Bad sleep last night. I'm having troubles with my mind racing at night still. It's at least not anxiety keeping me awake, just obsessing over to-do lists and other stuff that is totally irrelevant in the middle of the night. Had a typical morning, up around 6am with the hangover-of-death feeling. Not to mention the crippling torso discomfort. I would call it back pain, but torso discomfort is more accurate. It doesnt sound as bad but it fucking sucks. When I wake up, my intestines are in spasm so bad that all of my "front" core muscles literally contract against my will and pull my whole body into forward flexion. My physiotherapist figures this is how I got my bulged disk, and continue to have back pain even post-decompression therapy. Not to mention being on the toilet, I'm violently pulled forward at least 10x per day. Obviously, the solution is maintaining proper posture, trouble here is that my erectors (back muscles) have to work 10x harder than normal just to maintain that upright posture, because they are fighting against the opposing muscle groups, that will not let go until my intestines let go. So yes, I can correct it, it just becomes exhausting trying to stay upright all the time. Sitting is the worst.
OK, got off on a tangent on how its not just back pain. Anyways I woke up with this torso pain around 6am, the usual, feelinglike garbage but I'm experienced enough that I know I will continue to feel this way until I've had 5-6 really awful bm's, still sometimes bloody. I try to start stretching, extending my spine, and usually get on the inversion table to get things moving. This is all extremely uncomfortable at the time, but sort of speeds up the inevitable. If I'm not up to moving yet, I'll start with a cup of ginger tea for the nausea. As soon as I'm able, I try get down either a bulletproof coffee or a small shake, usually just water, protein, and a couple shots of olive/avocado oil blended together. I've become a firm believer of protein and fat ONLY for breakfast (because it works), the trick for me was getting it in a form I can choke down in the mornings. As soon as I put anything into my mouth its a matter of about 5 minutes before I need to run to the can. I'm aware of this in the mornings and like I described, the body pain doesn't go away until everything is "emptied out" for the morning. So even though its the last thing I want to do, forcing down a few calories usually results in getting my day started a bit sooner if I can tolerate it. When your sick, getting better is often just a matter of doing stuff you don't want to do.
The good news is I started feeling better around 10. My last two days have been shitty so I was damn well gonna capitalize on this one. I'm definitely making progress, the last blog I posted about pacing around for an hour before leaving the house. I'm finally stepping out of my comfort zone an ENJOYING seeing people. It really feels amazing to get that back. That alone was enough of a victory to put a smile on my face. Also, instead of nervously walking around the gym picking odd exercises, I wrote a warm up which I stuck to, and then did a fun little strength workout. I'm so thankful to be able to lift again, I beleive short, but intense training has amazing health benefits for sick people. Yoga is awesome for a million reasons, but you simply cannot duplicate the hormonal effects/benefits of heavy lifting or sprinting. Growth hormone and testosterone are not just for bodybuilders, they are both extremely important for HEALING!! Also anti aging, but I'm getting on another tangent so I'll save that for another post. Today's workout was:
-5 minutes elliptical
- foam roll and sun salutations
Warm up (3 rounds)
- BW reverse lunge with twist (pause at bottom for a good active stretch)
-10 Cable external rotations (good arm)
- 5 glute bridges/leg (just for activation purposed)
- 10 leg swings against a wall
GETTING JACKED (jk)
All in a row:
- 3 Back squats at 125lbs
- 3 Kettbell push jerks (The grey one lol, dunno size) Right arm only
- 3 Single arm chin negatives. Right arm only
Rested 3 minutes, did 5 sets.
Pretty high intensity for just starting, but the key here is that the volume is extremely low. Volume makes me sick, not intensity. I may come off as a bit of a bonehead choosing to lift weights having arthritis and all this other nonsense, but I've found it to be all postural. My back is relatively strong still. I can still squat and deadlift ok with strict form, but picking a pen up off the floor with a rounded spine can fuck me right up. Long drives = by FAR the worst thing for my back. You get the idea.
I wish more sick people realized the benefits of exercise if they just pushed through it, because I feel amazing right now. The trick isn't fooling yourself into thinking a 30 minute walk will make you better. Don't get me wrong, it will feel refreshing, but its boring as hell and won't give you the addictive benefits that make you want to keep doing it. I want to re-iterate that although I was lifting "heavy", the total number of reps for ALL my exercises today was only 45. Keeping the volume down is how I am able to make this work! By the time I got home I was hungry as hell, in a cheery mood, and the whole workout took the same time as that 30 minute walk. Of course I lingered and visited at the gym, which was also very therapeutic for me.
Last thing I'll share is my post workout shake for anyone who's interested in what I take. I have a few recipes for concoctions I believe to be optimal, but I'll save those for when I'm REALLY training. For now I keep it simple:
-Not enough volume to necessitate any carbs. If I wanted some I'd use a bit of cherry juice or some waxy maize starch, etc.
- 1 scoop grass fed whey isolate (shouldn't need to explain that one)
- 1 scoop glutamine. I have my mixed thoughts on it's efficacy as a workout supplement, but its cheap as hell, and happens to be VERY important for the gut lining. I take it a few times a day for my crohn's anyways so I throw it in the shake.
- A few big dashes of turmeric. This is a hardcore anti-inflammatory, and since my body is always fighting a raging onslaught of inflammation, anything to dumb down the acute response from training is welcome. It's also something I take all day long for my guts anyways. Google some research, it's actually more effective than advil for arthritis, etc. Some high-end supplement companies are even starting to throw it into their post-workout blends now. I believe you still want that acute inflammatory response during training, but afterwards its time to bring it down. Think of why you jump in the ice bath after lactic workouts (although the research on those is also now SUPER conflicting).
-1/2tsp acai berry powder. This is something new new I'm trying, just something I had on the counter for throwing into smoothies. It's pretty well known for being an extremely potent antioxidant. There have been studies showing cherry juice (also pomegranate and cranberry, but don't quote me on that) being effective in reducing DOMS when taken post workout due to the antioxidants. It's worked for me in the past anyways. My hope/theory is that acai might have the same effect. If it works it will be a lot more convenient to mix in the powder as opposed to bringing actual cherry juice to the gym.
So yeah, great day so far! I'm so thankful to have so many fit people around me to keep me inspired. If my girlfriend can get up and go for a run at 7am when she has a full day ahead of her, I can dam well get to the gym for 30 minutes when its convenient for me and my entire day is wide open.
Like most of these, that turned out being a lot longer than I had planned. Time to eat again, and then make a costco run!
Cheers!
