Getting Old Sucks [NOT 27/11/20]

27/11/20 brightersideoflife 56
a cartoon muscle fiber getting shit-talked by cartoon tendons and joints

Ohhh friends. Let’s have a nice place to rant about bodies being assholes or otherwise painful.

I am trying to be less fat and more healthy. So I got the treadmill back in early October and holy hell is it great. I am loving being able to workout in the spare bedroom. I love walking but with the winter weather it’s not really convenient or safe sooooo spending the money on a treadmill made sense.

About 2 weeks ago, I was like hmm my heart rate really isn’t getting up walking, even walking briskly. I can up the incline a lot. Or I could try to start running. I’ve never been a person who could run. At all. Like I joke that I only run from bears or serial killers.

So I’ve been slowly working up my endurance and it’s been going well. Except man does it work my legs! More than I thought. Maybe it’s because I’m fat or my age, who knows.

Anyhoo, this week I was like I need to get back into strength training. I was doing that a few times a week up until the US election was getting closer when my brain was like “I can’t even.” and I stopped. Well, turns out that 5 weeks of inactivity made a major impact and between Wednesday and Thursday workouts, I woke up today and was like “am I dying? Oh, it’s mostly my thighs. Probably not dying.”

Needless to say I did not do any strength-training today because my day 3 routine has a fuckton of squats and my thighs can’t do that today.

So friends, tonight’s NOT theme is “bodies are assholes.” Feel free to complain about any body or body-related ailment impacting your life. Or just talk about anything you want. No judgment from me.

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56 Comments

  1. my bodies remarkably wellbehaved lately… (i mean..aside from the clicks and creaks…and the claw that tends to happen when my hands get too cold)
    ive lost a ridiculous amount of weight this year…damn near back to 20 year old me size…tho the spare tire is proving to be a bitch to lose..lol
    now my head…is an asshole….wont let me sleep

      • thanks me too…lol
        but tbh…ive not slept well since i was about 15…least..not during the nights
        sleep like a fucking baby say from about 7 am till 2 pm
        unfortunately my bossman being an unreasonable prick wont let me nap at work…and nightshifts arent an option 
        sooo…i gotta tough it out and hope at some point it clicks…i think

    • “won’t let me sleep”

      …think your brain might be singing my tune, there…& for something that sounds so innocuous not sleeping properly is a real head fuck

      …there are times when it can be handy to get enough extra hours in a day to get some extra stuff done…but if it goes on too long it kind of chews you up & it’s hard to get much of anything done…every so often I wind up having to write off a day on the basis I’m just flat out too tired to think, much less go places & do stuff

      …officially not a fan…but I haven’t figured out how to get off that ride in more years than I care to contemplate

      • tbh.. you know that thing brains are sposed to do when you sleep?
        processing….yeh…seems i do that shit awake… and then seond guess meself
        fwiw..60mg of codeine and a book will get you of that ride.
        for one day
        its not a fix…but it is a nice break

  2. As a not-young’un, I won’t go-on-about my poor genes, but I will state that you should simply try to walk more briskly (on or off your treadmill) for a much longer period of time. I have been walking (not running) for many years and I can say with assurance that walking further is better (for me, at least) than running. I do however, enjoy reading obituaries of those hard-running friends I used to see around the neighborhood.

  3. Running can be really rough on the knees (and other joints), and especially if you haven’t done it in a while, or are heavier.  So, definitely try to ease into it, it’s very easy to overdo it and get an injury.
    I used to do a fair bit of running, but not at all recently.  The lack of activity combined with my weight always made trying to start again difficult.  I’d just be really damned tired the first couple times, but at some point in the first or maybe second week, my knee or ankle would start acting up, and then I would stop, and just not start again.
    I’m able to do a partial bike commute for my current job, and It’s making a pretty big difference.  Low impact and all that, so no real joint injuries so far, and the increased activity is helping my mood somewhat.  Also, my gut is slightly flatter, which is a nice bonus.
    But, yeah, for the first couple months, I couldn’t climb steps two at a time, because my thighs were just constantly jelly…
     
    Oh… I finally just figured out the pic up top, at first I thought it was an onion, a chive, and like a leek or something…

    • Yeah my goal is to not fuck up an ankle or a knee but also improve my cardiovascular fitness. When I started, it was jog 1 minute, walk briskly 3 minutes, repeat 4 more times. And I’ve been slowly working to modify the intervals to have more running and less walking and have more intervals as the time gets shorter.

      Honestly – I just want to be able to jog a mile. I don’t know when that will happen. But like I have no interest in running for longer distances because I know that’s a bad idea at my weight. 

      • It’s been a long time since I first started trying running, but I kinda felt like it was really difficult until I could make it to ~3 miles or so, and then after that, it kinda got easier.
        I could never use treadmills or exercise bikes.  I think it’s because my subconscious realizes I’m not going anywhere, and wants to stop wasting energy.
        Anyways, it might be worth trying to increase the pace/distance of walking a bit before trying to incorporate running.  And while it may not get your heart rate up where you want it, it will be slowly strengthening your bones, tendons, ligaments, etc., but that does take time.
        If you really want to do running, It might be better to try multiple short-distance sprints.  I feel like those are less likely to let you have bad form that can increase the probability of injuries, but it’s probably also a lot harder to do on a treadmill.
        Anyways, glad you are sticking to it, I imagine there are improvements happening that you aren’t aware of.  It’s not easy.  Good luck!

    • Is there a spiritual component to it? Like the problem I have with yoga is I am an atheist and there’s a spiritual component to it so I feel like I’m appropriating another culture’s traditions and lack the respect for them. So I don’t do it. 

      • I used to do yoga many moons ago, and would like to get back into it again.  I had initially expressed concerns about the spiritual component because i didn’t want to do something that violated my belief system.  My instructor explained to me that there is a difference between yoga the exercise, and yoga the spiritual discipline.  Just like there’s a difference between blues music and the gospel spirituals that helped give birth to the art form.  That made sense to me and those years I spent in yoga did a great deal for my overall health.  I wouldn’t have had that opportunity if there was no separation between the physical exercise and the spiritual tradition.
         
        My personal opinion about the notion of cultural appropriation is that there is a distinct difference between picking up something from another culture because you enjoy it, see value in it, or want to learn more about it, or something along those lines…and mocking another cultural practice.  Without cultures mingling and sharing their customs and practices, we would never have art and music that grows and evolves over time.  We’d never even have something as prosaic as various ethnic restaurants, or styles of dress.  We’d damned sure have a world filled with nothing but closed minds and tribal conflicts because nobody would see the value of other cultures because they would have been taught their whole lives not to engage with those other cultural expressions.  I’m never going to accuse the band Indigenous of culturally appropriating Black musical styles because that’s simply ludicrous.  I’m not going to worry about a chef who merges Indian and Mexican food, because we lose something by discouraging that kind of creativity.  Again this is a far cry from blackface or wearing Native American headdresses at sporting events.  So, if I decide to get back into yoga, or take up tai chi (which I’m also interested in learning), it’s because there’s value there that I want to incorporate into my life–not because I plan to make jokes about slow motion muggers.

      • That is an excellent question.  There is a spiritual component to tai chi, but it’s got nothing to do with a god or supernatural.  When you learn to be quiet inside, the world talks to you in surprising ways.  I learned from one of the last of the old masters from China, and he told me the idea of cultural appropriation is bullshit.  Wisdom is wisdom.  Respect wisdom.

        • My yoga instructor always tells us that when we breath we are breathing in concert with all other yogis. And when we practice asana we are practicing in unison with all other yogis. I like that. It’s a truth greater than any spiritual label we can put on it, or understand. The truth of our interconnectedness.  

        • Ehhhh… I mean I take some exception to “cultural appropriation is bullshit”. I agree that it’s silly not to learn from other cultures out of a fear of appropriating, but there are also things that clearly cross a line into not ok territory (like the aforementioned wearing of headdresses at football games). 
           
          But anyway, I agree it’s odd for people to not do yoga or tai chi to avoid appropriation. My mom does tai chi/qi gong and briefly taught it too. I went to ONE CLASS as a teenager, never again. My legs were on fire after about twenty minutes straight of squatting. 

          • I didn’t word my comment that well. I’m not saying I think a white person doing yoga is inherently participating in cultural appropriation. I’m saying for me as an atheist to do yoga which has spiritual components feels like I am participating in cultural appropriation – specifically because I am atheist and would be cherry-picking the health/fitness benefits and intentionally ignoring the rest of the traditions. 

          • Wearing a headdress at a football game is not cultural appropriation.  It’s just being rude.
            Cultural appropriation is one of the best things human beings do.  I want to hear Japanese punk rock and George Harrison playing a sitar and Florentine Price sing Italian opera.  Did you know that the early black jazz musicians were actually copying white minstrel shows who had copied black slaves in a sort of triple reverse cultural ju-jitsu?  Have at it, I say.  Culture is made to be shared.  If it’s done insultingly, then you’re an asshole.  If it’s done with respect, then you’re doing what humans have always done.  

            • @Luigi-Vuoto Except that’s the thing – the way I’ve generally heard cultural appropriation defined is that it causes some sort of harm, divorces the [whatever is appropriated] from its spiritual or cultural meaning – that it’s done without respect. I know there are people who expand the definition more than that, but usually the point is that it’s done disrespectfully (though not necessarily that disrespect is the point – plenty of stupid football fans would claim they’re somehow honoring Native Americans with their stupid costumes).

    • I was planning on starting a tai chi class before the pandemic. I do yoga twice a week on Zoom, but I had already been doing yoga so I knew the poses. I’d only want to start a new practice in person. Hopefully when things get back to normal.

    • …I actually used to but can’t make it to the classes I used to attend these days…I really would like to get back to it, though

      …that stuff is pretty much awesome…but now I want to ask what sort you teach & all sorts of not-really-the-point questions…like how long have you been teaching?

      …& what kung fu flicks did you wind up picking for your your holiday viewing?

      • I’ve been teaching about 20 years.  I teach classical Yang style and my teacher was Hsu Fun Yuen (who died a couple of years ago).  I’ve been teaching outdoors in the university town that’s relatively close to me, plus the Latter Day Saints church in the closest town let’s me teach in their big meeting room where we can stay physically distant.  I also have a class at the community center in town, but that’s on hiatus because of the virus.  I also teach tai chi weapons (long sword, broad sword, and staff), but since I’ve only been in this area a year, none of my students are advanced enough for that yet. 
        Oh, and Wednesday night, I watched Kung Fu Killer with Donnie Yen, which was aces.  

        • …donnie yen is awesome…& I never did get to the swords & stuff, although I think it was also a yang style school I went to

          …I did once find myself in a park in boston at around 5am & there was a class doing tai chi…& after getting them to start going through a form the instructor then moved off a bit & proceeded to do an amazing sword form

          …I just sat there gobsmacked & watched for what seemed like an hour

          …anyway, thanks for answering that…& best of luck with the classes

  5. Got the quarantine 15 (on top of the 230 already hanging on my fat ass), and never lost it.  I used to walk at least two miles a day from the train station to the office, but I’m working from home now, so not walking as much–maybe a 1/2 mile a day.  Anyway, from July to October, I was engaged in a regular exercise regimen that was doing a lot for my endurance…but didn’t do fuck-all for my weight.  I mean not one goddamned pound lost.  After all that time I just got discouraged and said fuck it.

  6. My friend and I split the cost of a personal trainer and have been working out with her once a week all year. She’s Peruvian and says ‘yaaaaay’, claps, and counts in her cute little accent. If she followed me around and clapped I would be motivated at all times. 

    So that’s my forced exercise of the week, then on Sundays I do ‘gentle yoga’ which is the nice way of saying old lady yoga. All of this has been over Zoom since March so it’s more convenient but not as fun. 

    • I miss my workout buddy. I’ve never been very motivated to exercise and she was so motivating. She’s tiny and absurdly strong, and so encouraging. But she moved away. Now I try to “workout” by having dance parties with lildamnhero. 

    • “So that’s my forced exercise of the week”

      Honestly?

      This is why I love working at the grocery store!😉

      I don’t have anyone following me around clapping, but I DO hear “Thank you SO MUCH!” a LOT, after I help someone find something they need, *or* tell them we don’t carry it, but give them a bunch of places nearby they SHOULD be able to get it😁
       

      Between all the walking, crouching/bending, pulling heavy u-boats, trips up & down stairs/ladders, and the lifting small items repeatedly ALL shift, I DO get in a 7-ish+ hour workout. 
      But I get *PAID* for it, rather than PAYING for it (because I will find EVERY reason to avoid a gym I’m paying for!🙃), and since there’s the reward of a paycheck at the end of the week, I can trick the ADHD side of my brain into “I’m going to get some exercise, but also HELP people!” so it’s motivated.
      Rather than the ADHD part of my brain** thinking, “I paid to exercise, buuuuut I’d rather stay home and read, ‘cuz I’m tiiiiirrrred, and *exercise* is so boooorrrrring!!!!”
       

      The motivation of a paycheck gets me off my butt.
      And then the fact that I get to HELP people (and at the new store, because folks’re SO used to ‘surly Uptown staffers,’ they get SUPER jazzed when someone’s nice😉🤣), and help make their day better, it’s DEFINITELY a good motivation.
       

      And ngl, the effects of a  5-7 hour work shift on my blood sugars, for the 24-36 hours following my shifts, is a huge bonus, too!💖

      **I literally figured this out YESTERDAY, when I was driving to the bank, to cash my paycheck… it took a year and a half, to wrap my brain around why I LIKE getting exercise if it’s part of my WORK.

      I’ve LOVED my warehouse/inventory jobs, too,  because they involved LOTS of walking & lifting, & were fast-paced… and I LOVED team sports in HS, even though I SUCKED at them.
      And then it hit me, yesterday… because what I LOVED was that in those jobs, I was helping *people* to get things they need/want, and when I was in sports decades ago, I did them for the camaraderie,NOT winning the games…

      Exercise for the sake of “exercise” holds literally zero motivation for me, because the ADHD parts of my brain simply can’t sustain attention long enough to keep going–there will ALWAYS be something more interesting (SQUIRREL!😉) to catch my attention, if I’m just “working out for ME.”

      I NEED the distractions of helping customers, leveling/facing an aisle, or hell, even “catching stupid bugs on my phone” (playing Pokemon Go😉💖), to stay interested enough to keep on going with whatever form of “exercise” I’m doing.

  7. I haven’t quite hit the Covid 19 but at least at 10.  I used to lift weights 3 times per week & play volleyball once per week, coach another two (which means playing volleyball too).  Lately since doing some construction projects, I’m too exhausted & sore to exercise.  When the dog died, I mostly stopped walking much.  I used to hike but after ripping the tendon off my big toe playing volleyball, I can’t bend it enough to do uphill.  Foot injuries suck & though my wife thinks another surgery could help, odds are not high enough to do that again!

  8. I take the dog for an hour walk every morning. It’s only two miles but it’s hard to go any faster when she stops to sniff and pee on everything. And I do yoga twice a week. I used to meditate every day and it was really good for me. I know I need to start again but…

    • i wear weights to work…lol (coz my job wasnt physical enough lol)
      on that note…cycling with leg weights took some getting used to…wierd wierd feeling
      i need to start doing cardio tho.. (farscy does not run…unless theres cops)
      im stronk…not fit

      (edit) on the flipside tho….light as a feather on the weekends me *floats*

  10. My back hurts pretty much all the time. Part of it is desk job. But part of it is fibromyalgia and just the way I am (I’ve been told by a couple of professionals that I hold my tension in my neck/back, but I don’t know what that means or what to do about it).

    • I tore the meniscus in my left knee five or six years ago. My damn neighbors don’t shovel the snow off the sidewalk and I slipped out walking my dog. I probably would have been okay if I just let myself go down. But I tried to keep myself from falling, when I twisted I heard it rip even before I felt it. I went to see an orthopedist, he told me  I could only expert a 20% improvement from surgery. And at my age wasn’t worth it. So, yeah, aging sucks. But I did the PT and it really doesn’t slow me down. 

  12. I don’t know where to start with body complaints. How about the horrible hand eczema I developed after pregnancy? Because that’s flaring up right now and I want to rip all of my skin off. 
     
    I’m always tweaking my back, neck, or shoulders if I move wrong. Sometimes my calves, weirdly. Oh, I had a fun thing with a tendon in my foot a few months ago that made it excruciating to stand on, and my doctor’s only recommendation was to start wearing shoes all the time. (Hard pass – I’ve been using little elastic bands with arch support.) Aging is tough. 

    • Ugh I hate shoes! Wearing shoes all the time is a total hard pass. I think what I hate most about winter is the need to wear close-toed shoes.

      Ugh eczema is no fun either. I get outbreaks around my eyes sometimes and then it’s like “slather on the eczema cream and wait for it to stop itching…” (please don’t scratch your own eyes out while waiting) 

    • I used to get these socks that had really strong arch support knit into them. I haven’t gotten them in awhile, not sure where to tell you to look, but maybe that’s a thing that could help? 

  13. Complaining about health problems?? I’m all in! Lolsigh. 
     
    I’ve actually been having a rough time lately, because, aside from my stomach pain that I whined about last (?) week, my fibromyalgia, muscle spasms, and joint pain has been at an all time high. I’m only 40, and I’ve used a cane on and off for the last 5 or 6 years, but lately, it’s been more frequently. Pick a joint, it’s probably ached in the last week. My hips and back have been the worst, and it’s intensely frustrating because it’s so hard to get anything done (let alone any real exercise) when walking/bending/moving hurts so much! 
     
    I pushed myself hard to get everything cooked for yesterday’s feast and I’m really feeling it today. I’m walking like a shuffly old lady :/

    • Do you feel like the existential mess that is 2020 is making it even worse than normal for this time of year and exertion? 

      Like I’m not saying 2021 rolls around and magically all the problems get better, but how much are they being exacerbated by pandemic+Trump+looming climate catastrophe+wildfires+economic morass due to Trump Administration+potential government coup+having to keep it together for everyone in your life also dealing with all these things and more?

      • This whole year has just been… endless. I feel like even when I’m relaxed, I’m still just waiting for the next crisis. If I don’t take my muscle relaxer before bed, I find myself lying there with my teeth clenched, brows drawn down, fists clenched, just generally tight and tense all over. Even when I think I’m relaxed! I’m sure that is not helping the muscle spasms at all 🙄

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