Hi! Folks,
Remember Dirty Harry and his famous line about a man knowing his limitations:
If you exceed your limitations as an athlete, injury is on the way. In order to maximize your performance, however, you have to approach your physical and mental limits, but not exceed them. But if your perceived limits are way below your actual limits your performance will never be the best you can make it! How does one know the difference between your actual and your perceived limits? The older you get, it would appear, the longer it takes to recover from injuries, and the more pressure you will be under from your friends and colleagues to not injure yourself, go easy, don’t forget your age, and so-forth. In my opinion this is a very personal journey, and I recommend that you get as much help as you can in the form coaching, laboratory tests, heart rate and wattage monitoring, and technique analysis. At the end of the day, however, success will depend upon your level of body awareness, which is why my training includes a weekly sports massage to find tight spots, and Feldenkrais training to find ways to fix the tight spots. Even then, this is one of the most interesting and challenging aspects of endurance training.
It is really up to you to learn to read your body, know when you are mentally too tired to train safely, and to determine when that niggling ache is an injury in the making. Dirty Harry was right on this one, but he didn’t provide a whole lot of guidance! It would appear that careful trial and error, and constantly pushing your training to the edge is the only way to do this. My coach, Chris Hauth, certainly helped me along that road. Now I have to find my limitations with an AAA-stent, and I have yet to find much to help in that regard, thus this blog, which makes my life even more interesting.
-k @FitOldDog
Important Note: These posts do not provide medical advice. You should always consult your physician before undertaking or significantly modifying an exercise program.
Copyright © 2010 Kevin T. Morgan aka FitOldDog, Old Dogs in Training, LLC.
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I spent couple of minutes at your site and i’m very impressed, very good articles
Regards
Thanks ‘Muscle Supplements,’
For being the first real posted comment to my site. I was needing the encouragement today, and I’ll forward your site to my son, a keen lifter.
Cheers,
Kevin
Great blog & so true. Everyone else can & will give advice but only YOU can determine your limitations and it starts with pushing the barriers of comfort
Hi Mikey Bee, thanks for your comment. This is why I stress the study of body awareness before all else. You have to push your mind and body a bit, but not to the point of injury, and learning to sense the difference is what body awareness skills are all about. I learn new tricks on this front every day. Much appreciated, and have fun, life is only too brief, or not, if you live and enjoy the present moment. Kind Regards, Kevin aka FitOldDog (not feeling so fit two days out from the gun in Los Cabos, but it is always like that - mind games).