You’ve all heard that old saying, “The best laid plans of mice and men, often go awry”, right? [First, as an aside, do you know the actual words of that phrase? Well, wonder no more! The original phrase is “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men, Gang aft agley.”] Either way, it’s a great phrase from a poem that is a truism for real life. Sometimes all the wonderful plans you make get disrupted, altered, cancelled, or otherwise ruined. When that happens, what do you do about it?
Well, that is what has happened to me recently with my “best laid” workout plans. It started with some neck pain that got steadily worse, then became more serious when I yanked it playing racquetball. I started going to Physical Therapy for that, but could still walk, jog, and do some workouts. I was taking tons of ibuprofen for the neck pain (and in retrospect, that may have triggered what came next). Seemingly out of nowhere, I started getting a rash on my chest. Then my wife looked at my back and was semi-horrified at the rashy, bumpy mole-y looking mess back there. I got in with a dermatologist and got a prescription for some creams, but she told me my immune system was like a runaway train at the moment. There was no diagnosis (still isn’t, yet) for the immune problem, but the cream helped a bit. But I’m at about the five-week point and the rash, along with terrible itching, is still going on. Moreover, for most of this time, exercise was out of the picture, because the heat generated by the workout (plus the rising temps here in Texas) irritated the rash and made it worse.
At this point, it appears to be decreasing somewhat, and I’ve decided I’m going to take my chances and dive back into another “best laid” set of workout plans! The skin doc said sunlight is actual good for some types of problems, and that mine is one of those, so yay for that. This has allowed me to start getting outside to swim laps in the sun, and that will be an ongoing part of my fitness program for the whole summer. I’m going to utilize one of our BODi programs – probably LIIFT4, because it’s four days a week and will allow time for swimming and walking – along with continuing my PT for the neck and adding in some mobility and flexibility work.
But circling back to the point of the post – besides blogging for accountability – it can be very frustrating when setbacks come along and derail your plans and your progress. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that sometimes, resisting the setback is okay. Sometimes you can “fight through it.” But if you’re really stubborn about it, you can end up making things worse, like injuring yourself or making yourself sick. A LOT of times, a better option is to accept the reality of a situation and, rather than stick with super-rigid original plans, alter those plans so that you can maintain some level of normalcy, but also give your body some time and space to heal at the same time. That’s what I had to do with this immune system craziness. I had to accept the reality that it’s there and that it’s not going away quickly, then shift my workout plans to less intense cardio/HIIT, body weight instead of weights (because weakness was part of the package as well), alter my diet to be less inflammatory (which is a good idea anyway), and make sure I was consistent with the skin treatments. I think it’s starting to pay off, slowly but surely, and I’m ready to start gradually bringing back some intensity.
So that’s about it from here. A setback occurred. I accepted that reality. I accepted responsibility for handling the situation wisely. I followed the doc’s advice on treatment. I scaled back workouts and modified, so I could at least do SOMETHING. And now I’m easing back into my “best laid plans.” More details on that soon. My plan is to blog this fitness/wellness journey daily, or at least every other day. It will be interesting to me to see how I manage the inner struggle of moderation versus wanting to do more, and of taking the slower, steady course as opposed to the “I want it all NOW” approach!
Okay then, time for me to get after it! Peace and blessings all. JB