Physical

Today’s entry is about stretching, and how it has officially become a non-negotiable around here. Since this is my 1, 2, 3, 4, 5… 6… 7… EIGHTH foot and ankle surgery, I’ve learned some really hard lessons along the way. Two of the big ones: First, get all the gear that makes life bearable during these periods of recovery (see iWALK, bolsters, shower cushions, etc.). And second, do not put off some form of structured PT/exercise, even in the early days.

It matters on two fronts. There’s the mindset: the whole “I went from being a distance runner/biker/tennis player/fill-in-the-blank to a couch potato” spiral that tends to drive highly active people absolutely nuts. And there’s the body: all that time sitting and crutching around causes serious aches and pains, plus general imbalances that compound by the week. I talked in an earlier post about the importance of getting massages, but unless you just won Powerball, getting those on the daily is probs out of the financial question.

For me, this seems to be the time in every recovery when I start rethinking my general disdain of all things flexibility and stretching related. I’ll be the first to admit I’ve never enjoyed yoga, and I’m about as flexible as a two-by-four on a cold day. But this time around I stumbled upon a book called John Travolta, Staying Fit! on Amazon, and after flipping through it, thought it might make a good stand-in for a PT yoga instructor.

So today was day 5 of my “PT,” or “Physical with Travolta” as I like to call it. It’s basically 20 minutes every morning where I follow his routine. I’m still in the Beginner Floor stretches (obvi, no weight bearing here), but I gotta say: not only is it a real treat to see a 20-something Travolta in tight spandex, it’s actually opening up my hips. Stretching out my back. Loosening up my shoulders. In short, I’m un-jacking all the things that get jacked up sitting on a couch, bent over a laptop for 8 or 9 hours a day. And it is GLORIOUS…

I’m not going to get ahead of myself, but they say if you do something continually for 21 days, you create a habit. I’m intentionally not going overboard and not jumping into the Intermediate section. And because I’m not yet out of the soft cast and stitches, I’m intentionally choosing to forego the weight training part of the book (but that’s coming!) until the doctor OKs it, hopefully Monday.

But little by little, day by day, I’m moving towards a better body. Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned after doing this 8 TIMES, it’s that I really, really need to stop before I get to 9. We only get one body. And I can’t keep treating it like I can just swap out the parts whenever they get damaged. Uncle Bob of Urban Cowboy said it best: “the treachery of the bull just depends on the treachery of the man operating the controls.” And my feet have had enough of my treachery.