Things are going pretty well. Just spent two weeks eating nothing but chicken and broccoli for every meal, so while I think my taste buds have wilted into a state of sheer apathy, I’m feeling pretty healthy. I can do 150 pull-ups without stopping and my legs no longer feel like jelly once I’ve been for a 30 km run.
Still, it’s not enough. I’m still tired and sore the day afterwards, and sometimes I just don’t feel like exercising. The trick is to whip myself into a such a state that I NEVER don’t want to exercise, and on the physical side, I need to never ever feel sore. The people on Aussie Gladiator don’t feel tired and sore, I bet. They just soldier on, like heroes. If I’m gonna join their ranks, I need more than just sleep.
My coach did go and book that trigger point dry needling course, but he’s gonna have to come back and properly convince me that the whole thing works. Oh, I’ll try anything at this stage. I’m the one who told him to book the course in the first place, since I figured that if dry needling is good enough for athletes, it’s good enough for me. I’m not so fond of the down-time, just lying there and having your trigger points…triggered, but I’ll take it if it’s for a good cause. If it helps me in any way, shape or form to get the aches and pains eased, then I’ll go for it. Pain means gain, but it also means fewer reps. Fewer reps means less effective muscle growth, and those are the first few steps to turning into a couch potato who eats Hangry Jock’s all day and never even goes for so much as a walk.
I bet the people on Aussie Gladiators are well into this dry needle thing. They probably get it every day, as a routine. They’ve probably ALL been on dry needling courses, which is why they’re so hench and pain-free. And that’s gonna be me.
-Chad