Post-op report

Well, my vision isn't 100% yet. Still a little fluctuation and blurriness. But nothing really bad, I could drive.

The actual procedure itself wasn't all that bad, since I took two Valium before it I was quite relaxed. There are some weird sensations while they mess with your eyes, and something I wasn't expecting is I could smell smoke when they were zapping away.

They tell me it could take a few days to see the full effects, and I guess some people have taken weeks or months to see them.

As of right now I can see better than I did without glasses by a long shot, but not quite as good as I did with them yet. However, I'm not getting too worked up, it hasn't even been 24 hours since the surgery and they tell you this will happen.

I just think people have this idea that they will open there eyes after the surgery and be shocked with instant 20/10 vision in both eyes.

Eh, I'll be happy with 20/15 ;).

Oh and the really terrible part, no exercise for a week! And I can't do any stuff that could risk something going in my eye (like judo or wrestling) for, THREE weeks. Of all the things that come along with this surgery, that is going to be the hardest for me.

I'm going to really amp up the deep breathing exercises during this time, just so I do something, and nothing could speed up the healing process in a natural way better than deep breathing. Oxygen is good for you in case you hadn't heard.

Train smart,

RL

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZAP!

Oh boy oh boy, I'm starting to get excited. Let me tell you why.

Hopefully this weekend will be my last with glasses. After about 20 years of depending on them as a crutch I should be free of them on Monday.

Yes, I'm getting my eyes zapped.

It's exciting and a little nerve racking, but not really bad. I just started with all the pre-op eye drops today.

For someone like me whose all into training to achieve goals it has always bothered me there was really nothing I could do for my eyes. No longer! HA HA!

Once I'm able to see well enough to type I'll be giving you an update on how it went. Probably not until Tuesday. Until then, sweat much.

Train smart,

RL

Feeling bummed?

I read an article this morning about how exercise can be just as beneficial as drugs when treating depression.

No surprise to me. Nothing helps bring me out of a funk like a good workout. Plus the few times I was forced to rest due to an injury made me get really bummed. It's like I can actually feel the chemicals in my brain making me happy or not-so-happy.

Here's a little quote from the article:

"Exercise may also boost people's feelings of self-efficacy and promote positive thinking. Some experts speculate that group exercise, with its social aspect, may have added benefits."

All good stuff.

There's nothing exercise can't help! At least in my world.

So if you're feeling bummed. Try a good sweat before you reach for the antidepressants.

Train smart,

RL

Another one.

Here's another one I can add to my collection of ground-breaking, earth-shattering studies. Who would have thought this was the case?

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Being Overweight is Hard on the Heart

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 12 (HealthDay News) -- A new study involving more than 300,000 people finds that being overweight independently increases a person's risk of coronary disease.

In other words, even if doctors could get an overweight person's blood pressure and cholesterol down to normal, that patient would still be at higher heart risk.

The Dutch analysis involved data from 21 previous studies that included more than 302,000 people.

Of those people, 18,000 suffered heart events or deaths during the studies. After factoring in age, sex, physical activity levels and smoking, the team concluded that moderately overweight people had a 32 percent increased risk of heart disease and obese people an 81 percent increased risk compared to those who weren't overweight.

The researchers, from the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, in Bilthoven, The Netherlands, then adjusted further for blood pressure and cholesterol levels. They found that this reduced the increased risk of heart disease among moderately overweight people to 17 percent, and to 49 percent for obese people.

Before adjusting for blood pressure and cholesterol, every five units of body mass index (BMI) increase was associated with a 29 percent increased risk for heart disease. After adjusting for blood pressure and cholesterol, there was still a 16 percent increased risk for every five units of BMI increase.

"Hence, the present study indicates that adverse effects of overweight on blood pressure and cholesterol levels could account for about 45 percent of the increased risk of coronary heart disease, and that there is still a significantly increased risk of coronary heart disease that is independent of these effects," wrote the study authors.

"This implies that, even under the theoretical scenario that optimal treatment would be available against hypertension and hypercholesterolemia in overweight persons, they would still have an elevated risk of coronary heart disease," the researchers say.

The study was published in the Sept. 10 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

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Amazing discovery isn't it?

Train smart,

RL

Don't break down here!

Looks like we're all back up on the bulletin's website. So now life can go on.

I was driving on the highway this morning while I was making my rounds and I passed a prison. There's that sign on the highway telling you not to stop in this area. But there was a van with what looked like a broken axle right in front of the prison. Suspicious? Or just bad luck? Probably just bad luck.

Made me think about how we can't always control what happens to us. I bet the driver of that van didn't want to break down there, regardless of what that road sign said.

Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches. You have to make things work.

So how do we apply this principle to fitness? Well, you can probably see where this is going. You can't make excuses about why you can't exercise. You just have to make it work. That's the big secret. All those people who you wonder, "how do they do it?" the answer is, they just do.

Most people hate hearing that. They want the secret answer. But there isn't one. Just make it work people. Find a way to get that exercise in.

Train smart,

RL

Still wondering...

Still no luck in figuring out what's going on with the Norwich Bulletin.

This has sort of sucked the wind from my sails a little in terms of posting this blog everyday. I don't even know if anyone is reading this since the link is gone.

So I guess I need to know if anyone is out there, and if anyone from the bulletin is reading this, let me know what is going on.

Train smart,

RL

Sprained

Turns out my daughter's ankle is just sprained. Good news. No more crutches, and back to school she goes tomorrow.

So today is a good day.

For some reason it appears the link to this blog has been taken off of the Norwich Bulletin's website. And it also seems impossible to contact them from there contact page as well. So I'm not sure what's going on.

Hopefully I'll have some answers tomorrow. I have been writing this blog every weekday for over a year. With very few missed days. So i can't see why they would have a reason to take me down while leaving some of the other's up who post much more infrequently.

So anyway, I'll get to the bottom of it hopefully.

Until then, work hard, sweat much, and grow to your potential.

Train smart,

RL

Toughness

You can never under estimate the power of your mind. There have been several times when I've been in the middle of a workout, something I had never done before, when I suddenly feel it, my body wants to quit. But my mind says, "no."

This is how you build mental toughness. Some people think you can train toughness, that you either have it or not. I'm of the opinion you can grow it just like any other muscle.

Using your mind to push you body farther and harder than you thought possible is an amazing thing. You'll learn a lot about yourself.

Now this of course is not something you should do every day, but once or twice a week is good. Try something new and challenging, get to the point where you want to quit, but don't.

I usually like to do 2 to 3 times as much once I feel the want to quit. FOr example if you want to quit after 10 push ups make yourself do 20-30, preferably 30.

Grow your toughness.

Train smart,

RL

Cool article

This is a really cool article.

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Exercise may generate new blood vessels
By MARIA CHENG

VIENNA, Austria - Having a bad heart doesn't mean you can skip exercise, doctors said Wednesday. In fact, it may even help your heart to repair itself. Research presented at the European Society of Cardiology meeting showed that exercise sparks the creation of new heart vessels.

In a small study of 37 people at Leipzig University in Germany, Dr. Robert Hollriegel found that people with serious heart failure who rode a bike for up to 30 minutes a day for four months produced new stem cells in their bones.

They also had more small blood vessels in their muscles. Those who didn't exercise had no change in their vessels or muscles.

Most patients with heart failure are over 70 years old, and some can barely walk a few steps without stopping for rest. Doctors think that even these patients would benefit from light exercise such as walking or cycling. To ensure that patients will be able to handle a certain level of physical activity, doctors conduct a test first to determine their maximum limits and to ensure they would not be exceeded. Some exercise regimens also are supervised by health professionals.

"We're not talking about patients with acute heart problems," said Dr. John Cleland, a heart failure specialist at the University of Hull in Britain who is spokesman for the European Society of Cardiology. Cleland was not involved in Hollriegel's research.

"This is to prevent people from getting into a cycle of deterioration where they're afraid to exercise and they just avoid any activity that leaves them out of breath," he said.

Physical activity strains the heart's arteries and muscles by sending 10 times the normal amount of blood to the muscles being used. Stem cells then are dispatched to relieve this stress and may repair any damaged parts. If you continue to exercise, these stem cells help the body adapt to the stress, by building new blood vessels and strengthening muscles. But to maintain such benefits, you must exercise regularly.

Cleland said that people with heart failure should exercise to a state where they're breathless at least once a day. Pushing the limits of their heart's capabilities should help make it stronger.

"People think that if they have heart failure, then they're at the end of the road and they can't exercise," said Dr. Freek Verheugt, a cardiologist at the University of Nymegen in the Netherlands. "But this study shows that exercise can work to produce new blood vessels, even in patients with serious heart disease."

Because no drugs exist to produce new stem cells, exercise may be the only method for some patients to rebuild their hearts.

"We are not saying that patients should run marathons, but there is no other way to augment your arteries," said Dr. Francois Carre of Rennes University Hospital in France. "Patients have to exercise if they want that."

Previous studies have shown that people who do physical therapy after a heart attack live longer than those who don't. Experimental studies in rats have also suggested that exercise can even be more effective than statins, drugs that are commonly used to treat heart disease.

Though doctors routinely recommend that patients exercise, it is not an actual treatment. Carre thinks that should change. "We need to write patients prescriptions to exercise the same way we write prescriptions for drugs," he said.

"People have been trying for years to create a polypill to treat many different parts of heart disease," Carre said. "But that already exists. It's exercise."

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Train smart,

RL

Stupid trampoline

I spent a big chunk of my afternoon in the emergency room with my daughter. We were having a bit too much fun on the trampoline and she ended up breaking her litttle innocent 4-year old ankle. I was surprised it was an actual fracture because when it happened it didn't seem that bad. I've never even had a broken bone before, she's only 4 and has already got that out of the way.

She has these little cute crutches that she is just figuring how to use.

Needless to say I haven't really given much thought as to what to post on here today.

So let me just leave you with another one of my favorite quotes for today,...

"Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."
-Sir Winston Churchill

Even if the enemy is a trampoline.

Train smart,

RL