Anodyne: Physio

Yesterday was my appointment at Anodyne Chiropractic and Sports Therapy.  I had a one hour session with a Chiropractor and a one hour deep tissue massage after.  This is the first time I've ever been to either chiro or massage, and I gotta say, it was a pretty good experience.  When I had first called I was looking for physiotherapy but I was surprised when they said they don't have actual physio therapists.  I thought Chiropractors only worked on things regarding the spine, but I guess I was wrong.  He worked in my foot, trying to mobilize the soft tissue.  It was apparently called the ART soft tissue treatment.  After that, he used the Graston technique, where he rubs a butter knife like tool over the injury, trying to break down the scar tissue.  I was a little worried at first because my doctor had told me we wanted everything to get real stiff to stabilize my foot, but I guess after a year, it's time to bring back some mobility to my joints.  My foots a little sore today but that's expected.  He also cracked my back, aligning my spine.  Apparently I'm really stiff and he had a hard time cracking my upper back haha.  The massage was pretty painful at times but I felt pretty good afterwards... I guess.  Pain is good right?
Later that afternoon I went to the gym, and when I was doing squats, I noticed an improvement in the strain on my lower back.  There seemed like no strain on my lower back at all and everything was stretched out, so I guess something was outta line before.

I've heard good things about Anodyne from quite a few people so I'm optimistic they'll get my foot stronger!  And if you've never had a deep tissue massage... get one, it's definitely worth it!

Getting in the groove of things

Ever since I moved it's been hard to find the time to blog.  Nonetheless, I've been keeping up with my goals I mentioned earlier.  Weight wise I stepped on the scale at 145 lbs today!  An all new record.  When I was living at home, my weight would fluctuate but never really go up, but with my new diet and training regime it's well on it's way.  I haven't gotten around to count my calories or any of that stuff, but I structure my meals around a few basic rules:

1. Use the food pyramid.  When buying groceries I make sure there are proportionate amounts of each food group.
2. Eat healthy.  I want to gain lean mass, not get fat!
3. Eat LOTS.  I try to get in 6 meals a day, with each meal not being extremely large.

Here's typically what I eat in a day:
6:15 AM  - Omelette with 2 eggs and red pepper, green onion, mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, ham and cheese. 
                 - Bowl of oatmeal
10:00 AM - Ham, lettuce, and cheese sandwich
                 - Bowl of yogurt with berries
                 - An orange, or apple
                 - Handful of almonds
12:00 PM - Either pasta, or rice with chicken and brocolli
                 - Another fruit
3:00 PM   - Tuna Sandwich
                 - Another fruit
6:30 PM   - Rice, with chicken breast and vegetables on side
9:30 PM   - Fruit Smoothie

And here's the graph of my weight progress

 

Lastly, I just finished week 6 of the MadCow lifting program.  I'm seeing gains already, so I can't wait until week 12!  Since things are starting to get heavy though, I started taking creatine again.  Today was my first day so I will be on a 5 day loading phase this week!