OnePhatMan

Do you ever feel like you can’t catch a break?

I do.

As I’ve documented on this site elsewhere, back in June I went whitewater rafting, and was involved in an accident that screwed up my right shoulder. Because of that injury, and the surgery that followed, I had to stop lifting weights. I opted to use our elliptical trainer six days a week for my workouts. That effort exacerbated a condition called chondromalacia (about which I’ve also written here) in my left knee, and forced me to stop using the elliptical.

Annoying, but not really a huge problem.

I started walkjogging outdoors again, six days a week, just under four miles a day. Plus, I hiked pretty regularly, two to five times a week, two to six miles a hike. All was well until last week, when the fates reached down from the sky and delivered to me another challenge:

I have a shin splint now.

At least, that’s what I think it is; I haven’t been to see the doctor. I suppose it’s theoretically possible there’s a stress fracture on my tibia, but I really doubt that’s the case. The pain was pure agony in the beginning, but cutting out the walking over the last five days has alleviated my discomfort greatly.

For a while there, between the bad arm and the bad legs, I wondered if I might have to work out by flapping my good arm and nodding my head.

Fortunately, staying off the shin splinty leg has helped, and it doesn’t hurt nearly as bad now as it did last week. I’m testing a new workout plan this week, and so far it’s working well for me. The logic behind it was: “if I can’t do any one thing for my workout without causing problems, why not try all of them?” So, my six-day routine is now two days of weights, two days of the elliptical, and two days of walking/jogging.

I’m lifting weights a little differently this time around. Instead of setting aside an entire workout for groups of muscles, like chest/back or biceps/triceps, I’m lifting for my whole body in each workout. The reason for this is simple. I think that the times I lifted before (in the months after my shoulder surgery), lifting by group was overworking my shoulder, since it’s used in pretty much everything but leg work.

Ultimately, it works out to about the same lifting I was doing before (but a lot less weight currently), yet isn’t putting nearly the stress on my shoulder because everything’s split up. It’s like doing half of all three of my old workouts on one day, then the other half on another. I did one of the workouts yesterday afternoon, and though I’m pretty sore all over, the pain in the vicinity of my shoulder seems to be all muscle pain and no injury pain.

This is a good thing.

The same principle works with the elliptical. One 30-minute workout on it doesn’t bother my knee, but several days in a row does. I think I’ll be able to do two a week with no problems, other than the insanity that working out on a machine brings. Thank God for audiobooks.

Walking is the same way. My plan is to try tomorrow, and see how far I can get before the shin splint starts to act up. I hope to do my entire route, but doubt I’ll be able to right away. Within a couple of weeks, though, I expect to be back to my normal speeds and distance. Back to hiking, too, which I miss like nobody’s business.

Balance, it does a body good.

Do you sudoku? If so, you might like this.

Warning: Sudoku is very addictive. Do not hold me liable for hours of missing time.

It came to my attention a couple of weeks ago that people were selling my book on Amazon for about $50 per copy. While I’m a big fan of capitalism, I’m not a fan of trying to screw people because there’s a shortage of an item. As such, I put the book back up on Amazon for $10, if you wanted it and don’t have it.

I’m still putting the book online for free on the other site; don’t think I’m trying to make a quick buck. I just hate seeing people try to take advantage of others.

Link to Amazon page.

In a Japan, there’s a popular manufacturing philosophy called kaizen. Kaizen is composed of two words: “kai”, which means “to change”; and “zen”, which means “for the good”. In the management world, kaizen refers to the concept of continual improvement. With kaizen, you study your manufacturing process, and you work to continually make it better.

You tweak it, if you will. Tiny changes along the way that lead to massive improvements in outcome down the road.

You can apply the principle of kaizen to many aspects of your life, particularly in regards to your health and fitness. Think about it for a second, all the small changes—nothing drastic—you can make to improve yourself.

What are some things you can do? The answers for each person are different. For example, you might decide to drink one less Coke a day. It’s a small thing, something you won’t miss, but over the course of a year can be responsible for fourteen pounds gone forever. Or you may up your workout by five minutes a day. That could add up to a significant increase in your cardio fitness, lower your heart rate and blood pressure, and make you drop that last five pounds that’s been bugging you.

The possibilities are endless. A little change here, a little change there, and soon you’re a whole new person.

So tell me—what’s one small thing you can do right now to better your health and/or fitness?