While sitting at my favorite vegan cafe, Life Alive, I overheard one of the employees telling a new employee about the importance of positive energy and positive thoughts when making rice. Yes, making rice. She was explaining how even if it’s been a busy day and you’re frustrated, it’s important not to put negative energy and negative thoughts into the rice. Whether or not that’s the primary reason the food tastes so good, I’m willing to bet it plays a big role. (I would reference Masaru Emoto’s Messages from Water research, but it has yet to be scientifically proven.)
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Swollen Shins as a Result of Muscular Imbalances
Over the course of the past 27 years, my posture has suffered greatly from the sedentary nature of my career. The extreme muscular imbalances have created a very dysfunctional body and those dysfunctions become more and more apparent the further I push myself physically.
For example while running, more pressure is exerted on my lower shins than is normal and as a result they’ve become swollen (and even bruised). They’re in pain constantly, even when walking. My hip flexor muscles are locked into flexion, causing my torso to lean slightly forward. Extremely tight calves and quads also prevent full extension of the legs when running.
The past few months I’ve been doing more running than ever before and I’ve broken several personal records along the way (dropped my 4 mile run time from 41 min to 30 min in 3 months). Since noticing my swollen shins, I’ve eased up slightly on the length of my runs (3 miles instead of 4+) and started icing and stretching.
I seriously need to commit more time (i.e., daily) to fixing the muscle imbalances in my body. For the past 6 months or so, I’ve been using (on and off) Pete Egocsue’s excellent postural therapy program, as outlined in two books, Pain Free and Pain Free at your PC. In the long run, fixing the muscular imbalances is more important than any other physical training since exercising a dysfunctional body will only strengthen the imbalances and prevent me from reaching my full physical potential!
To sleep or not to sleep?
Everything I’ve read about fitness and sleep during the past ten years has talked about the major importance sleep plays in rejuvenating our body — lack of sleep can be as harmful as eating unhealthy foods! While I’ve been trying to change my schedule to wake up earlier, I often find myself waking up extremely tired. I justify going back to sleep because I tell myself it’s probably healthier than waking up early. But then if I don’t deal with lack of sleep for a few nights in a row, I’ll never adjust my sleeping pattern.
Started a New Upper Back Workout for the Month of May
I started a new workout for the month of May. It’s an upper back workout designed to work the smaller supportive muscles required to build bigger arms and shoulders. It’s part of the Men’s Health 2009 Poster Series, so I want to wait until the next issue before posting full details of the workout. I’m also keeping up with my running routine. Although I haven’t been keeping a regular schedule, I’m trying to run as much as possible (I’m teetering on the edge of shin splints).
Physical Training Involves Body and Mind Conditioning
Physical training is as much a conditioning of the human body as it is the human mind. To make something a reality, we must first be able to envision it with our mind. By conditioning the mind we can push our bodies beyond our perceived limitations. You can do it — don’t let anyone, including your mind, tell you otherwise.
