The Body is an Amazing (and Confusing) Machine

In previous posts, I've mentioned that I believe that adopting a more fit lifestyle has made me more resistant to these “bugs” that are going around.  I believe that has also boosted my body’s ability to recover.  Here a couple of very recent examples.

Last Monday, I started developing a mildly runny nose, which led to a little throat irritation.  I was feeling less than a 100%, so I decided to skip the Cardio Kickboxing class.  That night, I took some cold medicine and went to bed.  When I woke up the next morning, I felt exhausted.  I lay in bed for a while, waiting to see the feeling would pass.  It didn't, so I took the day off from work and went back to sleep.  I finally woke up again after 11:00 AM.  I felt better, but not great.  I took it easy the rest of the day.  I was feeling more like my usual self by bedtime.  When I woke up the next morning, the symptoms I was having were pretty much gone.

Around the end of November, I was at the gym, doing some bench presses.  One lift went awry and felt pain in my left elbow.  I was able complete the move and rack the bar, but the area was incredibly sore afterwards.  I soon discovered that direct pressing movements were going to be out of my workouts for a while.  So, I had to remove exercises like military presses, tricep pushdowns, pushups and flat bench presses from my routine.  Fortunately, movements like flies and angled presses were unaffected by the injury.  I was able to work around the injury and continue my workouts.

As time went on and my elbow felt better, I reintroduced some of the pressing movements, using small amounts of weight.  I gradually increased the weight, taking care to stop when I felt pain.  Last week, my bench press was approaching normal levels for the first time since the original injury.  As I locked out, I heard a kind of popping noise and I thought, “Oh crap!  I've really done it now!”  To my surprise, my arm felt great.   I’d expected pain, but I felt relief instead.   I finished the set and did a couple more, adding weight as a test.  Everything was fine.  What I think happened was what I thought to be an elbow strain was probably a dislocation, which popped back into place during the exercise movement.

In both instances, illness or injury, the discomfort was manageable and the recovery fairly quick.  I’m even more of a believer now.

Exercise and diet for the week went well.  When I couldn't eat my healthiest, I practiced portion control.  I didn't eat back most of my exercise calories this week, anticipating doing a little damage at a Super Bowl Sunday spread.

My best moment of inspiration for the week came from my four year old grandson.  He was looking at pictures on my phone and came across a recent “before and current” comparison photos.  He pointed to the image on “current” side and said, “Pop-Pop, that’s you.”  He pointed to the “before” image and looks at me with a confused look.  He asked, “Who’s this other Pop-Pop?”

Reps and steps!