I am incredibly thankful to be able to play this game.
Thursday, February 22, 2018
Still Alive and hitting the ball!
I am incredibly thankful to be able to play this game.
Posted by Swami at 2/22/2018 10:55:00 AM 0 comments
Labels: Swami racquetball
Saturday, July 11, 2015
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
We can rebuild him
The 2014-15 Racquetball season was not the season I had hoped for in terms of results. I did have a lot fun playing at the tournaments and with my doubles partner, Ron "Dance, Dance" Denler. All the tournament play took its toll on this body though. My right knee which was not in the best condition anyway, finally gave out. I'm taking into the body shop to have it replaced tomorrow. There will be more posts after surgery and how I progress towards my goal of returning to competitive racquetball.
We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We can make him better than he was. Better, stronger, faster.
Posted by Swami at 5/12/2015 10:55:00 AM 0 comments
Labels: Swami personal, Swami racquetball
Friday, March 6, 2015
Breaking Barriors
An recent email exchange between me, Scoundrel, Galan and Lard brought this post about. When this blog started in late 2007 I weighed in the mid 280s. (My high school graduation weight was 180lbs and I peaked at 290 in 2006) I had been playing racquetball for about 9 months (restarted after a 15 year layoff) and Scoundrel had just introduced me to world of kettlebells. You would have thought with all this activity my weight would just melt off. (A least I did) Well it didn't. Recently though, I am at my lowest weight in 29 years - 234lbs. My body fat % has gone from 37+% to 27.5% This lead Galan to ask, "How did you hold onto the 275+ lbs?"
I believe there were several factors on why I was holding onto the weight.
1 – Diet: Chocolate milk (NesQuik), eggos w/peanut butter & Dew and second lunches at work ;) – changed late ’09. No Dew, No eggos, NesQuik as a treat.
2 – Inactivity – once a week softball in the summer wasn’t going to do it ;) – started playing racquetball in ‘07
3 – Undiagnosed diabetes. – treated late ’09 – dropped 20lbs in 6 months to 260. And stayed there! (see #1)
4 – Hormone imbalance. – Thyroid and testosterone. As these were brought back into the normal range, I began to lose weight. Thyroid in ’12, Testosterone late ‘14
The last 3 years have been heavy on the exercise: kettlebells twice a week (sometimes 1, sometimes 3). Racquetball: moving from recreational to competitive and playing 4-5 times a week, plus tournaments. However, my weight stayed fairly consistent around 260. I had nudged it down ~10lbs to 255/250 late this summer. Starting in November '14, from the advice of my trainer, I started taking a Thyroid supplement, DHEA & D136. I lost 18lbs since January 1 and 31lbs Since July. An interesting note, my thyroid (TSH) went from 4.02 (Sep) to 0.0 1(Feb) and testosterone went from 233 (Sep) to 544 (Feb)! Without any real diet change, I started losing 1.5lbs a week.
Carrying that extra weight around did do some damage though. I have bone on bone medial osteoarthritis and knee cap on my right knee. However, I knew my knee wasn’t the best, playing racquetball on it at 280lbs didn’t help. I needed to manage it better after my meniscus surgery in August of ‘10. It was never right after that. I got it wrapped in ice right now and I’m wearing a copper sleeve and have capsaicin cream on it too. Taking voltaren and ibuprofen/aspirin/Tylenol to supplement. It only hurts when my heart beats and I can't straighten it fully. At the end of the month, I am being evaluated for knee replacement :(.
Posted by Swami at 3/06/2015 02:28:00 PM 1 comments
Labels: Fitness info, Nutrition, Swami personal
Thursday, August 21, 2014
My Racquetball Forehand
One part of my game has plagued me throughout my racquetball playing has been my forehand. (No it is not because I am left-handed) The flaws in my forehand show up in two areas of my game.
1: Power – as compared to other players at my level or higher, my forehand lacks the “snap” that other players have in their forehand shots.
2: Hitting down the line. Because of the ‘hitch’ that is in my forehand stroke and timing of hitting, when I attempt a down-the-line shot. (Note: For a lefty, the forehand side matches up with a right-handers backhand, generally the weaker stroke) my shot hits the side wall, the front wall and then the opposite side wall leaving a set-up for my opponent. Frustrating to say the least! This was a primary reason for my loss in the State Finals two years ago.
One of the keys to the forehand stroke is the hips. One coach had me wear a long sleeved jacket with my left arm out of the sleeve. Using just my hip and should rotation (my arm at my side) get the sleeve of the jacket to move forward. Another area is getting my butt down and not bending at the waist. Kinda like a goblet squat. Hip flex mobility is one area I am working on in hopes to fix this problem.
Undoing 35 years of bad form is not going to be easy though. Here is Ben Croft and a text-book example of the forehand stroke.
Posted by Swami at 8/21/2014 03:53:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: Swami racquetball
Friday, August 8, 2014
It's been a month
The bad: No real appreciable weight loss during the month. I really don’t count weight loss unless its 5lbs down for a week. I was hoping to be 5 to 7lbs down for the month. Some good news though. I am starting a 6 week fitness challenge at G365 Fitness. The challenge is a combination of nutrition and exercise goals.
The ugly: I’m playing morning racquetball and started the Monday night league however I have not dedicated any time to practice specific drills. I thought I would have 30 minutes in the morning before racquetball, but so far I haven’t made it. Hopefully I can make some headway here. Here is one drill I want to start, the Star Drill. It is designed to help with movement. I did wear my HRM and recorded 674 calories burned for 58 minutes.
Posted by Swami at 8/08/2014 03:25:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: Swami personal, Swami racquetball, Swami workout