Do you take your health for granted?

Do you just wake up every morning and assume you’ll feel good, or be able to get out of bed?

I used to. Until Sunday May 15.

I’ve been working out very consistently since the beginning of 2008. Dropped 60 lbs and feel as good as I have in years. Yes, sometimes I’d overdo it, be a bit sore for a few days. Or, go play around too much with my High School Sunday School guys and pay for it for several days. 5/15 was different. I did my normal Saturday barbell workout with deadlifts and millitary presses. The ONLY thing I did different was change my grip. I woke up about 3 am Sunday morning and my left shoulder ached. Not out of the ordinary if I’m sleeping on that side, but my left side was up. Hmmm. When I got out of bed that morning, my shoulders ached, not the muscles, but the joints, as did my knees, my back, my hands, and my neck was stiff. I didn’t know what the deal was.

Obviously trying the VO2 max protocol was out of the question as it hurt to even lift my kettlebell. Over the next week the joint pain changed into muscular aches, getting a bit better each day.  Now, 2 weeks later, I’m back to normal, as it were. My forearms and hands took the longest to recover. I did go get some bloodwork drawn, which isn’t back yet. It almost a week before I really could lift again and almost two before my hands completely stopped hurting. Maybe I did do something with the grip change, I don’t know. Maybe I never will. It caused me to step back and think about things.

What would happen if my health went away? I assume that I will always be able to chase my kids,  clown around with my High School guys, lift heavy stuff. All things I take for granted. It just makes me more thankful for what I have been blesssed with, especially my health. We’re not guaranteed or promised another second past this one right now. Things can change, permanently, just that quickly.

Learn from the past, Plan for tomorrow, Cherish today!

What did I do?

I haven’t worked out since Saturday. I don’t think I over did it, but I woke up Sunday morning and my left shoulder was hurting and I wasn’t sleeping on it.

When I got out of bed, I ached. VO2 max protocol was out of the question. I didn’t know what was going on.

My hands hurt, meaning my middle knuckle on each finger. My wrist hurts where my navicular meets my radius, both wrists. My shoulders ache, AC joints. Knees, back, hips. Not muscular, but more joint pain. I think my hip pain is more muscular and maybe my neck. I’ve lost ROM for sure.

It’s Monday night and it’s better, but still not right. I can’t figure out why.

My deadlift and millitary press workout Saturday had a PR of 235 on the DL. I presed 115 once. Now what I did do was use a different grip, not utilizing my thumb. That may be the reason for my hands and wrists hurting. As far as my neck and shoulders. Still wondering.

I tried to snatch my 16kg one time today and it hurt just to grip.

Am I foam rolling too much? Was that new grip not a good idea?

Alleve isn’t really helping. Not like I’d like. We’ll see how it feels tomorrow.

The end of week 4 and 1st half of my distance coaching

I just finished up the first half of my distance coaching. I’d have to say the results are great.

My weight went from 194 to 190. Pants are looser and I feel great. Cant wait to see what weeks 5-8 have in store. AND, Lana just bought  a new dress shirt for me. It’s a 15 1/2 inch neck, Classic fit Polo buttondown. I could get the collar buttoned. It was tight, but I could breathe. It wasn’t long ago that I was wearing 18 inch or 18 1/2 inch collars. Nice

A good plan, executed well,will bring results

In my last post I didn’t quite hit my VO2 max workout time of 13 min with the kettlebell snatches. Turns out I may have been sick, sinusy or something. It started the Sunday before, but I hit 12 min with no issues. This week I was getting ready to leave on vacation so I did that workout before breakfast and coffee. I had to stop after 9 minutes. Well I think I had some sinus issues also, which I’m sure didn’t help. I didn’t really feel right until Tuesday. Sometimes you don’t realize how badly you feel until you start feeling better.

Last nights workout was an easy one. Deloading

Millitary Press  45,55, and 65 x5

Deadlift  135  3 sets of 5

Workout 5 Thursday night

TGU’s 10 minutes alternating hands. 3 breaths at each position. 35lb bell

Jump Rope/Swing :30/:30 with a minute of rest. 10 rounds. I may have one 11. Not sure

Luckily, I left my ego at the door and did the swings with the 35lb bell. This was actually challenging, done correctly. I wanted to grab my 44.  Glad I didn’t.

I read an article this morning from TNation by Dan John. It was on tabata intervals. He quoted on the swing

“If you feel swings in your lower back, you’re doing them wrong and you need to stop. If swings make your hamstrings sing and feel smoked the next day, you’re doing them right and you may continue.”

It brought me back to my lesson with Michael Spain. He really tweaked my swing technique and I could really feel it in my hammys. It made me take stock of my form again and make sure I did it right. Choosing qualtity over quantity or poundage was the correct choice.

Week 4 weekend workout

Week 4 begins of my coaching sessions. It’s also the end of the first half of that session.

I’ve definitely made progress, dropped a few lbs – I saw 189 this morning. I was 194 when I started. We’ll see how that holds as I’m about to leave on a short family trip. I feel stronger for sure. My workouts have been progressing a bit each week with the volume and weights I’m using. But not so much as to make me feel like I’m overtraining.

Saturday barbell workout

Millitary Press

 45, 55 x 5, 65 x 3

85  x 5, 95 x 3, 105 x 1

Deadlift

135 x 5,5 135 x 3

180 x 5, 200 x 3 and 225 x 1

I posted a video in my last deadlift session,which was critiqued by my coach. I was pleased to hear my form wasn’t bad. All I needed to do was drop my tail a bit. No problem, easy enough fix.

Sunday VO2 max protocol

35lb Kettlebell snatches :15/:15 for 13 min, or 26 sets   EPIC FAIL

Since, I’m going on vacation today, I got up early, before church, and did my VO2 workout. Or at least attempted it. I didn’t get close. I hit 9 minutes and really started to struggle. Had to rest, tried to finish the last 4 minutes, but couldn’t do it. Not sure if it was because I wasn’t awake/warm enough, shouldn’t have done this before breakfast or my coffee. Who knows.

Another fitness buff that I follow on facebook, Jedd Johnson, says: “Misses aren’t failures, they’re just warmups!”

So there ya go. I didn’t hit that one. I’ll knock it out of the park on the next one.