Inflation at 53-year low as QE money printing rages unabated!

[Ricter]

Shin splits are usually an indication that your ankle tissues or your posterior chain (from achilles to the glutes) are tight/weak. Time to strengthen or stretch those muscles.

Zero-rise or Vibrams should help with the ankles and feet.

Calf raises should help strengthen/stretch the calves.

If you have low back pain too (or lordosis from too much sitting), then I'd focus on stretching/strengthening your glutes, hip flexors, and hamstrings. This page has some good stretches for the hips - hip /glutes/hammie stretchs.

Squats (air or barbell) and deadlifts help also, if you're so inclined.

The lower leg issues may sort themselves out in a few weeks if you perform these consistently.

In my experience, shin splints are caused by weak anterior aka front muscles of the lower leg, so I would never expect calf raises or stretches to help much there. My leg routine includes "toe curls" with a dumbbell. I lie flat on my back, legs outstretched as much as possible but still allow the toes to be put under the db handle (I use Powerblocks), and I raise the db off the floor and towards my knee, using a weight that only allows (after warmup), 15 to 21 reps.

Edit: when you first start doing this you may find that your toes, thanks to exhaustion of the muscles above, "float" lower than you're accustomed to, so be careful you don't trip going UP the stairs. : )

 

[Ricter]

Bookmarked.

Fair enough. But does Pimco's commentator mean declining food prices, or declining food price inflation?

 

[Tsing Tao]

Fair enough. But does Pimco's commentator mean declining food prices, or declining food price inflation?

If it is "relief at the supermarket" then it is declining prices. Declining inflation would mean more pain (unless wages somehow vaulted forward - which is just as much "hope" as that of declining food prices).

 

[Ricter]

If it is "relief at the supermarket" then it is declining prices. Declining inflation would mean more pain (unless wages somehow vaulted forward - which is just as much "hope" as that of declining food prices).

My perspective is that there is nearly always some inflation, and so I never expect food prices to fall. So, "relief at the supermarket" for me would be if they increase in price more slowly, or even imperceptibly (which is mostly true for me).

 

[jem]

excellent... I look forward to the report.

I just bought a pair of these true linkswear sensei shoes, apparently someone completed a marathon in them and they are golf shoes, saw a couple articles on them in golf magazines. Then i also picked up a pair of the tour shoes, i figured its my firsy time trying these zero drop shoes, and they are cheap so i can just throw them out if i dont like them, not much for style, but if they get the job done ill be happy, just sick of getting shin splints on the 14th or 15th hole every time i go golfing. Ill let you know how they work out.

http://www.truelinkswear.com/shop/mens/sensei.html

http://www.truelinkswear.com/shop/mens/tour.html

 

[blah12345678]

In my experience, shin splints are caused by weak anterior aka front muscles of the lower leg, so I would never expect calf raises or stretches to help much there. My leg routine includes "toe curls" with a dumbbell. I lie flat on my back, legs outstretched as much as possible but still allow the toes to be put under the db handle (I use Powerblocks), and I raise the db off the floor and towards my knee, using a weight that only allows (after warmup), 15 to 21 reps.

Edit: when you first start doing this you may find that your toes, thanks to exhaustion of the muscles above, "float" lower than you're accustomed to, so be careful you don't trip going UP the stairs. : )

I'd argue that shin splits are the result, not the cause. The cause would be tightness/weakness in the complementary tissues due to incomplete functioning - failure to flex or relax completely through the complete range of motion. The extra stress is transferred to the tibial muscles to compensate. Too much stress = pain and inflammation.

Wikipedia, for what's worth, seems to partly agree with me - Wikipedia. Other factors to consider are bad foot wear, poor mechanics/form, and doing too much too soon.

Years of running experience + too much time spent trying to resolve my lower leg issues tend color my opinions also...

But, as always, I could be wrong. I'm open-minded to trying new things to see if they help or hurt. Same with my suggestions - they may help or they make things worse. Either way, he should should give it a try and see if it alleviates his pain.

 

[Ricter]

I'd argue that shin splits are the result, not the cause. The cause would be tightness/weakness in the complementary tissues due to incomplete functioning - failure to flex or relax completely through the complete range of motion. The extra stress is transferred to the tibial muscles to compensate. Too much stress = pain and inflammation.

Wikipedia, for what's worth, seems to partly agree with me - Wikipedia. Other factors to consider are bad foot wear, poor mechanics/form, and doing too much too soon.

Years of running experience + too much time spent trying to resolve my lower leg issues tend color my opinions also...

But, as always, I could be wrong. I'm open-minded to trying new things to see if they help or hurt. Same with my suggestions - they may help or they make things worse. Either way, he should should give it a try and see if it alleviates his pain.

Agreed, greater tibial muscle strength can't hurt. And it's also worth an experiment since so few ever target those muscles in their workouts (like neck).

 

[Tsing Tao]

My perspective is that there is nearly always some inflation, and so I never expect food prices to fall. So, "relief at the supermarket" for me would be if they increase in price more slowly, or even imperceptibly (which is mostly true for me).

As someone who is in the food industry, price increases are driven by two main causes - input costs (some raw material like pork or corn or whatever goes up) and category equalization pricing, which is usually corrective (Oreos is the market leader and chips-a-hoy wants to be 10% below avg pricing at shelf, but is 20%, so they take price).

The former occurs industry wide and is normally done together during periods of high commodity pricing. There are rarely price declines (but they do exist) as CPG companies are worried that declines are not permanent (and in the last 10 years, they haven't been). The volatility kills CPG companies as many of them do not hedge.

But prices can stay the same for years and then spike suddenly.

 

[Ricter]

EIA Petroleum Status Report

"Highlights
"Record levels of domestic production continue to drive oil inventories higher, up 3.5 million barrels in the April 18 week to 397.7 million. Refineries, in line with seasonality, are picking up the pace of production, operating at 91.1 percent of capacity for the highest reading since early January. Despite the strong output, product inventories are little changed, down 0.3 million barrels for gasoline and up 0.6 million barrels for distillates. Wholesale supplies look thin for gasoline, up only 1.8 percent year-on-year, which points to further strength for gasoline production. In contrast, distillate inventories look heavy, up 5.2 percent for the highest reading since early February. The price of oil is down about 50 cents and under $101.50 in reaction to the headline build in oil. "

<img src="http://bloomberg.econoday.com/showimage.asp?imageid=26414">

 

[Lucrum]

<img src="http://bloomberg.econoday.com/showimage.asp?imageid=26414">

<div><a href="http://www.infomine.com/investment/metal-prices/crude-oil/5-year/"><img border="0" src="http://charts.infomine.com?386" alt="5 Year Crude Oil Prices - Crude Oil Price Chart" width="180" height="150" /></a></div>