Flexibility of Movement, and Conciousness

[Tim Wescott]

So, most of you have heard me whining about my shoulder.

I've started doing my exercises regularly (actually, it's "regularly dammit" -- I keep falling off the wagon).  I'm up to three whole days.  I noticed early that the overheads challenge my shoulder mobility a lot less the more I lean back.  But leaning back ain't easy.  So I decided that I'd make a Dave Fitzgerald-style back-bend part of my exercise routine.

Everything else I'm doing is five seconds on, five seconds rest, repeat ten times.  So sure -- why not?  At the end of my session, I got up from doing by back stretches (which is an older set of exercises that I've also been neglecting), leaned back for a five-count trying to make my chest parallel to the ceiling in spite of my screaming quads, came up level -- and the lights dim.  Ohkay -- we'll rest for ten seconds.  Second try -- five seconds down, come up level -- and I have to fight to stay upright.  Hmm.  Notice that I'm not breathing when I'm down.  Once more with feeling breathing.  Down, breath, up -- lights go dim, I barely manage not to fall on the nearby sharp furniture.  OK -- three reps is enough for today.

How in the world does the man DO that?  I thought he was amazing before, but -- jeeze, this is ridiculous!

I'm going to do it again tomorrow, only I'll just hold for one second at first, or however brief it needs to be so that I can do ten reps.  Then over time I'll build up the time until I'm up to five seconds while retaining full blood flow to my brain.  I figure that if I can just get down far enough that the overhead eights take roughly the same shoulder motion as the horizontal eights I should have much better control of the plane (the O-eights are one of my worst maneuvers) and maybe I can do this toy-airplane-stunt thing with a 64-ounce plane without blowing out my shoulder again.

[Mark Scarborough]

Thanks for sharing your travails Tim
You were missed in Roseburg, I think mostly by Howard who said something to the effect of " I miss Tim, Watching you and him go at it is always fun"? whatever that means,, LOL

I guess we do pick at each other some huh?
anyway, let me add my two cents here, I quit smoking cold turkey 6 weeks ago, "to improve my lung health" mostly,, so, since that time, my breathing has been WORSE than it was when i was smoking a pack a day. I have not cheated, lit, inhaled or even fondled a cigarette dur9ing that time ( though I will confess to standing downind of Mike Denlis in Roseburg and inhaling deeeply once,,, )

I say that to say this,, the pain is worth the gain, the pain is worth the gain,, the pain is worth the gain,,
and yes, I am trying to convince myself,,
keep after it Tim, I miss having you to pick on ,, I mean, uh,,

I miss you being there to compete against, especially now that I moved up into the bottom of expert,,

[Motorman]

When I do overhead 8's I turn my whole body to the right then left, right, left then down I don't lean back much at all.

When you exercise you have to drink allot of water or you'll get decreased blood volume which can cause you to black out when standing or coming back upright.


MM

[Tim Wescott]

When I do overhead 8's I turn my whole body to the right then left, right, left then down I don't lean back much at all.

I'm trying to deal with two things:

One, this shoulder thing means that I can get my shoulder up to about 10 degrees off of vertical, but no more without pain that lasts a good while afterward, and two, my overhead eights are one of my weakest maneuvers. 

The shoulder thing means that I really can't do what most people do, which is to lean back a little bit or not at all, and do the maneuver behind my head.  I could punt and just do the maneuver in front of me (into the wind -- ick) or do as Steve Helmick has suggested and turn around in the climb and then do the maneuver in front of me -- so it'll still be wrong, but it'll be wrong in an easier-to-fly sort of way.  But if I can lean WAY back without being distracted by my quadriceps, and then stand up again without blacking out and crashing, then I may be able to do the overhead eights just as well as I can do the horizontals -- and that would mean that I'd be in the middle of the expert pack, and not in the bottom, thereby giving Mark something to keep shooting for.

You have to watch Dave to understand why I'm referencing off of him -- the guy is in his sixties (or older?) and he can just casually lean back so that his spine is dead level with the ground -- and that's what he does, for anything that involves overhead flying.

So I figure that if I can lean back like that without undue effort I'll not only come out of this shoulder thing able to fly, but in at least one regard able to fly better.

[Fredvon4]

Tim

Recovering from the motorcycle crash provide me with a short two week period of in home health care..one of the practitioners was the physical therapy guy who as a real good guy with older folks like me....( I mention this because in the Army, after my helicopter crash, I had to go to PT and the guy there was a true Nazi who intended o make me hurt)

Any way, one of my PT guy's suggestions was to NOT DO A DELIBERATE set routine of exercises at some predetermined time of day

But plan a personal goal to each day do a few more reps than the day before--- space them out in the course of daily activity.

Going out to the car to head into town?... do two short reps of the lean back and look at the sky...out of wally World heading for Brads Burgers?...do two more and bend over and see if you can put nose on your knees

Sitting in front of the computer...have the rubber bands close and use them any way you want...get out of the chair and stretch, bend, and rotate once or twice

This advice got me past the "I don't like doing this crap" mind set

[Randy Cuberly]

Hey Tim,
You think it's bad now...wait until you're 76 like me!

David F. is a KID.  That's why he can do that crap.  When I was 50 I could still do back handsprings...now it would probably kill me!

Overheads are tough when you're old...you have to adapt more mentally than physically.  Adapt new references that suit you and don't kill yourself falling on your head or uuuhhhh...you know!

Work on the muscles in the shoulder with small hand weights, lifting to the front and down.  I broke my shoulder in 1978 and put an end to my professional motorcycle racing career.  Talk to a physical therapist about specific exercises to make the muscles stronger that will help the joint.  Mine works pretty good now!

Randy Cuberly

[Tim Wescott]

You were missed in Roseburg, I think mostly by Howard who said something to the effect of " I miss Tim, Watching you and him go at it is always fun"? whatever that means,, LOL

Wow, I wonder what he could have been talking about.

I missed being in Roseburg, too, but you do as needs must.

[Russell Shaffer]

Mark, don't give up and relapse.  Keep reminding yourself that if you start again all of your agony and torment will have been for nothing and you will have to do it again at some time.  Tim, until you get well why don't you give up some points and fly your overheads as very high horizontals?  Talk to the judges first and fly them with the wind at your back and you should at least get the points for attempting the maneuver.  Your aren't going to beat Paul or David anytime soon no matter what.  Best of luck to both of you.

[Mark Scarborough]

Mark, don't give up and relapse.

  Your aren't going to beat Paul or David anytime soon no matter what.  Best of luck to both of you.

Not quitting, quitting,, To hard to get this far and if I can survive the 11 drive to roseburg,, the weekend stress of a contest and interim boredom, then the 9 hour drive home I am in good shape

as to beating Paul or David,, that may not be the goal, it could be beating "Mark or Randy", or it could be " I just dont want people to look at my score and say what the hell is he doing in expert"
competative nature dictates that we whom are subject to its whims MUST do everything within our power to maximize our performance regardless of the known outcome,, therefore giving up points casually is not acceptable,, or some such nonsense,, I know cause I am the same way, I am the guy who built 18 point profiles to fly beginner at contests,, where appearance does not matter, but impression does LOL

[MikeyPratt]

So, most of you have heard me whining about my shoulder.

I've started doing my exercises regularly (actually, it's "regularly dammit" -- I keep falling off the wagon).  I'm up to three whole days.  I noticed early that the overheads challenge my shoulder mobility a lot less the more I lean back.  But leaning back ain't easy.  So I decided that I'd make a Dave Fitzgerald-style back-bend part of my exercise routine.

Everything else I'm doing is five seconds on, five seconds rest, repeat ten times.  So sure -- why not?  At the end of my session, I got up from doing by back stretches (which is an older set of exercises that I've also been neglecting), leaned back for a five-count trying to make my chest parallel to the ceiling in spite of my screaming quads, came up level -- and the lights dim.  Ohkay -- we'll rest for ten seconds.  Second try -- five seconds down, come up level -- and I have to fight to stay upright.  Hmm.  Notice that I'm not breathing when I'm down.  Once more with feeling breathing.  Down, breath, up -- lights go dim, I barely manage not to fall on the nearby sharp furniture.  OK -- three reps is enough for today.

How in the world does the man DO that?  I thought he was amazing before, but -- jeeze, this is ridiculous!

I'm going to do it again tomorrow, only I'll just hold for one second at first, or however brief it needs to be so that I can do ten reps.  Then over time I'll build up the time until I'm up to five seconds while retaining full blood flow to my brain.  I figure that if I can just get down far enough that the overhead eights take roughly the same shoulder motion as the horizontal eights I should have much better control of the plane (the O-eights are one of my worst maneuvers) and maybe I can do this toy-airplane-stunt thing with a 64-ounce plane without blowing out my shoulder again.

Hi Tim,
In the fall of 1985 I ripped  my rotator cuff in my right shoulder playing softbsll at the age I shouldn't be allowed to do so.  That month I had surgery to repair it and all went well until I started flying that following spring.  I couldn't do an overhead eight to save my a$$.  I learned to turn my back into wind, and rotate 90 at the intersection, with my arm resting on my chest.  Then fly the overheads with out straining the shoulder.  As time allowed, it became easier to rotate the shoulder to more accurately fly the maneuver.  It also required me to finish the many long hours of P/T to get it back to normal.  Even today, I can't fly the overheads the old way.

So hang in there and finish the P/T and do the exercise's, it well get better.

Later,
Mikey

[Steve Helmick]

Tim, watch John Leidle doing his OH8's. He makes it look pretty painless, and they score pretty decently.  Steve

[john e. holliday]

Tim, reading about you standing up straight after leaning back and if its the same leaning forward, I would suggest an ear, nose throat specialist.  You may have inner ear problems.
But, stay with it as I'm no doctor.

Mark,  Thanksgiving eve of 1988 I tried to smoke my last cigarette.  It was last of a pack I had stretched to almost two weeks.  Thought I was going to choke to death.  Also a co-worker brought me a pack of black licorice.  After turning around to flush the old throne, I took a look and told myself,  no more licorice or cigarettes.  After all these years I get a wiff of some one that smoke, the fresh aroma almost gets me.   But then I tell myself don't think about it.  Beer is the same way.  The last beer they thought I was drunk and I only had a couple of sips.  So Mark, 10 years or so down the road you will still think about lighting up.

[Tim Wescott]

You may have inner ear problems.

With inner ear problems, the world spins.  On this one, someone turned the lights out and I was short of breath -- it's just a combination of being out of shape, using unfamiliar muscles, and if my #1 son is to be believed, not drinking enough water (which could be the case -- I've decided I'm going to do the exercises after breakfast and before anything else, and I just had tea with breakfast).

[Mike Haverly]

Well, sonny boy, just get over it!  It gets worse.  I've had inner ear problems since 2003 from extreme fever during a bout with the flu.  I don't think I could have passed a field sobriety test during the worst of times following.  I went through a battery of tests and sure enough my left ear is toast.  My back doesn't work right and both feet feel like they are attached to my hips at times.  Both feet go numb at night.  That's enough from me now, my daughter the Physical Therapist has stories all the time about people like us.  Apparently the P/T works for most things though I won't admit that to Linda

A noted Northwest flier lost a perfectly good Impact from too many trips to Starbucks.  Ask him sometime, dehydration is a bad thing too, worse yet when you approach geezer status.

Good luck with it, we need your entry in our contests.  Come back soon!

[Tim Wescott]

Come back soon!

I hope to be up for the Saturday action at the Stuntathon, but I'm singing Sunday morning.

[Steve Helmick]

Yeah, with my peripheral neuropathy, no way I could ever pass the usual roadside sobriety tests. If there's ever any question, I'll just tell them to get out the breathalyzer and let me get on down the road.

I've found that one of the best things for me is to avoid caffine...dehydrates the heck out of me...and I do love it so...  Steve