Tag: resistance

Shoulder Exercises – Bad

On By Michel McDonaldIn ExerciseLeave a comment

Well I thought that working my shoulder muscles on my home gym was going to help my shoulder but it’s only making it worse.  The first couple of days I was doing it my shoulder started feeling better.  I was already making plans to go bike riding after a week hoping that this would fix the problem and I’d be back to normal.

I was only doing 4 out of those 6 exercises and only doing 10 reps of each and I’m not using that much weight.  My weider home gym works by the height that you have it set to.  If you have it set real low then you aren’t use any weight at all but if you have it set at its highest point then you are using all of your weight and probably then some.  And if you use the bungees at the bottom you are adding more resistance.  I was only doing it 1/4 high.  I don’t know exactly how much weight that is because they didn’t give me a chart on how to calculate how much weight I’m lifting but I can only assume that I’m only using 1/4 of my weight which would be 60lbs.

I also stopped the cold/heat because I believe it was causing problems with my left arm.  For the last week I was using cold/heat the pain was going down my left arm and it was almost at my hand so by stopping the cold/heat the pain actually went away in my arm.  It was going away from my back too and I thought that perhaps it was due to me using the gym.  Perhaps it was a combination of both.  Maybe stopping cold/heat and starting the gym.  Maybe I should’ve stopped the cold/heat for a few days then started up again and maybe I should’ve only used the gym once per day instead of 2-3 times per day.

Whatever the reason the pain is coming back for is beyond me.  I just know I can’t suffer anymore.  I am suffering and I am tired of it.  I can’t work, I can’t lay on my left side, I can’t ride my bike, I can’t really do anything at all that involves breathing lol.

Testosterone Overdose

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, ExerciseLeave a comment

I don’t know what’s going on but all of a sudden it’s almost like I got an overdose of testosterone from all the bike riding I’ve been doing.  It’s like all this energy is inside me now.

That rear bike rack that I got for my birthday wasn’t the right size but I figured out how to make it the right size by rigging it to the seat and using old brakes to screw it into the frame at the bottom.  Today I went to the store and could hear it creaking where I attached it to the seat post so I drilled a hole into the seat post and put a screw in there to make it more stable.

bikescrewpost

I also finally thought of a way to get the bar on my home gym back on.  When I got it (it’s a Weider Total Body Works 5000) that little plastic thing at the bottom (you see it in the picture from that link) which holds the bungee cords, the screws snapped off of it, when?  I have no idea.  It was loose in the box.  I didn’t send it back because I bought it from Wal*mart’s website and it was shipped to me.  So I didn’t want to pay for shipping just to get that replaced so I just left it.

So I was sitting here and I got a brain storm.  What if I use the Dremel tool to cut into the screws where they snapped off at the bar so that I can use a flat head screwdriver to unscrew them and take them out and finally get that plastic bungee cord holder back into place.  So I did and it worked.  OMG!!!  Finally!  I’ve had that thing for a couple of years now and it always put a bad taste in my mouth that I couldn’t use those bungee cords to add more resistance because I didn’t want to have to keep raising and lowering the darn thing, it’s too heavy to have to do that.  It would be easier to use the bungees which is why they put them in there in the first place.

So now I can.  Boy, I feel so butch these days lol.

Bike Wash

On By Michel McDonaldIn BikeLeave a comment

I decided that today I would wash my bike.  When I was at the store I bought some Dawn dish soap because it’s better at cutting grease than any other soap that I’ve used.  So I put some in a big bowl and grabbed a cleaning brush, it looks like a very very big tooth brush but it’s not.

I scrubbed and scrubbed every thing that was dirty and then I put some WD-40 on it so it wouldn’t give me any problems.  Then after that I started screwing everything that I thought needs to be screwed.

I do need some new peddles though.  The right pedal is breaking so it’s going to be no good soon and I won’t be able to ride it at all until I get some new ones.  The peddles that came with it are hard plastic so you have to expect that.  I’m going to get some metal ones that look the same but aren’t plastic.  And the reflectors keep slipping out of the right one too so that could pose problems.  Good thing I don’t ride at night.

I also adjusted the generator for the lights so it’s not on the top of the tire which provides more resistance when I’m riding.  I made it so it touches the metal wheel instead.  That’s actually the way it’s supposed to be but the directions said I could put it on either way.  I just never changed it until now.

Delivery

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

I was supposed to get a package this morning and the driver rang the doorbell but the batteries in our doorbell are dead or dying so we didn’t hear it.  They left a note saying they showed up but there was no answer and so I got a call from my pharmacy who delivered the package saying that they will call the delivery company about a 2nd attempt.  They called me back saying that I’d have to wait until 5pm.  I told them that the delivery company will have to bang on the metal door and I can’t count on Darrin being awake to get it for me so I gotta stay home until they show up.

I just hope they come before too long because I can’t ride my bike if the sun starts to go down because I don’t like riding it at night.  First of all the generator on the bike gives me more resistance, which isn’t bad if I wasn’t so heavy I guess because then it would give me a better workout but I would rather get that better workout when I’m thinner heh.

If I have to just end up staying home today and not getting any exercise that’s fine I guess.  I know it’s going to take at least a year to get this weight off so what’s one more day eh?  This just means that I won’t take Sunday off.  Normally I like to ride 5 days a week and take 2 days off but I don’t mind riding 6 days.  I actually don’t even mind riding 7 days but I do like to give my legs a break every so often to help recharge them.

I was just hoping that this Friday when I weigh in I will actually show that I’ve lost some weight.  I don’t see any weight loss so far from last week.  I could weigh in every 2 weeks, it doesn’t have to be every week.  I mean, actually I could weigh in once a month.  It doesn’t matter when I weigh in, as long as I weigh in.  I would prefer not having to weigh in on a weekly basis because it makes me feel bad when I constantly weigh myself because I feel discouraged when I do weigh myself.

Edit: The package finally came at 1:45pm and I had plenty of time to go on my bike ride but just decided not to.  I like going at 10am when it’s still early.