Every day discipline

Maybe you've picked up on the fact that I don't really have a practical knowledge of exercise and staying in shape.  In short, I'm your every day lazy nerd who spends a lot of time sitting at a computer either writing software or playing video games. Aging has changed me where I grow wider a lot faster than I used to.  Back in the day I was skinny as a rail and could down a 6 pack of coke a day along with a couple of ding dongs and not even gain a single ounce.  Now if I look at a ding dong even cross-wise it goes right to my belly putting on more weight than the actual dessert actually weighs.  I don't drink any form of sweetened beverage and all my coffee drinks are non-fat.

Even though I've learned the basic premise of eating less junk food, I'm still in the learning process on how my body reacts to different types of physical activities or the lack thereof.

Case in point: after the hamstring pull, I tried to keep going but realized I really needed to give it a rest.  I volunteered to be a helper at our Vacation Bible School and then the dojang was closed for about a week for the holidays.  I ended up NOT doing any TKD in that entire period.  Our first time back was this last weekend where we started on the physical activities right away.  In the first 2 days I did over 150 core muscle exercises.  In the past, this wouldn't have been so bad.  However, after ONLY 2 weeks off, my stomach muscles were sore to the point that when my daughter gave me a surprise hug from behind (think heimlich maneuver), I about doubled over in pain.  My wife just looked at me like I was a big wimp.  ;)

Second case in point: we went running on Sunday for the first time in over a month. 2 miles is nothing.  At the test , I ran more than 2 miles and was ready to go do some more testing shortly thereafter.  This first time back and I was only halfway around the 2 mile loop thinking "Can't this be over yet?  Why am I breathing so hard?" And it wasn't because of our altitude of 6700 feet either.  I live here.  This altitude is a non-issue.

After the weekend's activity, I had a hard time getting up this morning (the 2nd day after the run, the next morning after a long TKD session where I was part instructor, part student).  I was basically sore all over.  Especially in my calves.

So, my lesson learned?  Keep it up, even during the breaks. Admittedly, I did need to ease up on the actual leg that was injured.  However, I could have at least figured out some other exercises to stay in shape.  And my hamstring had nothing to do with my stomach muscles.