"purification by pain"
-popular description of my Kettlebell and 'boot camp' classes at World Gym 2004-2006
Hell I took all forms of pleasure in the knowledge that my training was viewed as both taxing and effective. Not entirely safe, however. What I though were safe mechanisms of tissue transformation I regard now as unsavory. And unsafe.
Hooking up with Adam and Frankie was a great step for me. Reading fF's post Pain Makes You Stupid echoed in my head as my history of injury, pain, and joint mobility allowed me to process the information with direct reference.
So after following Gym Movement for 6 months I have my first resurgence in pain. This ti
E, though in a familiar area, the pain is easy to read and even simpler to resolve.
Knee pain has vaporized in the last few months and training pistols has not aggravated it at all. In addition, walking or riding my bicycle has not fired it up either. My trip to 9,130 feet of elevation in Silverton Colorado flared the knee up and it has been quiet since my return from that trip ten weeks ago.
So your ole dad here likes the one leg squats and they have been testing well for months.
Recently I applied some neck and torso rotation to the pistol and it tested quite nicely. I hit a volume PR with pistols on Tuesday and for three days now my knee as well as symmetrical pieces of quadriceps tissue on either leg are in full vocal chorus.
I hurt myself. But how? Well even though the movement and said variations tested well AND I paid attention to the elements of effort, I abused my tissue.
Something in the rotation of my spine or the depth of my pistols lit up the muscles which could be local to the adductor group or the quadriceps group. So what do I do? Me, the guy who has been gettin' outta pain all summer and fall?
I listen. I regard the data, I reformulate an approach, and I ask more questions. That is the applicable course of action for the physical vessel.
For my soul I pledge to not set a trap for myself through actions influenced by pain and I have no plan to use the pain as a motivator to do anything other than keep moving forward.
W
Addendum: One week later and my knee has not bothered me since that day.
I have those random days too, either I miss a signal or interpret a sign incorrectly, and usually end up in some form of pain for a day or hour. Gym Movement is nice like that, even if you let yourself slip into some form of injury through lack of experience or too big of an ego (my biggest problem), testing will usually place you back in good form in no time.
ReplyDeleteRandom notes: pistols tested amazingly the day after I rolled my ankle playing tennis with some friends, literally cleared up all the pain in it too. Strange that instead of rest, a weight bearing activity in that area fixes the issue faster.
Keep training smart,
Kevin G