This was commented on by Sifu Masterson a few weeks ago, and
as we start the year of the snake I am going to comment on this as I see it
pertaining to myself. Now I am not the oldest person on the team, and I am not certain
that I am even in the top 5, but it does affect me. Compared to when I was 17
and joined the military, bullet proof and invincible as only a 17 year old can
be, I do not heal as fast, and seem to be injured easier. Actually at 17 I was
not that bad, being the youngest & smallest guy in class taught me a few
rough lessons, combined with life-long lung issues. Some of these lessons were learned the hard
way, such as let’s give the smallest guy in the platoon the biggest weapon, and
have him carry it a far longer distance than was appropriate, even for a big
guy. This is where I learned that I could “power thru” by force of willpower,
and have back problems for several years after, until a significant number of
chiropractic treatments were administered. Now I am trying to listen to my body,
and when I do something stupid (discover that the worm bin weighs far more than
expected when lifting it, off center) modify my exercise to address the need to
heal.
Today’s 1000 push up/sit-up challenge is a case in point; I
am doing crunches instead of sit-ups and most of my push-ups are off of a
counter (30 degrees instead of horizontal) to compensate for the aggravated muscles
in my lower back. I have not quit, but am working on something instead of all
or nothing. Cardio type exercises are another item I need to modify, as I have
discovered. If I push myself in cardio training or during warm up, I will work
up the appropriate sweat, and get the benefits, but at a cost. My mental
abilities then suffer until I am able to get my blood oxygen levels back up to
normal, this means that I am uncoordinated and have difficulty performing
techniques that I know and have practiced, for the first ten to fifteen minutes
of class. When the actual instruction portion of class is only 35 minutes or so
this is a problem, do I work up a Sihing Tymchuk type sweat on warm up, but pay
the price mentally, or take it easy and set a poor example for the junior belts
but learn more in class?
Until next time, when you may see me working on perfecting my cane defense
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