Transformation 2011 - Day 23

Even though my shoulder feels MUCH better this morning, I’m still going to skip my intense workout today.

I’m sort of glad this happened.  In a way.  I mean, it would have been much better if this didn’t happen, of course. But the reason I’m saying I’m glad it did is so that I have the opportunity to demonstrate, by example, an important concept that I see my clients struggle with all the time and that is something I call “Not Being a Hero.”  Or in other words, not exercising when they’re not feeling right.

If I were to exercise today, I may do something to my shoulder that could put me out of commission for months!  So, why would I risk ONE day of exercise for six months of rehab?  It’s a no brainer.  I’ll just take two rest days in a row, the days that should have been my Intense day (today) and my rest day (tomorrow). And I’ll have Shmuel look at my shoulder.  By the time I go around again, I should be back to normal.

So, I also have a little confession to make:

And that is that I “was a hero” on Monday.  Monday was supposed to be my Flow Day.  This is the day that I do a light yoga sequence to get the kinks out.  I demonstrated an example of my Flow Day in a video on Transformation 2011 - Day 2. But last Monday, I convinced myself that I didn’t need it; that it didn’t really make that much difference. So I skipped it and took two rest days in a row.  I don’t think its a coincidence that the very next day I went to work out, I felt this weirdness happening in my shoulder.

It is importance. Anyone doing the type of strenuous exercise that I'm doing, needs to spend a proper amount of time tuning their bodies. Doing stretches and gentle movements and exercises with an eye towards restoring ease, comfort and smooth flow to the joints and to the movements.

In retrospect, what I should have done...

Well, obviously, first and foremost, I should have done my Flow on Monday.  But, on Tuesday, when I did start my workout and noticed that my body felt off, I should have backed up and switched into Flow mode and done my Flow yesterday, moving the whole cycle up by one day.  Then my body probably would have been fine.

It is these little navigations that make this whole endeavor kind of an art form.  I’ve always thought of my work as a personal trainer as an art based in science.  Maneuvering each person through their idiosyncrasies and their lifestyle challenges while still keeping them on the path towards their goals.

As I said, I’m pleased that this happened to my during my thirty day blogging adventure so you can see how I’m handling this unexpected turn of events.

Being a Hero, would mean that I’d close my eyes and do my workout today.  This would more likely than not, create more damage and more pain.  The smarter thing is going to be rest today, some Body Tuning, and then back into my cycle, starting with my Rest Day tomorrow. I have an appointment with Shmuel tomorrow. And I’ll write about my experience as a Body Tuning patient in a different post.

I slept in late today, because I know that my body heals while it is asleep. I feel that this is part of the reason my shoulder feels so much better today.

My breakfast was a bowl of yogurt, an apple and three eggs fried in a pat of grass-fed butter.

I came home and was hungry but had so many clients lined up that, once again, I didn’t have time to make a proper meal.  So I had a glass of kefir and heated up a bowl of garbanzo beans, and I ate a banana while they heated up. After eating that, I was still hungry so I had a handful each of almonds and goji berries.

After my clients, I went downtown and taught a Nia class.  I was so hungry by the time I got home I couldn’t bear to make dinner so I ordered Thai food.

The thing about ordering out from restaurants is that you can pretty much be assured that they’re using the cheapest ingredients.  This means nothing is organic, and the meat is all factory-produced meat, which is awful.  And they also use lots more fat and sugar and salt than is necessary.  This isn’t their fault. It’s ours.  They’re just catering to our American palate, which demands high levels of fat, sugar and salt.

I try to order the most innocuous things from the Thai menu, which includes a great dish called the Rama Platter.  This is basically steamed vegetables and chicken breast with a peanut sauce on the side.  I also get a curry dish and I don’t eat the white rice or use very much of the curry sauce.  Then I usually also get a noodle dish, which is where I go awry (lol).  There is really too much oil on the noodle dishes.  I eat them anyway. I’m not made of stone.  They’re tasty.  But the fact that they’re so high in fat, can be tested out by putting the dish in the refrigerator.  Once it’s all cooled down, you’ll see the fat quite clearly.  If you wouldn’t eat it after seeing it cold, then you probably shouldn’t eat it hot.

The lesson today is “If you fail to plan, you can plan on failing.”

I didn’t plan ahead and have my kitchen stocked with things to make proper meals.  I didn’t plan ahead and stop on my way home from the studio to pick up things to cook.  And I didn’t plan a break for eating into my afternoon schedule.  So I had to scrounge for food. The good news is that I did plan ahead and I only had healthy things around the house to nibble on.  As you can see by what I managed to gather up for lunch, it did turn out to be a pretty healthy meal.

Two things I’m going to change, based on what I learned today:

1- Shop for groceries at least twice a week. 

2- Start taking my afternoon clients an hour later, so I have time to eat lunch first.