Aging and Injury

It has been a very long time.  Due to injuries, I had to back off on my normal routine.  What injury?  First, I cracked the ball on my left shoulder using the Ab Blaster.  Apparently, the shoulder was not designed to carry the full weight of a person horizontally.  I was doing full arm extensions with the entire weight of my body hovering three inches above the floor.  I would like to caution anyone who has shoulder pain, get a MRI.  Xray will not provide the detail needed.  My doctor told me at first to just get used to pain since he saw nothing on the Xray.  I pushed for an MRI and sure enough, clear signs that the ball had split down the center and was bleeding.  BTW, pain of this sort will make a grown man cry, yes I did and it freaked out my wife who has never seen her husband cry.  Scared the kids too.

So after the several months of healing and paranoia of not want to hurt myself again, I switched my routine.  But as life would have it and not being used to a rental house with carpeted stairs, I fell down a flight of stairs, not once but three times over a month.  And then my ankle rolled on the driveway into the planter.  Yes, it was a tough year.

Yet, after moving back into our home, I was helping my son and his friend earn some money by digging holes in the yard for plants.  I fell into a water slough head first and once again landed on my right elbow which whacked my right shoulder and gave me a wonderful sciatic nerve pain in my right leg. While my left shoulder has completely healed, the right shoulder and sciatic nerve issues continue.

The worst part is the disrupted sleep.  Due to the pain, I have been living with 4 good hours of sleep each night with 3 hours of tossing.  And we know how important sleep is to muscle rebuild.

In order to help with my recovery, I have tried all sorts of helps.  I spent a month going to the Chiropractor four times a week with only a slight improvement.  I submitted to a deep tissue massage on my leg which seemed to help a bit but only lasting a couple days.  And after trying all the physician paths and associated Opiate based drugs, I finally found something.  An EMS or TENS unit.

The best relief I have experienced so far is the use of an Electronic Muscle Stimulation (EMS) or Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) unit.  Basically, electrode shock therapy.  Below is an article that gives a good overview of the history of the Russian Mode which has provided the best results.  Since I work in front of a computer all day and on the phone, using the EMS unit is easy.  Hook up the pads before a call and let is work away while you work.

www.electrotherapy.org/modality/russian-stimulation-and-burst-mode-alternating-current-bmac


I know it sounds crazy, but I'm actually not feeling too much pain anymore, at least enough to get back into my routine.  Plus, I believe that the EMS has prepared my muscles to get ready in a smooth fashion which will keep me from injury again.   I HOPE.

I will let you know how things work out.  It has been discouraging fearing injury which has affected motivation.  In the last two weeks, my motivation has returned and I am hopeful I can get back on track.  However, being in my mid 50's, I will try to stop thinking like a 20 year old.  LOL.

Life Changes: Adapt or Lose Ground

Nine days after my last post, my house burned to the ground.  Nov 12, 2012 at 1pm.  All souls were saved, but we did lose 95% of everything along with countless nights of lost sleep.  I apologize for not getting back on the blog for two years, but we lost computers and passwords which provided access to everything, including this blog.
What I have learned over the last two years is insane, I do not wish anyone to have to experience a home fire; it is devastating.   However, I will comment about exercise for fat people like me and my adventures of trying to stay fit.
The trials of moving to a hotel, then to a rental house and then to another rental house and finally back into the home within two years really puts a damper on the exercise dedication.  It suffices to say that my exercise routine took a beating.  While 5% of our stuff survived, most of which was my weights and assorted exercise equipment, moving it four times was a total pain in the rear, literally!   And along the road, I lost muscle but not the weight.
I tried to exercise, really I did!  When we were in the hotel, I jumped on the elliptical machine and barely lasted ten minutes, giving up.  I'm not sure this was due to exhaustion or just no mental backing to get it done.  But I spent more time trying to buy things that were missing like toothpaste, cotton balls, socks, shampoo and a host of other things we take for granted everyday.   I do know that it was a struggle for the next twenty months just to do anything in the way of exercise. 
When we finally moved into the first rental home, I set up my gym in the garage and got back into the routine.  We had no furniture for the first month except for folding chairs and tables, but the gym was ready.   However, I must have been doing something wrong with supplements as I gained a lot of weight fast and very little muscle.  As such, I have sworn off all enhancement power drinks until I lose the fat I have gained.  As I look back, I believe that my workouts were not as intense nor as long in duration which lead to over dosing on carbohydrates.  The carbs turned into fat and I have a long road ahead of me to drop the fat.