Fitness in our culture can be one of those things that people only appreciate when it is gone. Most of us that take health and fitness seriously have had a rock bottom experience. What this blog is offering today is that eating well, sleeping well, and training smart when you are healthy can be the same as putting money in your bank before you need it. For fitness we have good days and bad days in the gym but we can look at those days as making a deposit to our health. This way when we need to make a fitness withdrawal you will not need to dip into your over draft. As most of you know this year I took out two withdrawals. First being the torn hamstring from Jiu jitsu, and second being my heart surgery.
Short story:
At the end of 2018 I did Jackie and while on the rower I felt some tightness in my chest. Like all sane people I slowed down my row and finished just under 8 mins. After talking to Mr Fantastic, I went into St Paul’s to get some blood work done, and later a CT Scan. Good news was I did not have a heart attack (I think the tightness was my pec) and my heart looks very healthy, interesting news is that I had a hole between the top two chambers of my heart. On May 30th I had a surgery to get that resolved. Between my CT scan and seeing the cardiologist I had many stressful training days. This was the first time I knew that there was something that needed to be fixed. Up until I did a stress test, as soon as my heart rate elevated I got a little freaked out. It is funny how I had this issue my whole life and it only bugged me when I knew about it.
After having the surgery I took 5 days off work (thank you coaches for covering) and did not work out for 7 days. Now I am still easing myself back to my usual intensity. I probably will not get back to hitting workouts hard until September. This will be just in time to take on the CrossFit Open. With all that said, I am grateful to be able to get into the gym and put some deposits in the fitness account. Without having Crossfit Empower in my life I may have never known about the hole until it was too late and something serious happened.
I wanted 2019 to be a year of growth but I never expected to have two set back seemingly back to back. I really want to say a huge thank you to my family, my Empower family, Mr Fantastic, Phoenix, Harold, the staff at St Paul’s, Rick (MSK), and everyone else that supported me through this process.
For me fitness has given me a chance to live a happier and more fulfilled life. If I had not gotten on a rower that day I could of been oblivious to a bigger problem lurking around the corner.
What is in this story for you? We all have set back and they come in different shapes and sizes but if you are able to stay on the path and keep moving forward you can put some fitness in the bank. At Empower we are blessed to be surrounded by amazing people. They will help keep you on the path even on the bad days.