Stand Up Right

Overcoming back pain. Regaining mobility. Learning to stand up right.

Improve Your Body, Improve Your Self, and Remember to Use it or Lose it

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A Tough Week for Kid #2

My middle boy is having a difficult week.

All my boys are athletic, active, busy little men; they go out to the playground and race around like maniacs with their friends, in games I do not (and have no desire to) understand. Unfortunately, little boys being little boys, this causes difficulty and conflict when one kid or another decides he doesn’t want to play by the rules that bind the others.

In general, this is not a big deal. I flat out refuse to get involved because living through this, and learning to deal with it, is simply a part of growing up. Unfortunately, because of some of the personalities involved, my middle boy’s frustration level has gotten very high. This has led to him simply refusing to join in the “fun.”

Again, I’m not going to get involved. If he doesn’t like the way the others are playing, I’m not going to insist he suck it up, join in, and basically have a miserable time. I learned this hands-off approach to parenting from my parents, and generally, it stands up well. The only time I insert myself if the risk of a trip to the hospital rears its head.

Unfortunately, if you combine this with kid #2’s rather studious nature, and you have a recipe for a more sedentary summer than might be healthy. I’m not saying he lazed about playing video games and reading all summer, he didn’t. In fact, the week we spent at the cottage, he spent 2 hours a day in the lake, swimming.

No, what you get is a boy who hasn’t run in months and you find yourself in this week’s conundrum. He’s back at school, seeing friends he hasn’t seen in six months, and they’re running around the playground like maniacs.

What happens when you leave a muscle unused for a long period of time? When you use it, it gets sore, and poor Mr. Middle Child is sore, Sore, SORE.

Like Me

Sort of like his old man. I’ve told you that I’ve let my daily yoga for back maintenance routine slip the last few months I’ve told you about six hours driving a rental truck, along with three hours of heavy lifting. I’ve even told you that I’m feeling the effects of that.

I’m really feeling the effects. Sunday and Monday were bad, but a couple good nights of sleep and I thought I’d be as right as rain. Here we are Friday (I know this was supposed to go up Thursday, I’m late, sorry) morning, and I can still feel twinges in my lumbar muscles.

Fortunately, the work I’ve put in over the last seven years has created deep, profound, lasting change in my lumbar spine, discs and muscles. This problem, seven years ago would have meant bed rest, painkillers and Robaxacet. This week, it’s meant discomfort and Aleve.

This is a mind-boggling improvement.

Use it or Lose it

It’s also a reminder to use it or lose it. Like my middle boy, suffering the effects of a hard day’s running, after a few months of no running, I’m suffering the effects of not working my low back and core muscles properly the last few months.

A long time ago I wrote a series about change, The Changes Persist (here, here, and here). Sadly, somewhere along the way, I got too busy to take my own advice, and now I’m paying the price for it.

Fortunately, the persistence of change has meant that the price isn’t too steep. At least not this time.

The Persistence of Change

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A couple of days ago I was watching my boys playing in the park and a game that had elements of “blind man’s bluff” and “tag” ensued.

Like his old daddy, my oldest is a natural runner. He was also the oldest, and tallest, of the children involved in the game, so whenever it involved the “tag” aspects, he was, literally, untouchable.

As is natural among boys, his dominance of the game led to his getting a little big for his britches, and a conversation ensued in which I told him he still wasn’t faster than ol’ daddy.

My youngest expressed a certain skepticism about this claim. Also fairly natural, since when he and I are playing together I (of course) dial it back to his level so he can have fun.

Well, on our way home from the park, #3 was chasing #1 and I went into action. Sure enough, both were surprised to learn that, indeed, I am still faster than my oldest.

Okay, Andrew, you can outrun a 12 y/o, big deal.

True, it’s not a big deal to outrun a 12 y/o. What is a big deal is that I did it from sitting still, with no warm up or preparation of my muscles. What’s more, I did it without getting out of breath, and the day after I had absolutely no aches or pains from doing it.

I mentioned somewhere along the way that I’ve started running again regularly, something I gave up about 10 years ago because of osteoarthritis in my knees and hips. In the intervening decade I completely relearned how to move, exercise and stand.

The journey I took in learning these things have given me back my ability to go for a run. A month ago, when I began running again, the first few times were rough. My stride wasn’t there, my wind wasn’t there, and when I was done my right knee ached.

But, after a week or two, the stride came back, the wind came back, and with the help of a cheap, neoprene running brace, my knee no longer hurts.

I can’t run like I did when I was 30 years younger, and 30 pounds lighter, but I can still run. And, once again, the changes I implemented in my body, and my movement, have rippled through all aspects of my life.

And, once again, those changes persist.

All of this came from a story about chasing my 12 y/o, but it illustrates a point I have made, over and over, and over again.

The changes you implement persist.

The longer you practice those changes, the more they become a part of your life, the longer they persist.

For Fitness, Health and Wellness, I Ran. I Ran So Far Away

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Flock of Seagulls, Andrew? Really?

Yes. While I never liked them (I’m more of a “70s New Wave of British Heavy Metal” than an “80s New Wave” kind of guy), the lyric is spot on.

Man running on a dirt road
I ran. I ran so far away…

Last week for Wellness Thursday I got to rambling on about pushing through the tough stuff, to just show up and do what needs doing. To go on doing that long enough to develop the habits that will let you live your best life.

Funny thing about doing that. If you follow my advice long enough to develop those habits you’ll find something else, that doing so develops baselines. Baselines for:

  • Weight
  • Fitness
  • Immune system health
  • Stress
  • And a bunch of other stuff

Those baselines you lay down persist. You can gain, or lose, a few pounds to/from your baseline weight, but your baseline persists. In June I lost a bunch of weigh through depression and stress, but now that my mental state is back to what passes for normal, most of that lost weight is back.

My neighbour grew up riding horses. Spend a few years mucking out the stables and you develop a very strong immune system. I’ve known her for seven years, seven years in which she hasn’t been riding horses, but I’ve never seen her sick. Her baseline immune system is strong and has stayed that way.

I laid down a baseline of fitness 30 years ago. When I was 40 lbs lighter I could run 5 miles in 28 minutes, without formal training. Now, the years, bad knees and extra weight have added a little (okay, a lot of) time to my pace, but my fitness level remains excellent.

Every summer I take a couple months off yoga. Summer is simply too busy with the kids off school for me to be able to keep my three to four times a week commitment, so I don’t even try. What I do instead is find time to kayak, and go running with my wife.

Well, the Bat Soup Flu has me working from home, while she goes to the office, and the kids are getting bigger and want to play in the park for longer and longer. Unfortunately, they’re still young enough to require supervision, so there isn’t much time for us to run together.

That sucks, because I love going jogging with me bride. The silver lining to that cloud is that I can take the kids to pop up day camp in the park, and go for a run on my own.

I started doing this a couple of weeks ago and  completely predictable thing happened:

  • Week one I was sucking hind teat
  • Week two I began to get my wind back
  • By week three my knees and back adjusted to the stress of running
  • Here we are in week four and the greatest thing happened today, my stride came back.

I’m not moving anything like I did 30 years ago (who among us is?) but I’ve pushed through the tough bits and from Tuesday to today I shaved almost 30 seconds off my average kilometre. For those of you counting in real distances, that’s 50 seconds off my average mile…IN TWO DAYS

Okay, technically, it was in three weeks and two days.

Okay, really it was because of 30 plus years of keeping in shape, with a three-week boot camp to get my wind and stride back.

But that’s the thing. A habit, developed over a lifetime, laid down a baseline that even a seven-year hiatus couldn’t erase. And along with getting my stride back?

  • I’m sleeping better
  • Rather than get stressed out, I use stress as a motivator to keep sharp and get stuff done

I know that more of my life is behind me than in front, but I’ve created the habits that forged the baselines that mean that, for the time I have left, I will be healthy, fit and happy.

Maybe y’alls should give it a try.

Any Example Teaches a Lesson, For Good or Ill

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Last week for Wellness Thursday I got to thinking about vacations, and exercise, and remembering to bring your knee braces and glucosamine. There was no great lesson to be learned, just another data point supporting my theory that vigorous, regular exercise is the heart of a healthy lifestyle.

Man running along the shore line
Running on the beach

Oddly enough, today is providing another data point, only it’s doing it in reverse.

Be an Example

Many, many moons ago, I had a karate teacher tell me that he never had a student who failed to teach him more than he ever taught the student. I’ve been an instructor of this and that, on and off, for many years, and that statement is flat bullhooey. A teacher gets lots of students who teach him nothing.

Concomitantly, a student can have an instructor who teaches him nothing, provided the student is not a teacher himself.

As a teacher, whatever learning situation I find myself in, I look to learn more than just the subject matter. I look to learn more about teaching, and here we come to the nub of it. No instructor is so bad that he can’t teach you anything at all, even if by way of the negative.

For instance, as long ago as those karate days of the late 80s, early 90s, I had an instructor who played favourites, in both directions. You could be his pet and get everything, or you could live in his doghouse, and get nothing. This was an absolutely priceless lesson for my karate teaching years.

I had my favourites (every teacher does), but nobody knew who they were. Hell, one time I was asked why I didn’t like Mike (yes that’s his real name, but there were about 5 Mikes in the club at the time, so I’m not giving anything away). Why didn’t I like Mike? Actually, Mike happened to be one of my favourites.

If you want to be a good teacher, have your favourites, but don’t let anyone know.

Lesson learned

As recently as last month I signed up for a one week podcasting course with one of the top names in the business. Man the guy was amazing, he had the uncanny ability to pack 30, maybe even 45 minutes, of knowledge into a 2-1/2 hour webinar. Plus, every time he opened his mouth he made this absolutely revolting “tch” noise.

Did I mention he’s a 7 figure podcasting guru? If I hadn’t dropped $5 on the course, I’d have quit after 5 minutes of, “Tch. Blah, blah blah. Tch. Blah, blah, blah. Tch. Blah, blah, something useful, blah. Tch.” Ad nauseum.

No, seriously, the constant repetition of that disgusting, tch’ing, lip smacking, gum sucking noise was making me physically ill. I had to quit watching the live webinars and listen to the recordings in small chunks, so I wouldn’t punch my monitor.

Where the hell was I?

Oh, yeah, on serving as a bad example. If you ever get into broadcasting, don’t be that guy. Have a good mic, with good filters to suppress the “P-Pops” and similar noises. Discipline yourself to remove extraneous noise, and if you’re going to teach, get to the frickin’ point.

Anyway, this is supposed to be a story about health and wellness, not a rant about idiots poisoning their own wells. Suffice to say, we’ve all had plenty of poor examples to learn from, so learn from them.

A Busy Week

It’s been a busy week casa StandUpRight. I’m back from vacation, work is crazy, the boys need herding, the house needs to be kept up, meals need to be made, yada, yada, yada.

On top of that, weather, life and family factors have intervened to interrupt my workout schedule, so I haven’t had a good sweat in almost a week. I can feel the stress and overwhelm building, and I know I’m having a harder time dealing with all the stuff that life is wont to throw my way.

If last week’s vacation was a data point on the benefits of exercise at the core of a healthy lifestyle, then this week is the opposite. I’m not sweating out the stress, so I’m not sleeping as well, and my coping mechanisms are strained.

Good thing I’ve got the weekend coming up. That kayak isn’t going to paddle itself, and even if it did, what good would that do me? I need to push hard and burn some calories, before this week of bad example has a chance to turn even worse.

So there you have it, a week of good, hard, healthy exercise with great outcomes, followed by a week of sloth with lousy outcomes. Which path are you going to choose? Because the choice truly is yours.

You Can’t Run From Life, But You Can Run For Life

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Last week for Wellness Thursday I got to thinking about sweat, exercise and endorphins. Long story short, exercise releases endorphins, hormones which interact with our brains to reduce feelings of pain, and to create a positive feeling throughout the body. It’s colloquially known as “runner’s high” and is a feeling of euphoria, similar to the feeling created by morphine.

Well, I’m “on vacation” this week, and I’m getting a short, intense course on endorphins.

Ahhh, vacation, a time to slow down, rest, reflect and recharge. Maybe a time to catch up on your reading and your writing. Perhaps you’re developing a pilot course in Mirasee’s “Launch My Course“ program, and you’re a few weeks behind because you lost all of June to a deep, black depression. You can use your vacation time to catch up.

Yes, when you have vacation you have an extra 8, maybe 10 hours a day to get the backlog on your “to do” list under control. Unless, of course, you have 3 kids. Then you are, as I wrote “on vacation.”

“On vacation” is a much different time from vacation. “On vacation” is when you’re organizing and doing stuff with your family, and trying to cram your to do list into an even smaller window than during work time. This might explain why your company forced you to take a week off because you haven’t yet touched any of your 2019 vacation days. Work is less stressful than vacation is.

Now that my wife is working, for the first time since the birth of our first child, my vacation is also her vacation. And she wants to do something, to experience something, new. Every. Damned. Day. Slow down, chill, relax and recharge while I get caught up on a few things? Oh, Hell no. Gotta pack every waking moment with…something.

Fortunately, my wife is also a fitness nut. It was she, who first go me into yoga. Come to it, you can blame her for my daily ramblings, because if she hadn’t dragged me into that yoga class, way back in 2006, I would never have found myself on the path that led me here.

Thanks Honey, from my several readers.

As I was saying, my lovely and long suffering bride is also a fitness nut. She decided that we must rise every morning and run. And with the exception of today, we did. We started small, 3.4 km, and ramped up. First to 4.5 km and then to 7.4 km, which is our standard, daily run. We’re no longer adding distance, but rather working pace.

And I’ve learned a few things.

  • Being a foot taller gives a great advantage in pacing, but since we’re not racing, that is actually a bad thing. I’m jogging far too slowly for my joints. It’s too fast for a walk, but to slow to properly pace myself, and my knees, hip and back are taking a pounding.
  • Don’t forget your freaking glucosamine. My right knee is letting me know, in no uncertain terms, that it is unhappy. My exercise survival kit includes glucosamine, and I forgot to bring it.
  • Don’t forget your bloody knee braces. I don’t know which I miss more, the glucosamine or the braces. I could probably go a week without one or the other, but not both.
  • It’s oddly enjoyable to run with someone. I have always run alone, and running this week with my wife has been a revelation. For the first time, pretty much ever, I’m enjoying having company on my runs.
  • Runner’s high requires a much higher output than I can get with my wife; she’s too short to keep the pace I need. So I break free for the last ½ km and really open up the pace, and that is good for the endorphin kick.
  • Crappy cottage beds are not really conducive to a good night’s sleep, and a good night’s sleep is much better for running than a crappy night’s sleep.
  • Getting your sweat on from running with your bride, rather than doing Bikram Yoga with your bride is different, and yet the same. It’s a very different workout, but the point is to be exercising hard, and doing it together. All the benefits of hard exercise? I’m still getting them.

I don’t know if there’s a great, deep, abiding lesson to be learned here. Just another story to illustrate my conviction that hard, regular exercise is at the core of a healthy lifestyle, healthy relationships, and a healthy life.

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