Long Beach Fitness Expert

I was injured very badly about 5 years ago with my knee. I don’t remember how long, but it took forever to heal. I was on serious pain pills. In Canada it can take a year just to see a specialist and by the time it was my turn, I felt I was healed.

Well the other day, in the rain, I was getting a toddler out of my car awkwardly because there was no room between the cars and the same knee went swinging out the same way as the first time.

I didn’t really notice it much at first but by the end of the day my knee/leg was 3x swollen…I mean it was huge! Impossible to bend it. Tons of pain when on it. Very irritable because I was trying to keep doing the norm. Had to use cane to keep weight off as much as possible and since it was a weekend, just stayed off it. Tons of ice and Motrin.

It has had popping sounds, very painful if I am on it or have to get up and down or go up and down stairs.

I went to physiotherapist and she figures it is torn ACL or cartilage but is seeing me in 2 days to see how it is…also recommending my physician send me to surgeon.

I had plans to go on Vacation with friends in July to the beach, and they wanted me to help with child care for little ones…where I am definitely needed to be flexible and up and down and ready to go. They need to know if I am not able to perform, or go on vacation with them. They are now concerned I will even be able to work for good now.

I’m like..how do I know how long it will take to heal?

I’m worried now and wonder if this sounds as serious as it could possibly be?

I am also overweight and was just starting on a fitness routine when this happened…can I eventually exercise enough to get in shape w/o hurting knee?

Thank you for your patience in reading my question.
The main part of the question was….approx how long can this take to heal if I don’t have surgery? Any ideas?

i suggest an eliptical machine for getting back in shape, takes the stress off of your supporting tissue and is low impact.
meninscus damage really only occurs from high impact. i.e. jumping out of a second story window and landing on your feet. its your knees air bags so to speak. it can get injured by a non high impact source, but it takes a lot to tear one of those. which direction did your knee go swinging out? any direction can injure the ACL, but depend ing on the direction it could be another ligament or 2.
really you need a doctor to do a few special tests on you to determine whats what. you can be pretty sure that it is not a complete tear atleast, if it was you would not be able to move your knee.

about 6 months ago, i was put into hospital twice and underwent a lot of therpay, so i was unable to exercise for a long time. i used to be one of the fittest people i know, now i cant even run for longer than five minutes! its really annoying me! please help design me a days worth of exercising to get fitter. please, please, please!!!!!!!!

ps: i am unable to join a join at the moment, i do have a treadmill and trampoline but prefer exercising outdoors. (beach, park, etc)

hey ladycadillac howsit!

my mum had something similar not long ago. 3 months in hospital and she lost a massive amount of muscle mass and had to go to rehab (no no no) to get her walking again. Maybe this is too basic for ya but it will prob help

The rehab place got her doing repetetive stuff. stairs were on the list and they helped her big time – muscular and cardio. Doing quad lifts and basic bicep and tricep exercises.

squats were a bit too hard for her but maybe be good for you. press ups against a wall too – you can move your legs beck and forward depending on how hard you want to go.

hope that helps

REPOSTING…Asked this very late one night. Thought I would see what the morning group has to add. Thanks.

We visited my wife’s college friend last month. She married and moved to another country a few years ago and they wanted to get together again. We stayed at their place and one day the friend stole my wife for a day so they could catch up. They were gone all day and most of the night. She said they went shopping and got makeovers, which was obvious. She was in a club kind of dress she would never wear at home…more makeup…and a spiky hairstyle. She looked great, but not what I’m used to. I asked about her day but she didn’t want to talk about it. She laughed and said don’t worry, she didn’t screw anybody. I didn’t think much about it again until yesterday. I was looking for a movie in her stash of chick flicks and fitness videos when I found one that was unmarked. It was two hours of her day and night out. They had been recording practically every minute they were together, so it’s not too surprising they wanted to record that too. I won’t describe everything in detail, but it started with the makeover and shopping. There was a visit to a nude beach. More shopping. A strip club where they took part in an amateur competition, including lap dances. More shopping…for the club dresses this time. Then finally a dance club. They didn’t record everything, but there was dancing, making out, flashing, and other craziness you would expect in that atmosphere. I feel bad that I found the dvd while I was going through her things because she hates people doing that. Everything is totally normal since we’ve been home, and I wonder if I should tell her what I know and open that can of worms. Sorry for the long question.
I happen to agree with Valerie about the Penthouse letter thing. That’s exactly what it sounds like. And there are plenty of holes in the story because it would be way too long if I got into the whole thing.
KitKat… mid-30s, married 8 years.

What are you crazy? What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Leave it alone. If it still bothers you on your 50th anniversary say something then. otherwise forget it and pretend you never saw it.

the only place i go to is la fitness. where are other good places i can play?

These are all the baskerball courts in Long Beach. The web link has a better looking graph.

Basketball Court Locations

Park Address Description
Admiral Kidd Park 2125 Santa Fe Ave Lighted
Bayshore Playground 5415 E. Ocean Blvd. Unlighted
California Recreation Center 1550 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. Lighted
Cesar E. Chavez Park 401 Golden Ave. ½ Court – Lighted
Cherry Park 1901 E. 45th Street Lighted
College Estates Park 808 Stevely Ave. Unlighted
Coolidge Park 352 E. Neece Ave. Lighted
DeForest Park 6255 DeForest Ave. Lighted
Drake Park 952 Maine Ave. Lighted
El Dorado Park West 2800 Studebaker Rd. Lighted
14th Street Park Chestnut and 14th ½ Court Unlighted
Heartwell Park 5802 E. Parkcrest Ave. Lighted
Houghton Park 6301 Myrtle Ave. Lighted
MacArthur Park 1321 Anaheim Street Lighted
Orizaba Park Orizaba & Spaulding Unlighted
Pan American Park 5157 Centralia Ave. Lighted
Ramona Park 3301 E. 65th Street Lighted
Scherer Park 4600 Long Beach Blvd. Lighted
Silverado Park 1545 W. 31st Street Lighted
Somerset Park 1500 E. Carson Street Lighted
Stearns Champions Park 4520 E. 23rd Street Lighted
Tanaka Park Wardlow St. & Caspian Wy. ½ Court Unlighted
Veterans Park 101 E. 28th Street Lighted
Whaley Park 5620 Atherton Ave. Lighted

IN 7 months there will b a 1/2 marathon in my homtown and I want to run it! I would like some adivice, please take in count the following:
* The longest I have ever run (in one go) has been 2 km when I was 10 years old (and barely finished).
*Now I am 25, smoker (around 5 cigs a day), 6′1 and 245 lbs weight

As you can guess my physical fitness is very poor ( I am currently hitting the gym and started doing power walking 1 hr 3 times a week)

If I stop smoking cold turkey, what are the steps to prepare for the marathon gradually? Should I wait for sometime for my lungs and physical condition to improve before starting a training program or can I do it immediately?

Should I lose weight first before starting training? some people have told me that running with overweight damages my knees, is that true? I am very fortunate and live near the beach, do u recomend me to run on the sand or should I start at the treadmill or tartan track?
Thanks a lot!!
other tips will b greatly apreciated!

Everybody has to start somewhere, a ½ marathon is a lofty goal, but certainly doable in 7 months if you are determined. First, I don’t think we have to talk about the smoking issue. We all know that its bad for you so don’t expect a lecture from me. Just have one word for that QUIT.

Second before you start, see your doctor for a complete physical. At your weight and height you could have already developed issues like High Blood pressure and pre-diabetes. So make sure you are healthy in every respect. He can also help you to quit smoking as well as point you directionally to a healthier life style.

You may want to also ask him about a visit to a dietician. You will need to learn how to eat. Lets avoid the “D” word, but instead use Healthy Eating habits instead. Running and Healthy eating go hand in hand. With the right mix weight loss will come with ease.

The big issue is generally it takes 16 weeks to prepare for a ½ marathon. The assumption is you should be able to run a 6Km comfortably and should be running about 20 – 25km a week.

First go over to http://www.coolruning.com and pick up the couch potato to 5k schedule it’s a 9 week schedule that will take you from the couch to 5K. We are not so much concerned about time as we are distances and time exercises.

Once you finish this schedule you could pick up a beginner ½ schedule. You may well be able to do the schedule as long as you keep in mind that your goal is to complete the ½ marathon.

My recommendation would be to try a 10K run event first. After you complete the 5K event, schedule a 10K event in about 10 weeks out. While keeping to your ½ schedule, this will help you get a feel for what a racing event is like. After 10 weeks you should be able to complete a 10K race.

Some resources for you to use
http://www.coolrunning.com
http://www.runnersworld.com
http://www.jeffgalloway.com
http://www.halhigdon.com
http://www.runningroom.com
http://www.runningmania.com

Harry

I’m concerned about my son. He’s 17 years old, he’ll be graduating high school this year. He have been taking a college course at community college ever since he was a junior. He also is highly ranked in ROTC and leader for raider team and is one of very few to be on physical fitness for three years. He also is an accomplished varsity wrestler. And have been doing mixed martial art ever since wrestling season was over during his freshman year. He even had done a couple boxing, kickboxing, and grappling matches and always did very well in them.
I’m very proud of everything he did. But what bothers me is, lately I’ve been learning lot of things that really bothers me.
Outside of ROTC and mixed martial arts, he has very few friends. Almost all of them are female friends from college who are rather odd. They all dresses really odd, many have unnatural hair color, and other things. Most of them appear to be in early 20’s. My son hangs out with them way more than anyone else. I tried to not let it get to me at first.
However I start to find blood stain on his shirt, I start to find scars on his body that he’d try to hide if asked about it, and other things.
We also notice he never panic when he saw his own blood, in fact he seems to like the sight of it.
A couple days ago, we installed a software on computer that would allows us to see what our kids are doing on the computer (we’re more worried about our three younger children). To my shock, I found a couple pictures of some of those girls he hang out with drinking blood and playing with blood.
We also found from his online journal that he basically do wrestling and mixed martial arts simply because he get thrills out of it and hurting other people and getting hurt.
He also states some things he have done that we didn’t know of. He talks about sneak into abandoned building, climbing then reppell down a very tall building in our city at night, falling off cliff and crashed through branches when he went on some rock climbing, biking sixty miles to beach and almost died when he got caught in rough wave, pulls some pranks off, getting in fight, and other things.
We also learned that my son have been lying about where he was majority of the time. Often he’d say he’s at library, training late, and other things so he can do all those dangerous things. We also learned on weekend, he’d regularly go out to meet foreigner tourist and hang out with them and play guide for them.
We haven’t told him anything about this since we don’t want him to find out we were spying on him and other kids.
Not long ago, he came and told us he plans on joining the army and wants to go to recruiting office. We thought it’d be ok since he’d probably get accepted in a good university. But now he wants to go in as 11X (infantry/special force) with airborne school as option instead of attending a university that he got accepted into!
I am having very hard time to deal with all of this. I don’t even know if I should approach him about any of those things. I used to think he was a really good kid. But now I feel like there may just be another whole world that we didn’t know of.

I would be very concerned. Not so much about his friends because that really isn’t the most alarming part of your story. What concerns me is his reckless behavior with his well being. But 17 year olds do some very daring (and sometimes stupid) things because they see themselves as durable and indestructible. But meeting with strangers, lying, thrill seeking or fighting would be concerning.

I would definitely start getting more involved with him and asking him to bring his friends around. His friends may have weird hair but meet them and see who they are and how they treat your son, then make the judgment.
You need to start getting involved. Having a computer program and watching from afar won’t be interactive enough. Does he have a curfew? Do you do things together? Make dinner together? These are key times when you get to ask your kids pertinent information. Get involved, ask questions. You have to show him the parent(s) are/is here, in charge and care. Be interested. He might possibly need some counseling.

I would have him postpone his Army tour and direct him towards college. Go slow and don’t lose your temper. The minute you start getting angry they stop listening.

I wish you patience, tolerance and the best.

ok so im in florida w/ my folks over the summer, next year ill be in 11th grade and i wanted to start working out beacause … like im gd lkn but kinda musuleless. i look puny, when i look in the shower the biggest thing on my body "shouldnt be the biggest". so i wana wrk out so that next year i have abbs, and a 6pack (i dont wana get too big, like arnold swachenater or nothing) im not fat either

so the problem is that the fitness center in our hotel caugt on FIRE the week b4 we got there. we r in front of a long @$$ beach and and i need a work out scedual or smn like dat.

any body whose done pevious work out pleaz help … and remember, only post things that dont recuire a fitness center. i cant drive to any either cause the closest one is wayyyy 2 far. plz help me, this vacations made for me to better myself both physicy and mentaly

& ps – if theres anything extra that u need 2 noe in order to answer tell me and check back in a few minutes … ill be on here all day

tks
- ill be stan ther for a month and a half. i already checked and it wont be ready for 3 months
basicly enough to look good on the beach

Wow, that’s totally insane that your hotel had that problem! How long are you on vacation? Maybe the fitness center will open before you leave.

If it doesnt, you can run on that beach. You’ll build leg muscle. Also when you run, you beef up before you slim down, or that’s how it worked out for me when I first started running. You need strong legs to hold up all of that other muscle anyway. I heard that sit-ups aren’t as good as push-ups for muscle building. So, you could try running and doing push-ups. Good luck!

We visited my wife’s college friend last month. She married and moved to another country a few years ago and they wanted to get together again. We stayed at their place and one day the friend stole my wife for a day so they could catch up. They were gone all day and most of the night. She said they went shopping and got makeovers, which was obvious. She was in a club kind of dress she would never wear at home…lots more makeup…and a spiky hairstyle. She looked great, but not what I’m used to. May be TMI, but the sex that night was phenomenal. I asked about her day but she didn’t want to talk about it. She laughed and said don’t worry, she didn’t screw anybody. I didn’t think much about it again until yesterday. I was bored and looking for a movie in her stash of chick flicks and fitness videos when I found one that was unmarked. It was two hours of her day and night out. I won’t describe everything in detail, but it started with the makeover and shopping. There was a visit to a nude beach. More shopping. A strip club where they took part in an amateur competition, including lap dances. More shopping…for the club dresses this time. Then finally a dance club. They didn’t record everything, but there was dancing, making out, flashing, and other craziness you would expect. I promised I wouldn’t ask her about that day again, and I feel bad that I found the dvd while I was going through her stuff. Everything is totally normal since we’ve been home, and I wonder if I should tell her what I know and start a major conflict over this. Sorry for the long question.

Maybe let it go if you don’t suspect it will ever happen again. Maybe she had a small "crisis." She’s probably over it. I don’t know, though. They do say that the key to great relationships is openness and honestly. Ahh *sigh* …and come to think of it, it will probably bother u if you don’t ask her about it. I would maybe ask very casually and see what she says. Hopefully she’ll say something to ease you of any worries and then you do need to drop it.

I’m STRAIGHT and I’m 19 years old. I’m kind of white therefore I was thinking about going to Lifetime Fitness where I work out to get a Bronzer? I don’t know what that is, but I think its kind of like a spray on tan? I think I look good with a tan but I don’t want other people thinking I’m gay because I"M NOT. Do you think I should get a Bronzer? what is a bronzer? I don’t want to spend a lot of money on going to a tanning salone so I think this would be cheaper? What do you think I should do? BTW I live in MN so the beach isn’t an option and its not warm right now. Do Bronzers work and how long do they last?

thanks

Don’t ever do self tanning, it sucks.
If you do go to a tanning saloon go to tanning bed.
This fake tan , you need to do it every week over and over again if I got it right, and when you stop – it will go down in pieces like you are peeling.
If you want to look good that doesn’t make you gay, having sex with guys does.

Ok I’m 14, and want to get fit and ripped. (I am not fat or anything, I’m actually rather healthy at the moment, but I want to get very healthy and fit, and ripped body). I have been doing crunches, sit-ups, leg lifts, push ups, and that sort of thing. I do boxing 3 times a week also. I’ve heard that swimming gets you a really toned body and makes you very fit- so I want to start. I have a pool, but I really am not a swimmer at all- and I mean I HATE swimming. The beach is fine, but actually swimming I just don’t like it. I prefer 100m and 200m sprints (I’m one of the best in my grade at 100m and 200m sprints). Last time I tried to do laps I felt very sick when I got out haha. Is it because I havn’t swam properly in a long time?

Well, can someone give me some routine help on how I can begin swimming for fitness and getting a toned body?

well, yes swimming is a great cardiovascular and endurance exercise. If you are new to swimming, you should start out small and work your way up. A good way to start would be by doing 50’s, or two laps, at a time, and go from there.
You could time yourself, and try to stay in a time frame (like say you were going to do four laps, you could try to do them in 2 1/2 minutes).
It also helps if you know how to do more than one stroke.