Work-type questions

Topic: Work-type questions (Read 1373 times) previous topic - next topic

Work-type questions

October 16, 2005, 07:54:56 PM

This maintenance work thing is beating the out of me. I haven't walked without a limp for almost a month now, and I'm working on my very own rotator cuff injury.. not to mention the sunburns, going through about 3-4 shirts a day from all the sweating, (it's still 90 degrees every day down here) and all the other little annoying . (like the half dozen fire ant bites today)

Anyway, I'm not here to complain.. I'm looking to do something about it that doesn't involve quitting. I'm curious if any of you have experience with a couple things I'm looking into, to try and make work go by a little easier.

First is Under Armour. I get my new credit card this week, and I'm thinking about using it to order a bunch of UA stuff from Cabela's. I have one cheap knockoff shirt I got from Wal-Mart, and it does a decent job of getting the sweat away from me and keeping me a bit more comfortable.. but I hear UA is much better and I'd like some more confirmation than the occasional "review" (read: Epinions ramblings) I read on it. I'm looking mainly into the LooseGear stuff, but may also pick up some of the HeatGear stuff too. This stuff is expensive for work clothing.. but if it's better than the undershirt I use now, I'll get it. The expense is why I'm soliciting more opinions on/experiences with it.

Second is a good pair of walking shoes. With a 3-floor/42 rooms per floor motel, I do a LOT of walking. At first I thought it would be a good idea to get a pair of steel toed shoes since I work with a few things that could be painful when dropped on my feet, like those motel room A/C units and such. However, I have extremely flat feet (I was initially rejected when I tried to enlist in the Navy nuke program, and it was due to my feet) and these shoes are driving me insane. ($25 Wal-Mart waterproof steel toe mid-high-top work shoes) If any of you do an abnormal amount of walking, I'd like to hear your opinions on dealing with it. I'm considering these New Balance Postal (postal approved or something like that) shoes I see in the Cabela's catalog, but they're $80. I'm wondering if shoes like that are worth the price they demand.

I don't want to go insane with this new credit card.. I'm only working on my fourth paycheck, and pulling in around $210 a week at that. (still part time, 4 days a week) I intentionally applied for the lowest credit card my credit union offered, so I couldn't rack up a huge balance and I could pay it off reasonably fast. Have to be smart about what I use it for.

OK, that's enough of turning the board into an off-topic advice column for one night. :p

Work-type questions

Reply #1 – October 16, 2005, 11:20:10 PM

well if the military uses under armor for all there soldgers then its gotta be good. and for shoes you get what you pay for literally. i bought some oakley shoes for skateboardsrs and there very comfortabul. there normally 120 but i got em on sale for 60. so look for good shoes that are on sale about now.

Work-type questions

Reply #2 – October 17, 2005, 12:03:56 AM

While it's all well and good that the military uses it, I was hoping for a bit more personal experience with the product. Ideally, I'd like to find someone or several people who have used both HeatGear and LooseGear, to give their opinions on both. I would think HeatGear would be more effective, being tight to the skin and all.. but I don't like the tightness of the UA-ripoff shirt I have now. Barring that, a few more experiences with LooseGear would be nice to hear about.

On an unrelated but still on-topic note: I've spent the entire night researching my foot problems. It's far more complicated than I thought, and probably best for me not to just pick a brand and type and just buy it sight unseen. At the very least, I'll have to Email someone about it.. or find a reputable shoe store in town that knows how to address my foot problems. (overpr0nation, flat feet, high susceptibility to inversion sprains, etc.)

Work-type questions

Reply #3 – October 17, 2005, 01:35:33 AM

Quote

I've spent the entire night researching my foot problems. It's far more complicated than I thought.

Lemme guess.... pain on the bottom of your foot that is actually worse the next morning after you've rested it and gets better as you use it throughout the day?

Work-type questions

Reply #4 – October 17, 2005, 06:40:27 AM

I don't think that's the case. My pain is all over both feet, top and bottom, plus into my lower legs. Yes, it does hurt the next morning, like right now.. but it isn't worse than the day before.

Work-type questions

Reply #5 – October 17, 2005, 07:50:09 AM

My son in law has issues with his feet, I'll ask if he has any suggestions. He's a hunter, so he has some knowledge of the Cabelas products..

Work-type questions

Reply #6 – October 17, 2005, 02:26:11 PM

You could try some orthotics. I'm not sure how they'd work with the symptoms you describe. They are designed to take pressure off your arches.

Work-type questions

Reply #7 – October 17, 2005, 04:28:48 PM

Well, I got rid of the memory foam shoe inserts I bought, (supposedly good for work shoes) and today I probably lost about 1/6th of the pain I usually have by the end of the day. Would've been a little bit more significant reduction in pain, except I stepped in a hole in a ditch and twisted my ankle. (nothing severe) While that reduction in pain is probably a good thing, it's still above my threshhold of what I consider acceptable levels of pain at the end of the day.

Now that I've researched this overpr0nation thing and my flat feet, I'll probably pick up some good motion control walking shoes this week.

Work-type questions

Reply #8 – October 17, 2005, 04:34:19 PM

I've noticed that rotating from insert to no insert ever week seems to keep my foot pain at bay. Of course I don't have flat feet, just cheap shoes.

Work-type questions

Reply #9 – October 17, 2005, 11:59:44 PM

Vans are good for comfort when you are on your feet all day. And if you need lots of movement, then a flat bottomed low ankle type would work fine. Kinda like these

Work-type questions

Reply #10 – October 18, 2005, 07:58:53 PM

I guess those would work, but they'd have to be motion-control shoes. Motion-control shoes have special springs in the bottoms that force you to move in a more normal fashion if you're having problems with overpr0nation.. and I am. I can see it when I walk, if I watch my ankles. My ankles do this >< (exaggerated, of course) when I walk. In the diagram below, this is meant to be the right foot:

Work-type questions

Reply #11 – October 18, 2005, 08:22:45 PM

OK, I think I mentioned that I would come back to this thread with other stuff.. now is as good a time as any, I guess.

Another thing I need to deal with for work is my weight. I am always going to be in pain due to the back disease, (it's very similar to rheumatoid arthritis.. it will be attacking my joints for the rest of my life, among other effects) but being overweight is making it worse.

At one point in '93, I was around 156 lbs.. after living with a chick from Ireland (and being stuck eating their awful diet because she was so ed picky) for a couple years, I ballooned to 211. Went on some (improperly prescribed, I now think) anti-depressants for awhile and they made me gain another 10-15 pounds. Last year's heavy post-hurricane beer binge sealed the deal, and now my supposed-to-be 156 lb. body is stuck around 235-237. The spondy (slang term for my disease) and the beating I'm taking at work will make it that much more difficult to drop weight, but I need (and desperately want) to try. I'd settle for 35-50 lbs lost.

Where the request for advice comes in is twofold: 1) Exercise equipment, and 2) diet.

1) Exercise equipment: I still have a bunch of free weights laying around from the last time I tried to kick this.. and I have access to one of those running machines like from Eric's last avatar pic. (YOU CAN DO IIIIIIIT, etc.) Also have an 18-speed bike out in the shed that I never use, but probably will fix up and use again on top of all this. What I'm looking into is something similar to a Bowflex, since space is at a premium in the house (4 adults and 7 cats living in a 2/1 house.. soon to have a second bathroom, at least) and I'd like to get the most out of the two machines plus the weights.

Now I probably won't go for the Bowflex itself, because a close friend of mine tried to buy outright from them, and they kept badgering and badgering him to get financing (to squeeze more money out of him, of course) until he hung up on them and found some generic version he could buy outright. However, I've come across another generic version/ripoff, (from Weider.. had a weight bench from them, but it fell apart and now sits out front for me to paint car trim pieces on) and was hoping for either advice/opinions on it, or some suggested alternatives:

http://www.crossbarfitness.com/crossbar/index.html

2) Diet. Most importantly, I have two requirements from the disease angle: Must cut down on starches, (like potatoes, etc.) and must cut down on sugar. Beyond that, I'm hoping to find some solid non-trendy (so Atkins-type diets are out, even if my dietary needs from AS mean I can eat lots of meats) diet that will complement the increased activity level + exercise nicely. If a supplement will help, I'll pick that up too. (but I'm generally wary of that kind of thing)

A note for anyone who may think to suggest I just go out for a walk: I live in a neighborhood with maybe 4-5 houses in a 1-mile stretch of road, and that road runs next to a cbuttstuff.. I don't know if it's there now, but we've had LARGE (we're talking 14-16 ft.) alligators in it before. Absolutely mauled an adult black Lab dog down the road a few years back.. from what I heard, it bit its back two legs and ass end completely off. (although from what I've watched and read about alligators, that doesn't sound 100% right to me) That kind of thing is often on my mind, even when I'm out working on my cars.. since the cbuttstuff is maybe 100 ft. away from where I park. We also have some decently-sized land wildlife, like bobcats and foxes and racpuppiess as large as some medium-sized dogs. (like 20 lb. or better) I'd mention the wealth of poisonous snakes down here, but I don't see them on the roads too often. Needless to say, I don't feel walking/running is the safest of exercise around here. (my rifle is too large to carry around, and I don't keep a pistol.. although I've thought of getting a BB pistol or something just to scare off hazardous wildlife)

http://www.takeourword.com/TOW197/page5.html

(link and pic thrown in for humorous effect)