Walking and Working.

As I start the new year and reminded of how far I have come, both physically, and mentally in the last year.My flexibility,mobility, work capacity and time-spent-in-pain have all gotten so much better ,that, as usual,I tend to forget where I was just a short while ago, and want to focus all my efforts on doing more and having more.Especially strength and the ability to do more exercises and use more weight.

I have had this "if you can do it push even harder" mentality for so long it is encoded in my genes by now, it seems. By far the hardest thing I have done in recent memory is to give up training for competition,of any kind, and be satisfied with the movements and work levels I can do that make me better the next day,not worse.

I had accepted for so many years the muscle and joint pain and limited mobility that followed the heavy intense sessions I did regularly to prepare thoroughly for competition that I forgot what it was like NOT to be wrecked after training.I took the pain as just the price of admission to the Elite Club I wanted to play in.Character building if you will. If it didnt kill me,it made me stronger, the saying goes. ANd it did, at least mentally.

I have had my share of internet battles with morons over the years although I have been much better about wasting my time trying to talk to people who don't want to discuss or debate training concept and experiences ,but just ridicule ,insult and deride your efforts to make up for their lack of accomplishment or effort on their own part.

And truth be told I let myself get pulled into another of those sinkholes of energy the last week. It got me so fired up and so frustrated at my "one foot on the gas and the other on the brake" training that I was seriously contemplating taking my foot off the brake and training for real again.
For so many years, starting with my knee injury at 17, my body has let me down and not been able to do what my mind and spirit has wanted it to.So much of my training, and my study and research into training, has been about figuring out ways around these huge boulders in the path of my desires and goals.
I am thankful for the many insights and secrets this has led me to and that it is has been relevant to my non injured clients and students as well.But so much of what I do, and have to do, is so individualized that it has little carryover to the functionally healthy person, except in a general sense.

So as soon as I started devising my little "plan" to regain a semblance of my former strength so I could properly challenge these keyboard warriors I realized what the true test of my strength and manhood is these days: Walking and Working.

AS I have said before, the problem isnt DOING the workouts but recovering from them.That is the reason I dont squat anymore, as much as I LOVE the exercise. The problem is gimping around for the next week and the interminable hours wasted having to beat the extra tension out of my leg so I can walk somewhat normally.

Doing a movement to make you stronger for "life" that cripples you for life is crazy and I finally get that now.Same with heavy presses for my shoulder.I rely on my arms and shoulders so much in my bodywork and training that I do for clients that it is counterproductive to the Nth degree to waste myself in my workouts and not be able to work properly.

At this stage in my life those two attributes; walking and working,have to be the litmus test as to how well my "gym" training is working.If it is making me better for those qualities then it is on track.If not,then,it is not. A tough pill to swallow,especially as I feel so much better from doing it right! How ironic.

Don't be sissy.Man up and do what you need to do, not just what you want.Even if it means doing less. This is tough and I dont suspect it's going to get easier. Getting old isnt for the weak.