Lead bricks and scuba tanks

OK, here is something that everyone has probably experienced, something that I have heard invoked as the ‘Unfairness Principle’. This is the equivalent of Murphy’s Law applied to the pursuit of a goal, whether it be an athletic endeavor or any programmatic regime that you take up.

Simply put, the principle is stated that during any training/exercise program, just when everything is going well, you’re at the top of your game and you begin to feel confident, something will happen to cause a set back.  You crash and burn. That ‘something’ can usually be attributed directly to your training, like a pulled hamstring from running or tendonitis from practicing the violin too much.  So this is what I have met with this week.

The yoga/stretching program was going great – until a session on Sunday when my lower back rebelled in a very profound way. It did not want to move. At all. Try to imagine substituting a two by four or a brick for all the normal physiological ‘stuff’ occupying your lower back (sacrum) and you’ll get the idea. It wasn’t painful and fortunately did not involve any nerve pinching or loss of leg mobility. It just felt incredibly stiff. Total irony for a program meant to increase my flexibility!

Overtraining is frequently the cause of these episodes but I think mine was collateral damage from two activities involving heavy objects.

First, I was ‘on a roll’ last week cleaning up our storage room and succeeded in segregating 1200 lbs of scrap metal for recycling. I didn’t have to physically handle all of this but there was some lifting involved. And though I was careful to move things in an ergonomically correct way I guess there were delayed consequences.

Second, on the weekend I enjoyed some local scuba diving. For those of you who have not experienced cold water diving, basically you load up with 90 pounds of equipment, throw yourself in the water and hope you can float in a controlled way. (During the event I actually seemed to be benefit from better flexibility in my neck and shoulders that I attributed to my stretching program as it seemed easier to get into my dry suit).

So when my back rebelled on Sunday I think it was in response to the stress I had imposed of putting too much weight on it on several occasions in the previous week.

I haven’t been physically immobilized by this – I have continued to cycle to work and I can still do some stretching.

It is uncomfortable and yes, a mental setback, but I have learned something from this: Unfair? Listen to your body and deal with it!

PS.  Since originally posting this, I have succeeded in cracking a rib.  This goes beyond ‘Unfair’ but I have two weeks holiday to regroup my body parts!