Most can agree that doing some exercise is better than doing nothing. Sure, there are the memes about tortoises living hundreds of years and fast little mayflies lasting only a day. Humans are not reptiles or insects. When we buy used vehicles the odometer count and state of the engine are better indicators of value than date of manufacture. Humans are not machines either.
Good luck finding an athlete, exercise enthusiast or manual labourer over thirty who does not have experience of trauma and injury. Those sitting around all day fare little better – the temptations of the office biscuit tin or the slow death comforts of working at home can overwhelm the best dietary intentions. Chronic health conditions from sedentary lifestyles are no less serious. Freedom and choices.
Maths scribbled on the back of an envelope in my late teens tried to work out the average heart rate of an untrained person over a lifetime of inactivity. I wondered whether all the extra heartbeats forced from effort and exercise merely used up the available work capacity. Many high performers eventually die of the side effects of pain killer addiction. Around the same time a farmer declared his theory that everyone was born with cancer – some die in childhood, whilst others would live past 120 years before it killed them – usually something else intervenes before that. How long have we got? I concluded there probably wasn’t any difference except for experience lived. Would I rather be a lounge lizard or an active participant? I chose the latter. Every day the choice to continue or stop is there in one form or another.
Injuries suck. I have spent an amazing amount of time trying to build strength and conditioning. Progressive overload is not linear. It occurs in waves with plenty of plateaus and troughs. The contributing factors of nutrition, rest, recovery and environmental stimulus are not easily identified. At some point the load will exceed the capacity of the body’s performance. Injury or accident stops the progress. Then the battle becomes rehabilitation and the science of rebuilding something damaged. On restarting the question becomes one of handling the same or a reduced work load . That battle never ends. Rehab becomes prehab and after a while progress is made until another setback occurs. It’s a constant cycle between the two. Who knows what is enough until they have experienced too much?
Last week drilling holes through steel and concrete in an awkward position required some prolonged effort. I inflamed a long standing injury and regressed it somewhat. By how much I have not yet fully determined. I had an hour of self doubt. Is this it? Is the road running out?. What needs to be done to continue? Is continuing an option?
I’ve rebuilt many times and on each occasion I’ve lost and gained something. My narrative of physical culture requires persistence. When choices are fall forwards or stop, onwards it must be. There is no stop. I know the road runs out eventually. Alternate routes in the dark might end over a cliff. It doesn’t matter. Maybe the drop isn’t that far and vague hope for a soft landing will override the danger. Besides, rehab is fun and a real achievement when the pain subsides. It’s a mindset. Physical culture transcends any specific activity.
See you down the road.
