Random Thoughts from a Restless Mind

Dr. Darrell White's Personal Blog

Cape Cod

Sunday musings 10/28/18

Sunday musings…

Old is as old does. Kinda Forrest Gumpian there, I know. Sadly, even a relatively minor injury or degenerative issue can turn even the fittest of individuals into an older version of themselves. So I’ve been learning after a tiny little jolt to my hip while doing a power clean that was just enough to make a heretofore unknown degree of degenerative arthritis become an every minute part of my life.

As they say, getting old ain’t for sissies.

While the discomfort is certainly noticeable for a significant amount of my day, it’s really what it keeps me from doing that brings on that oldish feeling. All of my usual fitness activities are curtailed. In no way am I attempting to be any type of super version of the middle-aged dud I am, but feeling as if I was physiologically 10 years younger was a really big part of who I’ve been for some 12 years. That’s slipping away as I find more and more stuff I need to avoid in the gym. For sure, modern medicine (sick care) is all over this, and I certainly have any number of friends and acquaintances who have already crossed this bridge.

Was it CrossFit that did in my hip? Nah. Some of my less fit colleagues are almost delighted to tell my about what their doctors and PT friends say about CF. But my buddy Dr. Bones pointed out all of the miles I ran in my 30’s, the pounding I took as a rather small guy playing a big guy’s game. Is there some kind of little injury from that power clean making stuff worse? Who knows. The X-rays show the effects of decades of heavy use on both sides.

That first step to a fix, though, is as daunting as the first time you walk through the front door to a new gym. No matter; having spent 12 years doing high intensity exercise that included a heavy dose of lifting heavy stuff, the guy who will put humpty dumpty back together is kind of excited to get to work. Why? Well that’s the lesson here this week: prepare for whatever tomorrow may bring. Your work in the gym makes you stronger, more resilient, and more able to bounce back from adversity of all type. In the end only my hips are old. At least at the moment. More work now while I figure out when I go into the repair shop should have me street-ready afterward that much faster.

The fountain of youth flows freely in the gym.

I’ll see you next week…

–bingo

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