The frustrating shoulder

Well, I was happy last Saturday, when I was able to do so many pushups, even if they were with the knees on the floor. I shouldn't have been. My shoulder has been very troublesome ever since. I'm even having trouble typing.

The aching shoulder meant I forewent iaido on Monday, but Wednesday I took the place as teacher, so that went well, at least. Kali saw me in a wee bit of pain, and in the end I had to forego one of the exercises on Tuesday, thogh Thursday was better. Yesterday, however, when I was so very, very much looking forward to the weekly sparring, I was down with a nasty cold which, as they always do with me, lodged itself firmly in the throat, and has now evolved into full-blown coughing-apart-my-lungs. Of course. They always do.

I get incredibly frustrated with my many issues, illnesses and aches, big and small alike. After all, I have started resting, but when that doesn't seem to help - what then? And, resting is all good, but the frustration in the head when I miss out on something, is definitely not enjoyable! Nor is the one in the body. I'm worried about my back, and the muscles there, so I am going to focus on trying to do "fifteen minutes a day" at home, too, and not just iai and Kali.

Now, rest is all good, but my shoulder has been like this for years by now. I'm thinking of trying some kind of private doctor or bone-tweaker - it can't hurt anything but my wallet, after all.

When you have recurring aches and pains, what do you do? Do you have a recommendation for me? If resting doesn't make things better with your body, do you have some sort of go-to? Or, if you do rest, how do you cope with not being able to work out? Maybe it's a relief, a well-earned rest, or maybe it's frustrating - do tell, and I'll reply!

Regarding the differences in bodies

I am a wee bit busy, so I shall for that necessity keep this shorter than I had thought. Yesterday saw another Kali Sikaran practice, but even before, there was something up with my right knee. The right knee is usually more well-behaved than the left, but not this time. It might have something to do with a wonky move I did during a kata on Monday, where I certainly did not make the right movement with my right leg while turning from a sitting position, and it felt as if I had almost torn a muscle or something in the thigh. I kept going, of course, but that may have affected my knee. Thus, the Sikaran practice, where of course we were kicking, we also were to grab hold of the other's leg and hold it, sometimes drag and sometimes push, and that, as you may imagine, did not do anything good for my knee. In fact, the trainer managed to make me say "Aow, that hurts, that hurts." which is rather rare indeed. Of course, I am careful in general, having no softening stuff underneath the kneecap itself, but this was something more than that. Some of the twisting and turning when kicking also stressed the same parts of the knee, and I resolved to be careful with stretching, and do it several times also today. It does not appear to have helped much, so I suppose I tore something small, or caused a... well, something. This evening I was to be the trainer for iaido, since sensei could not come. To my surprise, neither did anyone else, bar one woman from the beginners' group. This was of course turned into something very beneficial as soon as we figured no one else would come, and the entire practice was spent with the added focus of having a woman's body in what is, gender equality and so on notwithstanding, a sport essentially designed by and for a male body. Biologically, this does make quite a difference at times. The positioning of certain parts of the skeleton are different, such as the hipbones. Our hips are far more mobile, I suppose you could say, giving slightly different conditions in many areas - for example, when running, biologically female bodies expend more energy than biologically male (henceforth, the terms "female" and "male", "man" and "woman" will be used without such prefixes, but rest assured I am aware of the difficulties and nuances and variations of gender and sex, chosen and biological). In iaido, the most noticeable part is the cutting. A proper cut with a katana is stopped partly by correct grip of the tsuka (sword-handle), and more besides, but definitely by your arms sort of naturally hitting a stopping point: your chest. Even with shoulders rolled back, if you hold and cut correctly, your upper arms will naturally come to a halt because there is a chest in the way. For a body where there is not merely a chest with ribs and muscles, but also two bags of fat, that can be everything from nothing annoying to a bloody nuisance and huge in size, there is a problem - your arms will suddenly stop before they ought to. (Quite apart from the fact of the shoulders being built slightly different, and women having a wee bit of a harder time building muscles). So there you are, cutting as beautifully as you can, but... bump. The most natural way is to in some way bend your elbows, but be careful the male sensei and senpai (lit. "teacher" and "person of higher [status]") know WHY you do this*, and do try to find a compromise between having the "correct" posture and way of cutting, and adapting it to your own body's condition and prerequisites. *And don't let them get away with the "hrrrmhhrrrrmh" of not wanting to speak of it. We are at practice, training in one way or another a martial art. Stop being flustered about body parts. It's just a variation on a general theme - sacks of fat, or no sacks of fat. If you have them, you do have to do things a wee bit differently. Get over it. But be careful you do not suddenly start doing strange things. Keep your shoulders back, have a look at what you're doing with your elbow - it might possibly have to be a wee bit more bent, and try to twist it so it doesn't show the inside upwards, but rather towards your body. Now, I am using iaido as the example here. But the discussion is still valid: every body is different, the differences between bodies of different sexes are generally the largest. When running or walking, a female body will swing the hips a bit more than a male, their way of using the feet is a bit different, when doing crunches or pushups or what the bother ever - it will be different. Variations on a theme (the theme being human body with bones, muscles, ligaments etcetera), but still variations. Your body is different from everybody else's. This means one body may have visible, swelling muscles with no effort, and you forever wishing your softness would disappear (mine won't, it just doesn't run in the female side of the family to go without a most charming little roundness on the stomach and well-shaped arms that look soft and feminine no matter how strong we are, but the legs, and the butt, oh, THEY show at once if we have been running or walking or somesuch). Or your body may refuse to be more dextrous than it already is, no matter how good at yoga you have become, whereas your neighbour can bend around like a gymnast. Or you need to work bloody hard at the dexterity part, whereas your stamina has been good since you were little. Always try to follow the advice of your trainer, but do read up on it too. Don't go wikipedia or youtube on it. Don't argue too much (especially not during your training session! damnit, there's little enough time as it is), but do ask questions and pose suggestions in a creative way, rather than a criticising. If you train something that has very set rules and ways, well, deal with it, and keep in mind who it was made for, and in what circumstances and how your body may differ from the conditions of that. If, however, your trainer says "...but we have different strengths and weaknesses, and our bodies are different" then rejoice, because then you know what no matter how long you train, you will always meet other people who do the same thing as you, but perhaps in a slightly different way, to better suit their own bodies, and sometimes you will gain good insight from this as to your own way of doing things. Always be ready to listen, and try, but be also always a little bit careful. ...did I say this was going to be short? I seem to have failed. Especially relevant for this blog, I would say is the matter of running. Surprisingly many people have now confessed to me they run barefoot style in various situations, and one even during their normal jogging , but I got the feeling that the people selling them shoes didn't quite accept that way of running... It can work. It certainly does for me. Suddenly, changing style and way of using my body, I found one that suited me. Have you experienced such a change in your preferred way(s) of physical exercise? How do you deal with the limit, constraints, strengths and opportunities your body has? Give an example, if you like!