Friday, September 05, 2008

Why isn't BBat50 in class?

Tuesday morning, I was feeling light and limber, lively and lithe. Tuesday at 2, I bent down to pick something up and X!&%!!!!

My back. OOOOOOOOuch. Pain and weakness. I literally didn't seem strong enough to get the car door opened.

I made it thru another hour of work and went home and boy, that ice pack felt great. And thanks for the drugs. The 600 mg ibuprofen pills. Two that first night. By the way, it's really important to own great ice packs. Trying to use ice in a bag, even chipped ice, is a messy approach. Frozen peas are a little better. Take my advice, invest in a real cold pack that stays cold and stays slushy rather than hard and which doesn't leak. It's so much better. I'm also a big user of BioFreeze.
Since then, it's gotten steadily better. I think it was just one of those back spasms. It's the 4th time in my life this has happened. I'm so much better that I'm hoping to start training again next Monday. Weather permitting.

Did I mention that I live in a hurricane zone? Want to know a great hurricane song to sing as we drive away from Ike? Unclear whether we'll go north or west over to Naples....it depends on Ike's path. Stay tuned.

Whats my lesson for the day? I'm reminded how fragile life and good health are. As Kyoshi puts it, every day we train is a great day, so why not train every day? Sadly, there are many reasons that keep us from training such as ill-health. I have been incredibly lucky for a long time to be healthy. And to not get horribly caught by hurricanes or traffic accidents or acts of man or fate. I do a lot to minimize the risk but also, I've been very lucky. I thank my lucky stars and count my blessings.

2 comments:

Slop -n- Goulash: Dinner of Champions! said...

Muscle spasms...yuck. I got one in my right tricep last week in our pre-class workout. Doing knuckle pushups if I remember correctly. OUCH! Glad you're feeling better though!

Anonymous said...

Biofreeze is awesome!

I'm prone to back spasms due to scoliosis in my upper spine. Sometimes it would get sio bad it felt like there was a hamster running around under the skin of my back and the pain was some of the worst I ever experienced. But about 12 years ago I started doing light yoga stretches every morning and that;s what I credit for not having had a major back event in over a decade. That and resistance training.