Healing Up Well

 Training to get back to your full strength is never easy and can be frustrating because you're at limited capacity. Some of the simplest tasks can be difficult but you push through because you don't to just lay around and not do a damn thing. With the way my hip has gone, it's healing up pretty damn well. Been seeing a chiropractor and going for a few more adjustments and had a massage yesterday which really loosened everything up.

Little by little I'm doing what is helping with recovery like the Isometrics, Stretching, Step Ups, some Crawling and other things. Yesterday, I did some sledge striking for the first time in a while with my 31 lb Giants Hammer, getting in 120 reps. Could easily do more but didn't want to push it any further than I had to. I felt it for sure but I wasn't in pain (merely discomfort). I expect things out of myself and not to prove how tough I 'am or trying to hide the pain but to progress little by little while being aware of what I can and can't do. Sometimes we push ourselves beyond what we know is right to do and rarely it comes out good, most of the time it ends up biting us in the ass.

It's not just knowing your limits either, it's about understanding them and finding ways to adjust so you can maintain or get better as time goes on. It's easy to act all macho and that pain is temporary and keeping that "pain is telling you you're not dead" mentality but unless it's under severe circumstances, for normal everyday life, there are ways to make the pain worse and add time onto it and not get rid of it completely. Learn the difference between pushing through pain as if your life depended on it and recovering so you can be efficient. 

My hip is getting better to the point where my flexibility is coming back and it's not shooting down my leg so much along with not being able to sit right. When you know things are working, it gets better as time goes on. When it's not working, you need to reassess so you can find the right "formula" for you to recover. Experiment and be aware of what feels right and what doesn't. We all recover differently and it's not a good idea to push the same direction of a method because some things don't work for certain people and injuries and pain tolerance is different. Work with your own style to get back to your strongest again without pain and suffering.

Train to be efficient, don't train to suffer more pain than what you're already dealing with because that could lead to problems not just in the physical but the mental as well. I know what it's like to be in pain but also take the frustration with that pain onto others which is never a good idea cause you might say things in the heat of a moment that can never be taken back. Pain can do a number on us and no matter how much we deny it, it can put us on a path that hurts others along with ourselves in the end. So train to get yourself out of pain so it doesn't cost you more time later. 

Keep being amazingly awesome and have a kick ass day.   

A Setback Can Be A Blessing In Disguise

Injuries happen and we can't always be in control of when they happen but we can choose to either work with it (depending on the significance) or give up on ourselves and let the injury completely defeat us. Although pain tells us we're not dead, it's not a great thing to deal with either (unless you got some twisted fetish when it comes to pain LOL). 

Back on Friday April 28th, I was going for my Hill Sprint Workout when by the 2nd or 3rd sprint, the lower right side of my body just about collapsed on me and there was an excruciating amount of pain that nearly resembled the pain I felt when I had my leg injuries. If I would've kept going despite the pain, I would be rolling in a ditch next to the road and wouldn't have been able to get up and go home and I didn't have my cell on me to call anybody. My instincts kicked in to immediately stop and truly assess the pain I was in. It was so bad that to me it was a miracle I was able to walk back home. 

I knew exactly why this happened and I only have myself to blame. A few days earlier, I was going for a workout with the 70 lb. kettlebell doing deadlifts and do shoulder carries with my 50 lb. sandbell. In the first round of the wotkout, something tweaked in my lower back on the right side. I knew I had to stop and just do something else. I went out the next day doing Sprints and I felt a little something but still managed the 6 sprints I was going for. Took it slightly easy on that Thursday but on Friday it just took me out. It was literally hitting me around 3/4 of the way into my 3rd sprint when the pain was too much to go on. 

I got an appointment with the chiropractor and the pain went down slightly and my posture was better but it didn't 100% fix the problem. It's most likely a sciatica injury and it has shifted from my lower back to my right hip. The pain comes and goes and my flexibility is limited to not even sit in a lotus position without being in pain. Heat and Ice was barely doing anything. Me & my wife went on our anniversary trip to Quinn's Hot Springs the following Monday the 1st until we came home Friday on the 5th. It was difficult being comfortable and the pain would shoot up to about an 8 every couple hours or so. Although it was a fun trip, it could've been better if I had not been in agony the majority of the time and I feel bad that I put her through that. In the pools, it helped lessen the inflammation and pain especially in the cold plunge they had there that was between 55-60 degrees Fahrenheit. It wasn't a bad trip by any means, we had a blast and met new people and ate awesome food and chilled out by the pools as much as possible, just sucked that I wasn't at my best. 

Throughout the trip, my training mainly consisted of Joint Loosening, Deep Breathing, Isometrics and walking to the pools. Stretching little by little to not feel pain as much as I could but I wish I could say it wasn't hurting when I stretched. It's a big lesson to learn when you sustain an injury and do whatever you can to heal up. I won't be doing almost anything hardcore including Sprints until I feel 100% which can take a couple weeks. I'm not giving up on my training, just need to let things die down, reduce inflammation and rejuvenate. Focus on flexibility, Isometric Training, some Suspension work and do Step Ups for my legs. The Step Ups are a godsend in this manner since I don't feel as much pain on a scale 1-10 which for the Step Ups is no more than a 3. 15 minutes is my max time and no more than 12-15 reps per leg. 

Pain and Injury is a teacher and it gives you an opportunity to learn what you're capable of mentally and understanding the value of instincts, being aware of what can be done in the moment in time along with making the choices to give yourself time to heal. I'm not the type of person that scarfs down pain pills, muscle relaxers to make myself better. The only things I've taken pill wise to help reduce the inflammation is nothing more than something similar to aspirin and so far since this happened I've only taken them twice. I hate meds with a passion and unless I'm in a hospital bed, you won't see me take anything more than an Advil.

I will get back to full strength soon enough and kick ass the way I was meant to. Take care of your body as much as you can without going overboard. Be smart in your training and keep the injuries to a minimum. I've said it before that we can't 100% prevent an injury but we can reduce the chances significantly if we keep ourselves in check. Stay strong, take care of yourselves and keep being amazingly awesome. 

Working Out While Playing Video Games

 Video Games have been a part of my life since the late 80's playing Super Mario Brothers. Believe it or not, if I remember correctly, my mom actually got me into them because she wanted me to have something to enjoy while I developed my dexterity in my right hand. Although the controller mainly has you using the thumb (especially back in those days when 2-3 buttons were on the right hand side) I learned to use my thumb, pinky and trigger finger which in those early days were a huge thing for me because with most things, I would just try to grip. Still played outside and did many activities as a kid but it was fun playing Sonic, Super Mario Brothers, Quackshot, Star Wars and even Toe Jam & Earl at one point. 

Exercise and Video Games may not sound like they go hand and hand but if you had an imagination, you can create some cool workouts. This was long before Dance, Dance Revolution, the Wii and Kinetic. One of the early games that had you actually moving your body to the controls was that step pad you plugged into to play track and field games like the 100 meters and triple jump. You literally moved your feet like those football drills or sprinting in place in order for the game to work.

Although you have more options today using VR and other things, there's still a small percentage of people who actually exercise while playing Video Games. Every once in a while, I would play baseball or whatever game and at some point, push-ups and squats would be involved. Take for instance playing baseball (this is especially fun if you do 1 on 1 with another person), say you chose to do Push-ups for hitting and Squats for Strikeouts; if you're just playing by yourself you can do 5 push-ups for every hit you make and 10 Squats if you struck out or you strike the batter out. If you're playing with another person (online doesn't count since you can't see the other person) in 2 player mode, they would have to do 10 squats every time they struck out and you have to do 5 push-ups if they get a hit and vice versa. Playing alone, I would at times be getting in as many as 100-150 Squats and over 100 push-ups. It makes things interesting.

You can do this with any game and pick the exercises you want. There's no limit to what you can come up, just don't be throwing controllers or punching objects unless it's a heavy bag. There are a lot of people out there that believe Video Games cause violent tendencies and/or have kids be lazy which isn't always the case. Yes there have been times where a controller may get broken and you might be high on something but all in all, Video Games don't necessarily cause someone to go out on a killing spree or go knock out a hooker, hell you won't see many people try to jump off a building because it happens in a Video Game. We can make video games interesting and different. We can make them productive both mentally and physically. I do realize some people do nothing but play Video Games to the point where they become Vitamin D deficient and need real interaction and remember there is still humans out in the world. 

Video Games these days compared to the 80's and 90's might as well be two different planets since these days it's all about buying up stuff and overreacting to some 10 year old kicking your ass or a 400 lb guy with Cheeto dust on his lips acting like he can fight. Back in the day, you had kids who came in after tiring out playing street ball or doing stuff at the park and just chill out playing Mortal Kombat or Tony Hawk's Pro Skater seeing how many flips you can make more than the other kid. It was a completely different atmosphere and a very different aspect of interacting. I do miss those days where we would all play a game or two outside and come back in and try to one up each other playing baseball, racing games and playing Guitar Hero or Tony Hawk. We would even make little bets that were pretty innocent (nothing over the top disgusting) depending on what game we played. If we took that piece of innocence and molded it into something that can be used for exercise, there would be way fitter gamers. 

Make your playing time extra fun and enjoyable, challenge each other in a different way and compete with positive intentions. If you literally have to get into fist fights with someone playing with you over who can outrun the cops in Grand Theft Auto, you need some serious therapy. Be smart, be kind to one another and keep being amazingly awesome.