Thursday, December 13, 2007

Training is my Anti-Anti Drug

Lately classes have seemed more intense. Perhaps it is the disappearance of the walking breaks instituted during summer's debilitating heat, the smaller class sizes of late, or -most likely- I'm training more than ever and am consequently more tired and sore when going to class.

Being insufficiently rested has resulted in a number of consequences, the two most prominent being the rising importance of coffee and pain relievers in my life.

I've always been in a constant battle with coffee, I love it but I don't like the accompanying highs and lows depending of my caffination. I don't like the gurgling stomach I get if I have it before training, but I like not feeling like curling up to sleep in the meditation room.

Pain relievers are a little different. I think I've mentioned before that I like to avoid taking medicine if I can. Serious illness and injury are one thing but otherwise I like my body to take care of itself. But near-perpetual soreness and semi-injury are testing my resolve on this point.

I don't want to feel dependent on coffee or Advil to provide me with energy or cure my aches and pains. I want to know my body well enough to push it harder but not too hard, because I know that will make me stronger in the end than relying of a caffeine fix to give me faux-chi or anti-inflammatories to make me feel less stiff and more flexible. I don't want to be an addict!!!!! So how to solve this? I already get more sleep than most people I know. My job is low impact. Do I really just need to train less? Because after a downright excruciatingly painful set of kicks last night I need to reassess what I'm doing. Or maybe I need to crush my pride or whatever is holding me back and embrace the drugs......

2 comments:

  1. Keeping my body warm usually helps with my muscle ache during training. Otherwise, I like Ibuprofen...

    I also like to drink half a cup of coffee before training on weekends.

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  2. yea i dunno i don't think pain relievers work, when i got my wisdom teeth out i tried stretching after popping some hydrocodone or vicodin or whatever it is and i still felt it.

    but yea i don't take asprin even when i have a headache, i just drink water, and it usually goes away, i also don't drink coffee, just take naps a lot throughout the day. but then again i make flexible class schedules so i can do that.

    as far as soreness is concerned i'd just stretch more i guess? like last night i was falling asleep and my right hip was bothering me, so i got in my machine and both my hips popped out right away and i went about 1/2 to my max and held it for a bit, then it felt nice and i went right to sleep.

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