes to health, diet, and exercise is always on longevity. Living a longer healthier life. The main reason for this is because my husband and I had a child very late in life and we truly want to be there for him, at least until he is grown and can take care of himself. What brought this to the forefront of our minds and really crystallized it for us was a health scare my husband had a couple years ago. Where my husband had to be hospitalized twice one summer with the first time having to have emergency surgery.

I found the stress my body endured from being unhealthy and inactive was mentally stressful. I, also, worried constantly about my husband’s health. I worried about him having an aspiration event from vomiting in his sleep, and I worried about the few seconds when he would stop breathing in his sleep.

Yes, our lifestyle at the time was very detrimental to our health, but the mental stress and worry from it, also took its toll.

I had to stop thinking of food as being pleasure based, instead it is a tool, a means to fuel activity and gain mental clarity. Yes, food can bring me joy, but it can also make me feel terrible physically as well as mentally. What did it mean when my hips or knees hurt going up the stairs, when I got winded by doing minimal physical activity, or I couldn’t even bend over because my belly got in the way? I was unhappy with myself and what my life had become.

I had to stop using food as a cure for my unhappiness. The moment of pleasure that I derived from eating something unhealthy wasn’t going to help make me happier. All the compounded stress from being unhealthy and the worry that came from living that way, in the end it just hurt me.

It is well documented that stress hormones can have a disastrous effect on the immune system through its action on the endocrine system. It can make us more susceptible to infections with greater viral loads found in blood plasma of stressed individuals, it can have a negative effect on wound healing, and it increase inflammation within the body which can accelerate diseases associated with old age. And the act of sitting all day in and of itself, is incredibly stressful on the body.

One of the things I do to manage my stress levels is exercise. Working up a sweat is a great way to get out of my head and just exist in my body. And if my body feels achy or sore, I exercise to warm up and loosen those tight muscles. It’s a good stress reliever during this time of pandemic, especially if you can find something physical that you really enjoy doing. I’m actually one of those people that changes their at home workouts regularly. I might do weightlifting kettlebell type exercises 3 times a week for three months with regular aerobics. Or, I’ll do bodyweight exercises intermixed with HIIT workouts for a couple months. Sometimes I’ll just run for a couple months, or do dance aerobics or kickboxing for a few months.

Going outside to enjoy the sunshine or even to experience a rainy day is good way be out in the world while social distancing. It can be as simple as sitting on your front step while drinking some coffee or picnicking in your backyard. Now that it’s warmed up and headed into spring, I’ve started gardening. Raising some lettuce, herbs, snap beans, etc. My brother grows all his vegetables in pots since he lives at a very high altitude where their summers are much cooler.

But the most important thing I do for stress and my general wellbeing, is eat right. I eat as healthy as possible because I know I’m not getting enough sleep and I have a lot of work related stress. Fresh fruit, dried fruit, lots of vegetables, salads, seed and nut filled homemade bread, homemade yogurt with hemp seeds and muesli, and overnight oats with chia seeds and fruit. Sure I’ll eat a couple cookies most days or the occasional pizza or hamburger, but I just make sure the majority of the food I take into my body is as nutrient dense as possible. Instead of getting French fries, I’ll eat a salad with the hamburger or a giant salad as an accompaniment to the pizza. Each meal is a chance to make a good choice for my health.

References:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/much-sitting-linked-heart-disease-diabetes-premature-death-201501227618
http://www.discoverymedicine.com/Ronald-Glaser/2009/07/18/stress-damages-immune-system-and-health/
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/expert-answers/sitting/faq-20058005
https://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/press/press-releases/2012/october/new-study-finds-that-sitting-for-protracted-periods-increases-the-risk-of-diabetes-heart-disease-and-death

Exercise For Stress Relief

I hope everyone is doing okay while in the process of self isolating and practicing social distancing.

It's definitely been a thing. The added stress of being in a strange situation while being trapped at home where the outcome is still to be decided, it can be too much. So I wanted to throw it out there that physical exertion can be an effective way to get out of your head. Exercise can be a good outlet for anxiety with the added benefit of helping you sleep.

Start out easy. Grab that jump rope that's been collecting dust. Follow along to some videos on YouTube. If you have a elliptical or treadmill, now is the time to break it out. It can be even simpler than that though, just start doing those exercises you did in P.E. when you were in middle school or high school. A few jumping jacks, squats, reverse lunges, pushups, and crunches and you'll have yourself a good workout. Just get your heartrate up and sweat a little.

Here's a couple videos I've been doing in March. I've been doing them one after the other to get a hour long workout:

A good 10 minute bodyweight workout. The six year old does this with me.

Fast paced low impact aerobics with great arm work.

I've stopped doing stairs at work since we're supposed to be avoiding close contact with other humans. And of course our gym is closed, so we picked up a used treadmill on Craigslist that needed work done on it. Works great now and we started using it this weekend.

Daily Workout, 3/3/20

Cardio
30 minutes stair sprints
45 minutes aerobics

Meals
Breakfast: 3/4 cup yogurt with 1 tsp hemp seeds. 1/2 cup oats with 1/2 cup almond milk, 1 tsp honey, 1 tbsp chia seeds, strawberry, and dried coconut.

Lunch: 1.5 cups spaghetti with zucchini, peppers, onion, mushrooms, and tofu

Dinner: 2 cups chicken vegetable soup with mushroom ravioli

Daily Workout, 3/2/20

Cardio
30 minutes stair running

Strength Training
Kettlebell 15 pounder:
36 deadlifts
36 kettlebell swings
30 renegade rows
72 single leg deadlifts
36 single leg/single arm to upright rows
36 boat crunches
36 Russian twists

Meals
Breakfast: 3/4 cup yogurt with 1 tsp hemp seeds. 1/2 cup oats with 1/2 cup almond milk, 1 tsp honey, 1 tbsp chia seeds, strawberry, and dried coconut.

Lunch: 1.5 cups spaghetti with zucchini, peppers, onion, mushrooms, and tofu

Dinner: 2 cups chicken vegetable soup with mushroom ravioli

Mini Goal: Lose 20 Pounds by June

My family is having a little family reunion for a nephew's graduation, so I thought it would be fun to time a weight loss goal with the event.

The idea is to lose 20 pounds in three months. That's close to 6.5 pounds a month which should be doable. I would still be 10 pounds away from my ultimate weight goal, but would be close enough to make me very happy in terms of success.

Diet thoughts: I'll need to double down on my nutrition which I've been very lax about this month. Back to calorie counting and making sure I have the right calories and macro ratios for fat loss, while keeping energy levels high enough for intense workouts.

I'll be doing a cutting diet, which is what weight lifters do to get lean and lose as much fat as possible while trying to maintain muscle mass. The macro ratio I'm going for is one gram of protein for pound of bodyweight, one gram of carbs for pound of bodyweight, and 0.25 gram of fat for pound of bodyweight. Within the context of my macros, I'll be aiming for 1400 calories a day but one day a week I'll go up to my maintenance calorie level of 1800 calories (probably on my rest day).

Exercise thoughts: I'm going to try to workout 60 to 90 minutes a day with one day of rest, so at least an hour a day for six days a week.

3 days a week, I'll do a 20 minute full body weight training routine, followed by 40 minutes of cardio. The other 3 days of the week, I'll do 30 minutes of stair sprints and an hour of cardio later in the day.

For the Love of Kettlebell

I had no idea kettlebells were so awesome. Man, I was missing out. They are incredibly fun and so different then strength training with dumbbells are barbells. Who knew?

Mid-December, I was debating about going out and getting some dumbbells just to get some variation for strength training, rather than just doing bodyweight exercises all the time. But I have a young kid who is very curious and likely to hurt themselves if we had dumbbells around the house. I looked it up and soft kettlebells exist. Amazing.

I started out with a ten pound kettlebell, but decided after the second week it was too light. So, got a fifteen pounder which has been magical. Feel the burn. They do make 5 pound kettlebells in the hard version if you want something lighter.

This is the kettlebell I got, not an endorsement or anything. It's the only one I could find at a local store so I could feel get a feel for it. I have little hands so I wear fingerless lifting gloves to help with gripping.

I work out with the kettlebell 3 days a week instead of doing bodyweight exercises. I usually do my kettlebell routine right before a longer cardio workout. Although, sometimes I'll do it at the end of the night but I then make sure to follow it with some good stretching.

If you're new to strength training and are sore after the very first day you start training with weights, I would make sure to workout the very next day with some cardio. Just anything that will get your heart pumping like aerobics or jumping rope, to get blood moving through your muscles and help with muscle repair. And then do some good stretching afterwards.

Here's some fun kettlebell workouts that I've been doing:

Quick Kettlebell Routine with good direction on form.

Raw Full Body Kettlebell Workout

Full Body Kettlebell Routine (my current favorite)

Very Effective Stretching Routine with great direction

Adding Strength Training to Your Workouts

Adding more strength training to your workout routine can be as simple as doing a few bodyweight exercises like pushups and tricep dips. Focusing on strength exercises for the arms and back seems intuitive for me personally, since I mostly do high impact cardio to begin with which already works the legs.

I alternate and do one set of pushups and then one set of tricep dips on the floor for two sets of 25 repetitions each. For a total of 50 pushups and 50 tricep dips. If you can't do 25 reps at a time, then start at a number you can do while still having good form, still alternate between pushups and tricep dips, but increase the number of sets or the number of reps over time.

Once you're doing so many pushups and tricep dips in a row that you're getting bored, you can do harder variations of those exercises by using a stable coffee table or chair to put your feet on for pushups or hold onto with your hands for tricep dips.

In November and December, I stopped doing two a days and just worked out longer by adding bodyweight and abdominal exercises, or HIIT routines to the end of my cardio workouts. I, also, dropped down to only working out 4-5 days a week since I was busy with holiday activities.

Different workouts I did in November and December:

Fast Paced Aerobics

Fast Paced Aerobics

Low Impact Aerobics

Low Impact Aerobics

Step Aerobics (yeah, that's Cher)

HIIT

HIIT

Memes That Perfectly Express My Weight Loss Journey

I've been on the never ending diet the past two years. This one still manages to make me laugh.

This one fits as well.

Getting Through the Holiday Season While Working Out and Dieting

Ah, November and December, where months are spent celebrating and being merry and the time of year when diets go completely off the rails. It’s a difficult time to keep to our diet and exercise goals, but there are a few changes a person can make so we can get through the long holiday season relatively unscathed. Because it would be nice to not completely blow all our health and weight loss goals, especially if you’ve made some great gains the previous year.

One of the things I started doing in November was food prepping. It can be a difficult thing to get into. There’s a lot of planning, shopping, and cooking that a person has to do, but it makes it a lot easier to just eat what’s in the fridge rather than the temptations that are everywhere during the holidays. Heavy rich foods that tempt even the most stalwart of us because “it’s just the holidays, anyways” can be a convincing excuse.

Meal prepping involves preparing all the food in a single day that a person needs for the next 5 days. I actually make yogurt (for me) and bread (for my spouse) one day, then the next day I make food for our meals so it was kind of split into two days. So yeah, both my days off during the week are spent cooking.

In general I don’t eat baked goods, deserts, or ice-cream as part of my weight loss regimen. Oh, how I miss you ice-cream. But during this time of year, I’m extra disciplined about not snacking at night.

Breakfast was ¾ cup homemade yogurt with a teaspoon of granola and a teaspoon of hemp hearts, and ½ cup of oats with ½ a cup of plain almond milk and berries for overnight oats. Lunch was hummus with carrots and celery, or tomato and mushroom omelet over rice with steamed vegetables. Dinner were such things as ginger chicken over rice with a large serving of steamed cabbage, or stir fried beef with peppers over rice. For dinners, I just made sure to practice excellent portion control and included extra servings of steamed vegetables with each meal like broccoli, cabbage, or cauliflower, when I prepped my meals into those black meal prep containers (I prefer the two split compartment ones). You don’t even have to order the containers online anymore, they sale large stacks of them at Walmart for reasonable prices.

Being so regimented with eating the majority of the month gave me the freedom to have those indulgences on days when treats were all around at work, or the week after Thanksgiving or Christmas when delicious high calorie leftovers were everywhere.

By New Year’s Eve I had only gained two pounds while still being able to feel like I got to enjoy the holiday season with plenty of indulgences.

Double Workouts or Two A Days

Back in September I posted how I was considering doubling workouts or doing two a days. I did end up adding a second workout 2 or 3 days a week, to the aerobic YouTube video that is pretty much standing ab workout that I did everyday. So for September and October I did a forty-five minute aerobic workout 7 days a week, plus HIIT/Tabata/strength exercises 2-3 days a week. And I did my usual gym routine once in a while.

The aerobic workouts were completely low impact, you're barely shuffling your legs around for 95% of the video, but it works your core the entire time. After the first two times I did the workout my husband said, "I think I can actually see changes from your workout in just a couple of days."

But after the first two weeks of doing 9 or 10 workouts a week he was shocked. "That workout is completely transformative. It has transformed your body. I can see it in your back and your core."

I wasn't dieting or counting calories at that time, so my energy level was up. I felt great doing the extra workouts, and on top of that I was eating super healthy and eating plenty of food. Breakfast was typically summer rolls with shrimp and pork, and fruit and berries. Lunch was usually stir-fry with rice or a curried udon noodle dish with vegetables and tofu. Dinner was a free for all depending on whether it was my husband or I cooking. I just made sure to eat a little protein with every meal.

I didn't miss any workouts in September and October. The routine was fresh and new and I super enjoyed what I was doing, so it didn't really feel like an effort to get through the daily workouts.

I lost lots of fat in my back, stomach, and arms, they got noticeably smaller. Legs stayed the same since I ran a lot before this and they were already strong, but I did notice I no longer got side cramps at all. Probably due to building up core strength to a great extant.

Here's a list of those workouts I was doing in September and October:

Low Impact Aerobics (This was my go to daily workout)

For the workouts below, I did 4 videos 2-3 times a week plus a stretching video. So, about a 20 minute workout.

Cardio Blast

HIIT

HIIT

Strength Training (I used a 10 pound medicine ball.)

Tabata

Tabata

Tabata

Fast Paced Tabata