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Hippy update [status, rowing]
Jun. 4th, 2024 01:47 pmA conversation with rowing teammates the other day made me realize that pretty soon here I'm going to be back in the land of being a human being who doesn't have a regular fitness routine or group or coach.
Two other things have come up, in the meantime. The hip and back muscles that got really cranky last fall (full spasm) are still grumbling. I'm reminded of the words of a physical therapist: "You can pay me now, or you can pay me later, but one way or another you're going to wind up paying me."
Essentially, the cranky hip and back muscles are telling me I need to do something or some things differently, and I should probably work on that sooner rather than later.
Next, a rowing strength training expert wrote and posted a set of guides to rowing injuries, with an emphasis on understanding common ones, preventing them, and managing them when they do become a problem. One of the guides tackles lower back pain specifically, and also links to some related writing by a rowing physical therapist. Talk about good timing! Now I have some ideas for specific things to try out to continue working on getting my hip muscles to talk to each other productively and help each other out.
All of this is really great for me, because the things I'm experiencing aren't so severe that I can call in for medical help, but I can very much tell that some proactive education and work on my end could really help to reduce the chances that medical help will become necessary.
And then I think that once I start traveling, I need to just have a routine I can do anywhere, and then I need to do it as consistently as I possibly can. And really, over the past several years I've managed to assemble a lot of elements for said routine.
There is some sense of loss, though, because it will just be the truth that I am going to see a drop in my rowing-specific fitness if I do not have the opportunity to row or even erg consistently. Ergs just aren't adequately portable. I will try to do what I can to row when I'm in Seattle and California; it's just not going to be practical for where I need to go in Arizona.
But life will go on, as it does.
Two other things have come up, in the meantime. The hip and back muscles that got really cranky last fall (full spasm) are still grumbling. I'm reminded of the words of a physical therapist: "You can pay me now, or you can pay me later, but one way or another you're going to wind up paying me."
Essentially, the cranky hip and back muscles are telling me I need to do something or some things differently, and I should probably work on that sooner rather than later.
Next, a rowing strength training expert wrote and posted a set of guides to rowing injuries, with an emphasis on understanding common ones, preventing them, and managing them when they do become a problem. One of the guides tackles lower back pain specifically, and also links to some related writing by a rowing physical therapist. Talk about good timing! Now I have some ideas for specific things to try out to continue working on getting my hip muscles to talk to each other productively and help each other out.
All of this is really great for me, because the things I'm experiencing aren't so severe that I can call in for medical help, but I can very much tell that some proactive education and work on my end could really help to reduce the chances that medical help will become necessary.
And then I think that once I start traveling, I need to just have a routine I can do anywhere, and then I need to do it as consistently as I possibly can. And really, over the past several years I've managed to assemble a lot of elements for said routine.
There is some sense of loss, though, because it will just be the truth that I am going to see a drop in my rowing-specific fitness if I do not have the opportunity to row or even erg consistently. Ergs just aren't adequately portable. I will try to do what I can to row when I'm in Seattle and California; it's just not going to be practical for where I need to go in Arizona.
But life will go on, as it does.
