Health & Fitness Journal of an Aspiring Pro-Kitesurfer; a Windsurfer and Surfer

Contact: Stuart Coleman, Hawaii Coordinator
808-942-3841, scoleman@surfrider.org

6th ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL SURFING DAY EVENTS

Hi all, 



I havent blogged for a while; partly i was very busy and partly because the past month got a bit too complicated to stick to my schedule. the 2nd oweek of May, i had to cease working out because of a possible tear on my leg. I should probably go to the doctor about it. I can feel a knot on the lower and inner part of my right leg and I remember that heat was coming up my leg for a few days, plus the pain. I started worrying about deep vein thrombosis. Who knows. the 3rd week of May, I hiked Stairway to Heaven and I was soooo sore for about a week. I still tried to exercise and even played tennis despite a painful wrist after having held on the stairs' bars for hours. For a few days I ws walking like a monkey in the mornings and it took me a few minutes of stretching every morning to be able to walk like a human being who has completed her evolution.




Climbing the Haiku stairs. My friend Christie and I climbed 3, 992 stairs up and 3,992 stairs down.

So I finally found out WHY I have been having lower back all this time. It turned out after an X-ray examniation that my lumbar spine had slightly straightened out and my doctor said I had sciatica, which is most likely due to a disc injury. Awesome. Whats more awesome is that he doesnt want me to do any "impact" sports which of course includes my favorite sports ever, windsurfing and kitesurfing. Surfing is ok as long as I dont "go crazy out there", quoting my doctor, and of course as long as it doesnt hurt too much. I still will go kitesurfing as it is way easier on lower back but maybe not as often as I was planning to do. I will have to stop sprinting on sand like Jeff and I had been doing, and do easy swims. I am also required to do more intense core work to strengthen all those muscles that support the back and do exercises that will help my spine get its curve back. I guess I will have to leave the real fun stuff for later, to the waters of the Mediterranean.






The doctor said Pilates will help a lot, as well. I'm glad Im working with Bryan Jordan my former massage therapist, and a Pilates instructor. Since I sadly cannot afford physical therapy, as I dont have health insurance, I will have to resort to exercise for now. And maybe get therapy when I go back home to Turkey in August.


So it wasnt until Bryan and I did some Pilates and Bryan massaged my calves that I was able to get back to my activities. He showed me how I can massage my calves. I will upload the video next time. Until then, play hard but take good care of your bodies! Ciao!

Hi all,

The most interesting update with me is I guess my attempt to fix my lower back and wrist with help from a chiropractor. I visited her on April 26, and she did neck and lower back adjustments. She said my L4 bone was out of place. She said no bone was out of place in my wrist so she didnt do any manipulation for my wrist; however, because lower back is related to the wrist, my right wrist felt much better after the lower back adjustment. The wrist was very stiff, and after the cracking, it wasnt stiff at all. It still hurts, however. I will need to visit a physician to make sure I dont have carpal tunnel- my forearm gets numb some nights- and I will definitely get an X-ray or other tests done for my lower back to see what exactly is going on. The reason is, although I had no pain for about 3 days after the back adjustment, my pains came back. My bruised tailbone was relieved a lot, but the pain came back. The sharp pains on both sides of the sacrum bone also came back. But my back is still a lot less stiff than it was. There is no way I can afford these here, as I have no insurance, so I have to wait until i get back to Turkey. will visit her again in 2 weeks, and we'll see what happens then. She also mentioned circulation,  heart issues (inflammation around it)  and some other ones (e.g., stressed adrenal glands) that absolutely need to be fixed if i want to go pro. She will help me with all those. 

My massage therapist, Bryan Jordan from Pilates Training Center in Kailua, noticed that I have very stiff connective tissue. It hurts a lot when he presses on my body. My legs are fine, most parts, the rest of my body gets very sore. I seem to have many trigger points, and every time I visit him, those points become the priority. He cant massage my lower back really, because the area from the tip of the tail bone to the top of the sacrum bone hurts so badly... I wonder if I have sciatica. Bryan said I need to also work with someone who does fascia release.

Due to my work-outs getting more intense, I had to slow down  abit due to my back and wrist pain in April. I had to skip my sprints in water, and slow down on my soft sand sprints. I really hope that I will fix my injuries soon and be able to push it. My fitness is getting better for sure, I can now sprint on soft sand without getting nauceous, or get so tired that I can't even speak. 

I cant wait for school to be over because it gets in the way of my work outs. I had to skip a few of them due to hardcore thesis work. School ends next week, but I still have to bust out a thesis. At least I wont have any class to worry about and I can commit that time to my work outs. I cant wait to graduate and get in the water every day, and surf, kite or windsurf! 

My workouts got more intense in march and my weaknesses in my body started to speak up. I got sick during my second week having to skip my Tu and W workouts, and on Th, after a 1000m swim i had to stop because of right wrist pain. I was afraid of hurting my wrist more so I had to skip my 100m*5 sprints. on monday, on my 3rd week, I went out surfing to try my new short board only to suffer; it turned out the board was too short for me and I needed a long board, an 8-footer or bigger. I was able to paddle it out to the surf at Diamond Head but my shoulder began hurting soon and my neck got very stiff. I still made it to the surf, but couldnt catch any waves. I was too tired by the time I got there, and the waves werent big at all, which made it even harder. So, I'm selling my board to get a long one.

Thanks to my surfing fiasco, I had to skip my Tu and Th swimming work out on my 3rd week due to shoulder and neck pain. I didnt want to hurt them so I figured it would be best to wait.


 On F, I walked on sand for about 45 min after a 45 min Pilates and a massage session with Bryan Jordan from Pilates Training Center in Kailua. Bryan worked on my stiff neck mostly, and on the trigger points on my my right arm below the elbow, and shoulder. It turned out I need to do more stretching- because all the swim muscles on the shoulders hurt too much when pressed. Bryan is very attentive to my body's needs and gives massages accordingly. He is also very good at teaching Pilates and making sure you do the moves with the right posture. For information on Bryan Jordan, please scroll down to the bottom of this post.


On Sat, I went swimming in Waikiki to make up for the skipped workouts. After swimming for 1000m, I swam a set of three 100m sprints, and I stopped after that getting anxious about  my shoulder.

On the weekends, I either hiked or kited, but I didnt get much kiting in because of wind. I'm happy the summer is approaching with steadier trades which means a lot more kiting or windsurfing time. 

I just got back from my Maui trip and I am more pumped than ever to get back to windsurfing which I havent done for a while. I was lucky that my spring break was on my resting week, the 4th week of every month, so I didnt have to worry about exercising while cruising on the island. It felt very good to be back on Maui and to be around some world-class windsurfers. I am hoping to spend some time there after I graduate this semester and try sailing and kitesurfing Hookipa. There aren't many people windsurfing on Oahu anymore- many of the former windsurfers switched to kitesurfing. On Maui, windsurfing is still very big and you get to interact with world-class, bad-ass sailors, which inspires you to become better! And, did I mention the killer deals you get on gear? I got two posters signed by Francisco Goya, the guy who inspired me to follow my dream of living in Hawaii when I had contacted him by e-mail 5 years ago from Turkey. Back then, Hawaii was nothing but a dream. He told me his unique story saying that I would find my own unique way of realizing my dream, which would be even more rewarding.  He was completely right. I received 100% scholarship and ended up on an island in the middle of nowhere dreaming of turning pro in windsurfing! Windsurfing and I decided to stay friends, however, and I fell for kitesurfing. :) 




So, I am just starting. There are so many aspects of my health I need to work on that it's crazy and overwhelming. Last friday, while I was getting a massage from Bryan Jordan, I felt way too much pain on my lower back close to my tailbone. He said the bone there could have moved. He said the name of it, but there is no way I can remember it! He referred me to a chiropractor. As of now, that area still hurts. Plus, sometimes I am still  in pain because of my bruised tail bone. I believe that my right wrist pain is caused my a misplaced bone, as well. My lower back hurts even when I am swimming, especially when I swim breast stroke. I hope a chiropractor visit will solve my joint and lower back problems once and for all! Oh, that would be sooo good... I;m sure my trainer would be happy about it, too! 

 Some photos I took on Maui... I thought I'd share...Enjoy!

HONOLUA BAY...

JAWS

My great companion on Maui, Alexandra, the manager of Paia Yoga

       

PAIA TOWN

HOOKIPA

HAIKU 

THE GOYA/QUATRO SHOP IN HAIKU 

THE SURFING GOAT FARM IN KULA 

I couldnt ask the owners why they cut off the goats' horns but I assume it's because they hurt each other with those horns. This does not mean, however, that I agree with this practice. To me, it's unethical to take away something an animal needs. Other than that, everything seemed to be fine in the farm. I was happy to see animals freely roaming. 

Innocence...

---

Bryan Jordan
Sacred Breath Healing Arts
Bryan@SacredBreathHealing.com
(808)782-9595
Chi Nei Tsang
Mind-Body Freedom Technique
Therapeutic Massage
Certified STOTT PILATES Instructor
Sound Therapy
Singing Crystal Bowl Concerts

Sacred Breath Healing Arts- Improving your health one breath at a time.

Jeff and I just finished a 4-week work-out program and I can already see a huge difference in my body and mood! I lost 4Ibs and the sluggishness that can take over me sometimes is gone. If I hadn’t eaten those brownies, I could weigh even less right now but hey, this is only the beginning! Thanks to the power of exercise, I feel like I lost even more weight- because I am a lot more energetic!




My joint problems of course still exist- after all they have been around for years and it will take more than just a month to heal them. I admit that I did a slightly bad job of keeping to the weight-lifting schedule that also included easy exercises for my wrists, so for next month I will make sure I won’t skip them. The calisthenics exercises were fine for my wrists for the most part, but I had a hard time sometimes and even had to omit one because of the pain. I like them a lot, though, because you use your own body weight and you don’t need machines to exercise. It lets your body turn to a free gym with no monthly fees!



My knees were fine in general. They hurt sometimes when I walked for 2 hours, which tells me they are still weak! Being overweight certainly wears your knee joints out. I remember times when I couldn’t kneel down to pick something up from the ground without going “oouuuch”! So, BEFORE you start freaking about your looks, you should get concerned about those knees and your health in general if you gained some evil pounds!



The part that I liked most was that all exercises could be done outside and some simply HAD to be done outside, such as walking on soft sand and swimming! Being a former competitive swimmer, I was happy to get back to it! I am a beach bum so I'd rather walk barefoot on sand than on a thread-mill watching a TV!There were days I couldn’t make it to the beach, however, so I walked in the Manoa Valley for 2 hours instead. I took my camera with me which made my walk all the more fun!



Before I had Jeff as my personal trainer, I tended to skip exercising, get lazy (or give in to tiredness) and I wasn’t as motivated. Having someone to guide you and care about you feels excellent! He knows my body’s weak points and he doesn’t push hard like many other trainers might assuming that if you push hard, you will get better! It doesn’t work that way. It’s all about listening to your body, and in our case, we get to listen to the sounds of nature, as well. I can’t wait for more…

P.S: We will be posting updates each week from now on! Stay tuned and dont forget to follow my blog as well!

Jeff Kozlovich is an Athlete, Lifeguard, EMT and Certified Personal Trainer who gives advice about health and fitness on his blog Koz Hawaii. He also works with individuals and groups with what he calls "Adventure Based Fitness Training."

Here are some things I think are important to know about health and fitness.

First I'll start with this disclaimer. I'm not a doctor. I'm not giving any advice on how to treat any particular medical problem. Doctors are good at spotting a disease, a little less good at figuring out a healthy way to cure one and almost no good at all in promoting health and fitness.

I'll be promoting health and fitness.

Diet.
There is a lot of information out there. Thousands of books and now mega gigs of info on the net. Some of it is conflicting but patterns are emerging. My research and my experience is this. Eat food that is as close as possible to the way it was in the pre-industrial world. If your great grandmother didn't use it (thank you Michael Pollan) or if our cro-magnon ancestors didn't wander across it (thank you Dr. Citron) - don't eat it.

In his book In Defense of Food Michael Pollan details the simultaneous rise of processed food products and heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes in post WWII America. His book is exceptionally well researched and the best book you can read if you want to understand diet in our American culture.

Almost all of the notions about diet and health in the past 50 years are fading away and we are left with the fact that modern food products are bad for our health and food in its natural state is good for our health.

So I eat food, I don't eat food products. (Well, hardly ever) I feel the same way about sports drinks. I don't take any vitamin or mineral supplements. Information on vitamin supplements is overwhelming now, too. No major study outside the supplement industry itself is showing that vitamin supplements work in improving health or treating illnesses. The American Heart Association and The American Cancer Society both spent many millions studying this and found that eating vitamin rich foods helped prevent and treat these diseases but taking vitamin supplements did not. Some studies found that some vitamin supplements (specifically anti oxidants) were detrimental to your health.

Exercise.
Ever since I gave my first bit of advice to someone about exercise, I've been hearing this: easy for you to exercise, you have lots energy. Sorry, that isn't true. It's the other way around. Because I exercise I have all this energy. Let me explain.

The physiology of fitness can be complex but there are some useful simplifications. Here's my favorite: heart health.

I'll start with me as an example. The two numbers that we need are my maximum heart rate and my resting heart rate.

The best way to get the max is to be hooked up to the EKG while on a tread mill and running like hell but a useful approximation is to subtract your age from 220. I'm 48 so that means I have an approximate max of 172. The resting heart rate should be taken after waking in the morning but before getting out of bed for best results. Last time I did this with a heart rate monitor it was 42.

Physiologists have discovered that the human body repairs tissue, grows muscle, and replaces glycogen when the heart is beating under approximately 50% of the maximum. Glycogen is the body's way of storing energy. If you don't have any reserves of glycogen you'll be feeling tired, fatigued and generally low energy and you won't be wanting to exercise. So in fitness terms being under that 50% of your max heart rate is rest. We all need it.

If my max is 172 then half of that (50%) is 86. I'm "resting" when my heart is beating less that 86 times a minute.

I exercise a lot. My heart is efficient and strong and it moves blood with less beats than someone who doesn't exercise. Thus, my low resting rate of 42.

My neighbor, we'll call him CP (Couch Potato) doesn't ever exercise. He is the same age as I am and thus he is resting when his heart rate is under 86, too. BUT he is starting out with a couch potato resting heart rate of 75. His heart is not strong and has to beat more often to move his blood around.

It probably won't occur to him but if it did and he wanted to walk to the store (a mile away) to get some beer his heart rate would go over 86 and he would not be resting. I do it all the time and my heart rate is still way under 86. Yeah, I walk a mile to the store and back and I'm still resting. Lots of things can spike my heart rate from stress to an exciting movie, from being sick to being scared but Ive got 44 beats to play with ( the difference between my resting heart rate of 42 and the 50% mark of 86) before I stop resting. CP only has 11. Being sick can spike his heart rate by 15 beats per minute and guess what? It will take him forever to get over it and it will drain him of any energy reserves. Many athletes do get sick and just keep going. They can be active and still rest.

I may exercise three or four hours a day but the other 20 I'm resting.
CP never exercises and may get only a few hours of rest if any from his 24.

Athletes have more energy because they rest more. They rest more because they have a stronger heart measured by a lower resting heart rate. You want more energy? Exercise.

If you need help send me an email at kozhawaii@gmail.com