November 2004. Hello, everyone! And good Saturday morning. I am writing you at 8:30am on Saturday, November 6th ...from a very good place.

I just had a fabulous week, which was a nice turn from the stress of the last week, and ended the work week with a lovely, romantic date with my sweet, adoring and handsome husband. I'm floating on the clouds of love this morning as "Love Songs" emanate into the room from Napster's "Love Songs" radio channel. You know, it makes for a very romantic setting at night with candles lit all over, and on top of a personal pizza from Pizza Uno (I've been really good this week so could afford it!), the warm satisfied belly and the warm scented skin of my husband (along with his adoring eyes), put the evening over the top. I would love to start the day playing with him -- running , walking, whatever, but he has a caricature "gig" this morning. So, I made him a fabulous breakfast (sliced pear with cinnamon, strawberries with ricotta-cream, oatmeal with almond extract, cinnamon and almond slivers, and scrambled eggs with cheese--he's a carbo-type), and I'm now turning to my second love -- helping you all!

First, I hope that you have love in your lives. Partners should lift and build you up. They should improve the quality of your life and help you get to new levels. They should adore you and make you laugh. You should enjoy them so much that they become your very best friend. I hope you have that (now "When a man loves a woman is playing on the radio")! Oh...the romance.

Lest any of you turn off the computer at this point, I'll move on!!! : )

Okay...I had a a great week of working out. And I "cured" myself of some tendonitis this week, so I thought I would share the secret to getting past tendonitis today.

First, what is it? Old schoolers will tell you that any time "itis" is in a word, it means that something is inflamed. BUT new research indicates that there isn't necessarily inflammation, and, in fact, traditional tendonitis treatment (ie, rest, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, orthotics, cortisone injections, icing, ultrasound, and conventional physical therapy) are not very successful, and about 25 per cent of athletes who suffer from chronic tendonitis problems end up undergoing surgery.

Believe me, in my field, I both see and personally experience tendonitis. It started a few years ago when I was doing heavy stiff-legged deadlifts to build up my hamstrings. I would pile 45-lb plates on a long bar (45 lbs) and bend forward at the hips with straight legs while the bar was in my hands at the end of straight arms. While my legs, hips and back could handle the effort, my elbows and forearms suffered. After a while I was doing double ice baths (i.e. each elbow had it's own bowl full of it as I leaned over into them for 15 minutes) and could not find relief. None of the traditional modes of treatment worked. So I quit doing the exercise when my hamstrings became fully developed and eventually the pain went away .

But since then, I have discovered studies which indicate that fully stressing the muscle associated with the specific tendon is what is needed. That it is the weakness of the associated muscle that causes the tendon to have to overwork and the associated overtraining pain which doesn't improve because the associated muscle doesn't get stronger. Hmmm... I further learned a few months ago that it is specifically eccentric exercise (i.e. "negatives") that work. My rehab specialist client explained to me that this is because eccentric contractions cause greater damage to the muscle which puts it quickly and immediately into a "healing" mode -- it rebuilds more effectively.

So...I tried it on several clients and guess what? It not only worked, but worked amazingly! I have a client who had been avoiding any sort of arm strengthing because her elbow/tendon hurt so badly. It was so bad that she has done ultrasound and other treatments that were unsuccessful. So, one day we pulled out an elbow strap and I had her do heavy reverse-grip bicep curls (to strengthen her forearms) with the ez-curl bar. I helped her pull the bar up (because it was too heavy for her) and then she would sink the bar back down as slowly as she could to her hips. It hurt, but guess what? She was markedly improved the next day. After just 2-3 weeks of 1-2x per week one set each time her pain completely went away. And...it hasn't come back. Even after having to lay off exercise for 2-3 weeks due to a severe skin reaction to some plants, it didn't come back. She is pain free!

And since running the trails I have experienced achilles tendon pain in both heels. When I wake up in the a.m. I hobble like a duck as they fire and twinge and snap as I go down the stairs. After working them for 5 minutes they get better, but burn and twitch when I run and especially afterward. So this week when I remembered the eccentric study (there is so much information I forget it some times!), I did JUST ONE heavy calf exercise on the standing calf press machine. I set it at 120 lbs and did 4 sets of 8-12, and guess what? The next morning the pain and every other issue associated with my achilles were gone. Completely gone. And they haven't come back.

Strength training cures tendonitis.

And my rotator cuff has been acting up for the 1st time in my life. Again, after remembering the solution (after the calf-achilles success), now when I'm driving (which I do all day long), I do rotator cuff exercises right in the car (put your arm straight out to the side then bend your elbow so that your forearm points directly upward which puts your elbow at 90 degree angle, then resist yourself as the forearm drops forward and again as you pull it back upward while keeping your upper arm directly outward the whole time), and the stinging has disappeared.

Try it, you may be happily surprised!

Angela