Saturday, March 18, 2006

Soreness...

It almost feels like I've hit my stride physically. I train with intensity, push myself through the whole class, and yet I'm not struck down to a sore non-moving slug when I get home. Sure.. I feel slightly sore, but it's not the same kind of total stiffness that I used to feel. It's almost like my body has accepted the fact that I'm going to ask this of it every time that I train, and has said "O.k... if that's the way it's going to be.. I'll cope somehow."

I remember how horribly stiff I was one day after karate class. I came home and saw the three cement steps up to my back porch. I stood there for a couple of minutes trying to figure out how I was going to lift my foot that high. I had to figure out for a second that my arms still had some energy left to help.. not much though. I had to grab the porch railing and pull my body up each stair. I swear that it took a good 5 minutes for me to grunt, groan, and pull myself up into the house.

I remember how my poor husband was so energy-less after class one day that he had trouble pushing the gas pedal of the car. We had to take a good 15 minute rest break before we drove home. We just sat there in the car feeling so tired that we couldn't move, or didn't even want to talk.

Oh heavens.. talking about energyless. I remember my white belt test for Kyokushin. I ended up laying on the ground, staring at the ceiling, feeling so empty of energy that I had difficulties remembering my name. The walls swirled around me, as I felt the earth twirling under my back. Opening my eyelids took effort, and concentration. I remember seeing my Sensei looking down at me saying "Are you alright?" All I could say was a very weak "no.." It took me 3 days of resting to recuperate from that test. I would fall asleep everytime that I stopped moving... it didn't matter what time of day.

It's nice to feel just a small amount of soreness from training rather than a total debilitation.

3 comments:

Mathieu said...

Gee, I guess it does.

My youth has prevailed me from feeling those things, thankfully.

The worst I had was sore muscles, that hurt while going upstairs, but not much else.

The human body is a fabulous machine. Constantly adapting, shaping, moving and hurting.

You know we were meant to move, when you come back just a bit sore from training.

Practice has that fabulous effect of momentarily combining the mind with the body.

Have a good day.

Stephen Irwin said...

A little ache every now and again isn't too bad! I ached last week.... after a couple of gruelling ground fighting sessions.

The right kind of ache is good because it tells you you're getting it right. Achey knees during kata - bad. Achey thighs - good.

I remember participating in a tai chi class once. The ache I felt doing "snake creeps down" was incredible!

But I learned something about stances.

John Vesia said...

For me, a bit of residual soreness is a sign of a good workout. Everything's relative though. I couldn't spar for almost a month following my shodan test!

John