One of the problems of growing older is that your body starts presenting you with problems to which you never really had to look for solutions before. You're inexperienced in how to deal with them and they conflict with whatever goals you set for yourself later in life.
At the ripe age of 31 I started having lower back pains; as time passed they became more persistent and frequent, so I figured the way to be rid of them was to train my body, shed some extra weight and make sure what caused them simply ceased to exist.
That's all well and good but it turns out that's not how it works; just because you get more fit it doesn't mean the injuries and issues caused by decades of eating badly and sitting in front of a computer suddenly go away. In fact - in my case but, as I found out, in a sizable portion of the population - they never will actually disappear. My only choice is to improve my muscular system so it can aid and handle the burden from those so the chance of being hurt is lower. That's it. Barring surgery, that's the best I can do.
The thing is though, there's a certain chain of chain and effect that's pretty convoluted here. Things I'd love to do that can and will strengthen the muscles I need stronger are also what can endanger them. The same exercises that would boost the endurance and flexibility of my lower back also put it at risk, so I found myself in this game of cat and mouse where going too far would go precisely against what I'm putting a lot of time and effort into achieving in the first place.
Physical therapists and personal trainers are sort of on your side on this but each from a different point of view, using experiences and advice they've seen work on different kinds of people. It appears that a lot of what I had expected to be fundamentals in these fields are, let's say, still contested; the same kind of long term injury for example - let's say knee pains - leads one therapist to strongly advise against doing barbell squats while others mandate exactly that as the means to fix the issue.
Who is right? I sure don't know, this is all news to me! I've never been in my mid-thirties before with a lower back hernia. These people are supposed to be the professionals who (presumably) see this all the time and can tell me what to do and what to avoid.
And yet that's not at all how it is, as apparently it all goes into some deep argument about what the human body is made for - my current therapist for instance, a very capable and young professional at that, insists that the homo sapiens aren't meant to lift heavy weights over their heads, so we (healthy and otherwise) had better train with body weight exercises only.
If these capable, knowledgeable folks still haven't figured it out after years of specialized study and work experience what are the chances I'll be able to do so on the fly while experimenting on the single specimen at my disposal - myself - given that I only get a pretty limited number of chances if I screw it all up?
Anyway. Damn you, computer armchair! I put my faith in you and this is how you repay me, with self doubt and overall confusion. You looked so sleek and friendly on the brochure. Shame on you.
At the ripe age of 31 I started having lower back pains; as time passed they became more persistent and frequent, so I figured the way to be rid of them was to train my body, shed some extra weight and make sure what caused them simply ceased to exist.
That's all well and good but it turns out that's not how it works; just because you get more fit it doesn't mean the injuries and issues caused by decades of eating badly and sitting in front of a computer suddenly go away. In fact - in my case but, as I found out, in a sizable portion of the population - they never will actually disappear. My only choice is to improve my muscular system so it can aid and handle the burden from those so the chance of being hurt is lower. That's it. Barring surgery, that's the best I can do.
The thing is though, there's a certain chain of chain and effect that's pretty convoluted here. Things I'd love to do that can and will strengthen the muscles I need stronger are also what can endanger them. The same exercises that would boost the endurance and flexibility of my lower back also put it at risk, so I found myself in this game of cat and mouse where going too far would go precisely against what I'm putting a lot of time and effort into achieving in the first place.
Physical therapists and personal trainers are sort of on your side on this but each from a different point of view, using experiences and advice they've seen work on different kinds of people. It appears that a lot of what I had expected to be fundamentals in these fields are, let's say, still contested; the same kind of long term injury for example - let's say knee pains - leads one therapist to strongly advise against doing barbell squats while others mandate exactly that as the means to fix the issue.
Who is right? I sure don't know, this is all news to me! I've never been in my mid-thirties before with a lower back hernia. These people are supposed to be the professionals who (presumably) see this all the time and can tell me what to do and what to avoid.
And yet that's not at all how it is, as apparently it all goes into some deep argument about what the human body is made for - my current therapist for instance, a very capable and young professional at that, insists that the homo sapiens aren't meant to lift heavy weights over their heads, so we (healthy and otherwise) had better train with body weight exercises only.
If these capable, knowledgeable folks still haven't figured it out after years of specialized study and work experience what are the chances I'll be able to do so on the fly while experimenting on the single specimen at my disposal - myself - given that I only get a pretty limited number of chances if I screw it all up?
Anyway. Damn you, computer armchair! I put my faith in you and this is how you repay me, with self doubt and overall confusion. You looked so sleek and friendly on the brochure. Shame on you.
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