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Falling Down

Haphazard

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I fall down when I'm walking across/down hills

I learned this during gym class. We did some 'powerwalk' or whatever around the campus and I fell. Half the class passed me while I was trying to get up. I spent so much time trying to go down hills carefully when people kept yelling at me to catch up with the rest of the class that I fell really far behind.

Yes I know I'm a lazy fat fuck and deserve all of this humiliation but I managed to keep up when we were doing this on a flat track.

I also have a lot of problems balancing on one leg and doing all the jumping on one foot that's required of me for this class.

My body seems to not want me to fall down (go figure) so I'll have trouble proving that I'm having problems.

What's wrong with me.

What can I do to walk right again.
 

poppy

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I wish I could help you out with that. I can't run on treadmills for the same reason, I trip over my own feet every time. It's pretty weird.

Maybe when you're on a hill you could relax your stride, not do whatever powerwalk you're supposed to be doing. If you're tensing up and trying to move in a way that's unnatural for you that could be a lot of the problem.

I dunno about balancing and jumping on one foot, sounds like a strange PE class to me.
 

Haphazard

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Maybe when you're on a hill you could relax your stride, not do whatever powerwalk you're supposed to be doing. If you're tensing up and trying to move in a way that's unnatural for you that could be a lot of the problem.

But then I slow down. The point is to stay ahead of the teacher aid in the back, so falling behind him means you lose points.
 

poppy

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But then I slow down. The point is to stay ahead of the teacher aid in the back, so falling behind him means you lose points.

I am so glad to be done with Phys ed.

I don't have any super original ideas, but the way I see it you've got some options:

You could try practicing on hills on your own time, to see if either you can adapt to that type of movement or adjust it in such a way that you can still keep up but without the tripping and falling bit. Maybe a modified jog? Powerwalking can easily become power-shuffling so moving your speed up a notch might make your movement a little more fluid.

Or you could try to develop more strength in your legs through other forms of exercise...

But probably the best way to assess what's not right with your gait is to go out and practice, or consult someone who knows about that kind of thing, like a personal trainer.
 

Haphazard

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You could try practicing on hills on your own time, to see if either you can adapt to that type of movement or adjust it in such a way that you can still keep up but without the tripping and falling bit. Maybe a modified jog? Powerwalking can easily become power-shuffling so moving your speed up a notch might make your movement a little more fluid.

Interesting. Now how to make running down hills not terrifying?

But probably the best way to assess what's not right with your gait is to go out and practice, or consult someone who knows about that kind of thing, like a personal trainer.

A personal trainer sounds expensive. How do I assess what's wrong with my own gait?
 

poppy

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Interesting. Now how to make running down hills not terrifying?

Lol can't help you there. For clutsy people running down hills will always present a uniquely terrifying experience :D

A personal trainer sounds expensive. How do I assess what's wrong with my own gait?
Yeah, I once joined a gym and the price was a little ridiculous, but it came with several free sessions with a trainer that were very helpful.

If you have a video camera, you could set it up and film yourself and review the footage to see if anything about it jumps out at you. Or maybe an athletic friend could help you out? Otherwise you could try to think about what specifically is going wrong (ankles collapsing, not being able to balance) and target those areas. Maybe you need better/new/different shoes?

If balance is a big problem, you could try something a little weird. I did marching band for a while and we had to work on developing a good roll-step, where you shift your weight smoothly and roll from the ball of one foot to the heel of the next. It keeps you from bobbing up and down and gives you a more controlled step (as well as being a killer workout for the legs).
 

Haphazard

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Lol can't help you there. For clutsy people running down hills will always present a uniquely terrifying experience :D

I don't get it. You're supposed to be faster going down hill, not slower. Perhaps I should take advantage of my near-spherical shape and just roll down the hill, then?

Yeah, I once joined a gym and the price was a little ridiculous, but it came with several free sessions with a trainer that were very helpful.

If you have a video camera, you could set it up and film yourself and review the footage to see if anything about it jumps out at you. Or maybe an athletic friend could help you out? Otherwise you could try to think about what specifically is going wrong (ankles collapsing, not being able to balance) and target those areas. Maybe you need better/new/different shoes?

If balance is a big problem, you could try something a little weird. I did marching band for a while and we had to work on developing a good roll-step, where you shift your weight smoothly and roll from the ball of one foot to the heel of the next. It keeps you from bobbing up and down and gives you a more controlled step (as well as being a killer workout for the legs).

By 'expensive', I mean 'completely out of the question'. I mean I am completely broke and have no way to get to a gym. So impossible. Which also means new shoes are out of the question, too.

I may just have to go directly to the gym teachers themselves because my friends are mostly as spherical as I am.

Though I don't think it will help with keeping up with the rest of the class I may have to try this roll-step.
 

poppy

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I don't get it. You're supposed to be faster going down hill, not slower. Perhaps I should take advantage of my near-spherical shape and just roll down the hill, then?

:laugh: I thought I saw a picture of you once...? No? Cuddling with a huge dog? If that was you, then you're not in the least bit spherical, so rolling down that hill might prove a challenge.

By 'expensive', I mean 'completely out of the question'. I mean I am completely broke and have no way to get to a gym. So impossible. Which also means new shoes are out of the question, too.

I may just have to go directly to the gym teachers themselves because my friends are mostly as spherical as I am.

Though I don't think it will help with keeping up with the rest of the class I may have to try this roll-step.

Best of luck :yes:
 

Athenian200

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That reminds me of something I went through when I was 7. I had this gym teacher named Ms. Tucker. She would force all the kids to run, and one day she ran me so hard that I threw up. I joked while I was in the nurse's office that I now understood why they called it being "tuckered out."

She didn't make me run anymore after that...

I don't know how it works over where you are, but I know that, for me, P.E. wasn't a real grade and that they'd pass you for effort even if you did everything wrong consistently. So I just did the parts of the workout that I could do easily, and did a very, very sloppy and easier imitation of the other parts. If I was corrected, I'd pretend not to know what they were talking about... eventually they'd just give up and let me do it my way, giving me a passing grade.

So basically, if you can find some way to make it look like you're trying, but can't do any better, they should eventually just let it go... unless they're extremely anal, nosy jerks.
 

FDG

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Well, your teacher is a fag, because if somebody is heavy, he/she MUST go slowly while going down hills, since there will be a lot of weight pressure on their knees. Amping up the speed will likely result in an injury.
 

Haphazard

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Well, your teacher is a fag, because if somebody is heavy, he/she MUST go slowly while going down hills, since there will be a lot of weight pressure on their knees. Amping up the speed will likely result in an injury.

Can you cite your sources on this one?

Also, I do not think the gym teacher will see a problem because we are going "slow" -- power walking instead of jogging or running.
 

SerengetiBetty

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i mean changing your step pattern so that you cover more distance with each step. basically you'd be reaching your foot out a bit further than you normally would on flat terrain.
 

jenocyde

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Yes I know I'm a lazy fat fuck and deserve all of this humiliation but I managed to keep up when we were doing this on a flat track.

Don't be so hard on yourself.


I wish I could help you but I am very clumsy myself, often falling out of bed even in my sleep... But maybe you can walk with one of those walking poles that people use for hiking, to keep your equilibrium? Maybe you could even get a doctor's note to let your teacher allow you to use one?
 

Haphazard

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i mean changing your step pattern so that you cover more distance with each step. basically you'd be reaching your foot out a bit further than you normally would on flat terrain.

I mean because my lets are such stubby little things in the first place I thought I was pushing my stride as far as I could go, but I'll have to check again...
 

JocktheMotie

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I'd look at your weight distribution and things like how your feet make contact with ground. If you have flat feet, you're going to be hopeless, there isn't much you can do other than practicing walking on the balls of your feet a bit.

Don't really have an issue with balance [thank you TaeKwonDo!] so much as running into things. I remember during my little boot camp thing I did last year, I stepped and got my feet caught on a little plastic hoop on the ground and went down...however still had the athleticism to tuck and roll and spring right back up!

Once a ninja, always a ninja.
 

Haphazard

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I'd look at your weight distribution and things like how your feet make contact with ground.

Umm. I was looking at how I walk more critically today and I noticed that I walk on each foot differently. Is this a problem?
 
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