Tag Archives: exercise

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How to build an inexpensive shoulder/rotator cuff exerciser

As you probably know by know PaleoPathologist is into high intensity, superslow style weightlifting. My internet buddy Drew Baye asked me about a piece of equipment I made called an Infimetric Bar. PaleoPathologist cobbled together two of them, one for deltoid work and one for rotator cuff work.

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The rotator cuff bar is on the left and the longer delt bar on the right. Delt bar could also be used overhead for tricep or bicep work. Basically to do the delt bar, pull outward and slowly raise one arm while resisting with the other. You’ll feel it in the delts. You can hit various parts of the delts by leaning forward and back. To do the medial/anterior rotators, try to compress the bar between your hands and slowly move the bar back and forth, rotating at the shoulder (not the waist.) For the posterior/lateral cuff, try to pull the bar apart and do the same movement.

I’ve tried doing 30 seconds at perceived 50%, then 30 at 75%, then 30 at 100%, and also have done 45 sec at 50%, 30 at 75%, and the final 15 sec at 100%. I seem to like the 45/30/15 a bit more, since doing 100% effort for 30 seconds kind of sucks actually.

To build these, get some 1/2″ PVC pipe at your local hardware store. Try to get the thicker walled pipe. Get two 90 degree elbow joints for each bar you want to build.

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I cut four inch-long handles but I’m not a huge dude so you could add half an inch or so. I wouldn’t suggest too much more; the leverage if you hold at the end MIGHT be a problem.

The center bar for my rotator is 17″. I just held a ruler up and held my arms out in front of me in a neutral position to figure out the measurement. The delt bar is 36″ long.

You’ll need some PVC cement and a file or sandpaper, as well as a saw to cut the pipe. It’s soft and easy to cut.

Cut out your 2 handles per bar and your center bars. Follow the directions on the PVC glue. I suggest putting the handles into the L joint first; when the glue seizes it happens fast and that’s it. Then glue one of the handles to one end of bar. The only trick is aligning the two handles which I did by resting the whole assembly on a table.

Cost is about, oh five bucks.

What exercise equipment have you put togetber?

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PaleoPathologist was busy!

What a couple of months! My father was in and out of the hospital, doing much better now. PaleoPathologist and his brother went fishing for salt water fish in Belize with fly rods, and we did not eat any of the bonefish we caught. Paleo? Hm. I can tell you that even a little bonefish is like a torpedo compared to a trout in the Rockies.DSC_0294

Then Incredible Wife and I went out to see two Cave Babies (two of the Grands) and had a great time.

A couple of weeks later PaleoPathologist and his son in law, who was an Army Ranger trainee, took to the hills to try to collect our own grass fed meat. We brought back a Doe Deer and ground the meat on Incredible Wife’s kitchen counter; should have taken some pictures, a Neanderthal would have been proud, shocked, and awed to see that machine spit out deerburger. There was one downside: the liver got damaged and I had to leave it for the coyotes.  (We saw bighorn sheep, deer, bald eagles, pronghorn antelope, and even a cougar stalking a deer. Even if you don’t bring home an elk, PaleoPathologist  has discovered that elk just don’t live in ugly places.)

Happy to get back on the horse here. I’ve got more about exercise, cooking, fat, all kinds of good stuff. Stay tuned!

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What would you call Super High Intensity Training? Yeah. Me too.

Today PaleoPathologist visited his “friends” at Trufit in Denver, and was introduced to the ARX machines they just got. I suspect this just may be the next step in exercise evolution, intensity, effectiveness, and safety. The machine is designed to give you the perfect amount of resistance on the positive (concentric) AND negative (eccentric) phase of the repetitions, with multiple different exercises. PaleoPathologist thought he basically had the HIT (High Intensity Training) thing down, going to momentary muscle failure. PaleoPathologist was wrong. Welcome to Super High Intensity Training.

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What one exercise modality gives you bone and muscle strength AND cardio conditioning?

Drew Baye has been doing a great job of training athletes and ordinary folk for many years.  His blog is full of information (mostly for bodybuilding but many other posts as well). I enjoy his writing.  This newest one just re-emphasizes how efficient a good high intensity weight program (like the Body by Science Superslow style workout PaleoPathologist does every ten days or so at TruFit Health in Denver) really can be. TEN DAYS?? Yes. Properly done weight training ALSO gives you an excellent Cardio workout!  How long has this been known? Would you believe 1975?

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In short, maximal stimulation of muscles releases growth signals. This makes muscles grow, sure, but ALSO appears to help other tissues grow and repair. There is a correlation between muscle/lean mass and organ function, including heart function. PaleoPathologist is interested, and PaleoPathologist’s Pater, 86, still is going strong with HIS weightlifting. He is my inspiration.

PaleoPathologist is huffing like a racehorse at the end of the Leg Press. I was a breaststroke swimmer in high school and college and left it all in the pool when I raced, so I know what lactic acidosis feels like and this really does it. I’m up to 330 pounds (well, Nautilus pounds; who knows what that really translates to) for two minutes.

PaleoPathologist thinks that machines are just as good as free weights, and have a lower potential for injury. Other than aggravating a pre-existing shoulder problem if chest press form deteriorates, and one back spasm from overdoing the low back machine, NO injuries in over a year.

TruFit has a brand new toy, also, called an ARX machine. It is supposed to electronically adapt to your strength at every point during the repetition and meter out exactly the resistance you need. Yeah, PaleoPathologist is pretty sure that he has to try this new toy, as soon as possible!

So have you ever tried high intensity weight training? What has your experience been?

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Tip: How to run efficiently and with fewer injuries

Here is a site that goes through an entire running course, teaching stride, form, pace, etc. PaleoPathologist has never really been much of a runner but still secretly harbors a “bucket list” idea of doing…a marathon.  Yes, you who know me can stop laughing now. I did a 100 mile bike ride a few years back from Glenwood Springs to Aspen and back along a railroad trail that hugs the Roaring Fork, beautiful ride.

So what do you think of this site? Does it do a good job of presenting good running form?

 

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Tip: shut off the screens and play this weekend.

Go out and have some fun. Make time for consecutive deep thoughts. Play!  Get outside! Walk with a loved one, without a heart rate monitor or GPS to track your steps. Write in a journal. Pray or meditate. Turn off your alarm. Jared Diamond says in one of his books that he found Hunter Gatherer tribal men spend about 20 hrs/week supplying all the food their family needs. The rest of the time is spent in play with children, religious pursuits, dancing around the fire…sounds great to me! (He also noted that his physician, lawyer, and accountant friends were not happy to hear this particular finding.) Thanks to Michael Hyatt for this hint.

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Sleep? I’ll sleep when I’m dead!

PaleoPathologist has some vivid memories from his seven years at Duke Medical School. One is the sound coming through the back wall of his apartment starting at 10 at night; the adjoining unit housed some fellow medical students. They claimed to start studying at 10 PM. Paleopathologist was studying the backs of his eyelids at 10PM on a weeknight.  The other little vignette was walking into the Seely G. Mudd Medical Library and seeing one of his classmates asleep, his head on an open medical text, and drool pooling on the page!sleep

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Have you ever seen a super slow/slow burn/bodybyscience workout?

PaleoPathologist sat down with his trainer this weekend to do a four exercise, slow movement to momentary muscle failure workout.  It was captured on tape. Warning to small children and squeamish adults: PaleoPathologist shows his pain-face a few times toward the end of each set.

The Workout Video

The slow, single set to failure method has worked very well for PaleoPathologist who, except for one cramp in lower back muscles, once, has had NO INJURIES in a year and has gone from 90 to 305 lbs on the leg press. BP today at physical was 110/70. Resting heart rate at the physical was…63.  And remember this is doing the routine at most once every seven days, sometimes it’s 10, 14 days between workouts.

This protocol sends a very powerful adaptation signal to the body. PaleoPathologist did the 200 breaststroke in College which is a fairly brutal race, and felt about the same amount of lactic acid at the end (about 2:30 in the water) as he does after the 10 minute routine these days. Take a look at the papers referenced in the links above, or take a look at Body by Science website,

or the book. Another site I follow is Drew Baye’s site.

Any questions about how this works? Anyone with alternative experiences? We’d love to hear from you.