Monday, December 20, 2010

What do you think?

How do you feel about wrist straps? weight belts? arch supports and good running shoes? spf 30?

Mixed feelings on all of them for me. I can deadlift 40 more pounds for higher reps with wriststraps, and the only things not working harder are my hands and forearms.  Not super excited about getting bigger hands or forearms.

Weight belt? Never use it, but then I've had a couple of times I maybe should have when my lower back has had a weird twinge for a couple of days after a heavy lift. However I haven't had anything like that for over a year -so maybe I've built up the strength I need in that area.

I ran ran ran for years as my main form of exercise and was ALWAYS careful to wear arch supports and good shoes, and never had an injury.  I started training for some races this last summer, and granted, this was the first time I've tried to increase distance AND speed at the same time (a big no no in running), but trying to do a few barefoot training runs and getting lighter shoes gave me my first injury -plantar fasciitis, and later tendinitis.  I thought I had built up my foot strength with barefoot kickboxing for a year or so first, but maybe it wasn't enough.

What about wearing sunscreeen everywhere, all of the time? Have you heard about the big vitamin D buzz going around right now that says vitamin D can reduce cancer risk? Do you wear the sunscreen all of the time to not get cancer, or do you get lots of sunlight and avoid sunscreen because it can block vitamin D absorption/production?

Jeff and I talk about this a lot. It's the use a crutch/be safe conundrum and it applies to a lot of things in life.  Do you protect yourself, or do you expose yourself in order to build up your strength? Do you never do external rotator cuff shoulder exercises because it's so easy to injure those little muscles, or do you do them specifically BECAUSE it's so easy to injure those little muscles, and so they need to be strengthened?  Do you jump in and "save" your kids when something bad is going to happen to them, or do you step back a little in order to let them solve problems themselves?

What do you think?

4 comments:

Kelli said...

oh Amara it's a monday morning. I can't think too hard just yet. But I wanted to make sure I commented so that you know it read. I'm just still thinking about it.

Kira said...

I really don't think about any of that...sorry. I don't jump in and save my kids....I usually let them flop around a little bit and see if they can figure it out. I guess I do think about sunscreen. I don't worry about it unless we are going to be out more then an hour.

belann said...

The truth is, the jury is still out on a lot of those things. I think you have to make your best guess with whatever you are doing. When you deal with individuals, with unique constitutions, nothing is an exact science.

Jacobson Five said...

I'm a sunscreen girl if I am at the beach or pool, but if I'm out in the yard pulling weeds...not so much, but I should be because well I think I need to be.
I need to start thinking about the running shoe thing, since I am going to be a "runner".
As far as the other 2 things on the list, not so sure I even know what they are.