Consequences

With any decision comes consequences, good or bad or just a different path.  

I have been on long term steroids since my transplant and although these were required, they have consequences.  My bone density has come back with moderate risk of fractures so now I will start taking a bone building medication. They also want me to count my elemental calcium intake (without increasing my current supplement). 

So how does this relate to Kung Fu?  Nutrition is a huge part of our training but if you’re not logging it then it’s similar to not recording your numbers. I could just guess but that does not benefit me.  Numbers are everything!  Embrace the numbers instead of just recording and you can then see trends, true values and results.

Training on my own

 My third session of cancer exercise class is almost complete.  That means I have been doing them for 30 weeks and the change has been amazing.  I can feel my muscles again, especially in my legs and glutes.  My knees have not been hurting at all.  I think that since I needed to rebuild everything from the ground up, I had no other muscles compensating.  Throughout my exercises, I focus on intent.  What is the muscle I am trying to work on?  If I can’t feel it or activate it, I am asking why.  Do I have my core engaged? Am I doing the motion correctly?  Am I activating other compensating muscles.  This journey has really allowed me to focus on feeling movement, feeling proper muscles firing, stretching and breathing. Just feeling!

I am scared because classes are over for the summer.  Like all training, if I don’t use it, I will lose the ground I gained so now begins the hard part.  Training again on my own.  I know I can do it, I was doing it before but that was 15 months ago.  The difference now is I am not afraid of failure, I am afraid of not even trying so as long I keep that in front of me, I will continue to progress.  

Am I in the best shape?

 During our last IHC meeting we were asked “am I in the best shape of my life”.  As you can imagine, I am not even close to where I was 1.5 years ago, heck I’m not even close to when I started Kung Fu.  This could be discouraging, I could make excuses, but this has been the ultimate learning experience.

As I write this, my face is red as I just completed my exercise class. My team finished our challenge yesterday and although I had to do modified, I still was able to do over 200 each SU and PU to contribute.  I can honestly say that I’m in better shape today than I was even two days ago and miles above where I was a year ago.  

It’s been a long road of hard work and a longer road ahead but as I continue to focus on being mindful and working to get better, I will continue to improve and that will lead me to be in the best shape of my life.