Over the years, I have tried to be good about exercising. I was never fanatical about it, but I have partaken in various forms of exercise, including some martial arts and CrossFit. Heck, there have been a few fun posts about the shenanigans that resulted from these classes. It's been a fair bit of fun.
However, as I've gotten older, I've noticed that I've had to adjust in order to compensate for nagging injuries and age. It's not a huge problem, but form becomes much, much more important if your knee feels a little funny when you do it wrong. It's just not fun to feel a twinge when you're doing something that you used to take for granted.
In my case, this is most evident when I do an air squat. It's a movement that mostly just relies on your body weight, so you don't need to put tons of strain on your knees or back. However, it's also the basis for a lot of other movements. Want to do back squats on the machine? That relies on the same motion. Clean and jerk? Also relies on the same mechanics. You get the idea. It's one of those movements that you want to get absolutely right so that you can build on it.
Since I've noticed the little twinge, though, this means I've had to go back to the basics. I have had to really focus on the motions, and try to teach myself all of the right habits from scratch. If anything, this is harder than learning it the first time through, because now I have to actively fight against muscle memory and all of the things that feel comfortable at this point. The other tricky bit is that I have to go slowly, far slower than my brain wants to go. Maybe it's a pride thing, but my brain is used to thinking, "do as many as you can in a minute," but now I have to fight that urge. It's all sorts of interesting to reflect on how my mental approach impacts the training.
Still, I've committed to doing this, so I'm working my way through the process of rebuilding my squat. It's been a bit of a grind, but that's precisely what I expected. I figure I'll get it when I get it, and then I'll ramp up the intensity again.
Now, all of that is interesting, but I wouldn't have normally written about any of it. It doesn't exactly fall into the "amusement" category that I usually try to capture here. No, the amusing bit came when my sister sent us a picture of one of her kids. You know how little kids naturally bend in all of the ways that a human body is capable of bending? They do things like this:
Yeah, my sister basically sent me a picture of one of her kids doing that. I couldn't help but laugh at myself when I saw that. Here I am, busting my butt to get this right, and her kid just knocks it out like it's no big deal. The text message I sent back involved a lot of laughter.
I've got a long way to go to catch up to my nieces and nephews.
However, as I've gotten older, I've noticed that I've had to adjust in order to compensate for nagging injuries and age. It's not a huge problem, but form becomes much, much more important if your knee feels a little funny when you do it wrong. It's just not fun to feel a twinge when you're doing something that you used to take for granted.
In my case, this is most evident when I do an air squat. It's a movement that mostly just relies on your body weight, so you don't need to put tons of strain on your knees or back. However, it's also the basis for a lot of other movements. Want to do back squats on the machine? That relies on the same motion. Clean and jerk? Also relies on the same mechanics. You get the idea. It's one of those movements that you want to get absolutely right so that you can build on it.
Since I've noticed the little twinge, though, this means I've had to go back to the basics. I have had to really focus on the motions, and try to teach myself all of the right habits from scratch. If anything, this is harder than learning it the first time through, because now I have to actively fight against muscle memory and all of the things that feel comfortable at this point. The other tricky bit is that I have to go slowly, far slower than my brain wants to go. Maybe it's a pride thing, but my brain is used to thinking, "do as many as you can in a minute," but now I have to fight that urge. It's all sorts of interesting to reflect on how my mental approach impacts the training.
Still, I've committed to doing this, so I'm working my way through the process of rebuilding my squat. It's been a bit of a grind, but that's precisely what I expected. I figure I'll get it when I get it, and then I'll ramp up the intensity again.
Now, all of that is interesting, but I wouldn't have normally written about any of it. It doesn't exactly fall into the "amusement" category that I usually try to capture here. No, the amusing bit came when my sister sent us a picture of one of her kids. You know how little kids naturally bend in all of the ways that a human body is capable of bending? They do things like this:
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| Courtesy of a Reddit thread |
I've got a long way to go to catch up to my nieces and nephews.
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