Upping My Game

      After just two weeks of classes, I was ready to go twice a week.  Depending on your personal fitness level, this could seem silly.  You might be able to do this three to five times a week, even going twice a day.  Or, it might take you a while to add gym days to your already busy-ass, stressful-ass life.  Don't overthink it.  Don't worry about others getting better at a quicker pace than you.  Just do what feels right.  It's good to push yourself, obviously, but if you're fifty and haven't done anything physical like this in a while (or ever), don't feel bad for listening to your body and going at the speed that works best for you.  

    My two classes a week routine lasted about three weeks, where I eventually upped it to three a week, which is where I still am now.  Personally, I feel like I am physically ready to add more classes, but I have a few issues that are holding me back.  The main issue is maintaining my health during these wack-ass Covid times.  This Gym also has BJJ classes, and I'm pretty damn intrigued.  I wanna do that shit.  It seems fun as heck.  As I write this, though, in late November of 2020, I feel like I'm already taking a health risk that I generally feel pretty sketchy about.  We all wear masks and the class size is small,  but we are sweating and breathing hard inside, punching each other in the head and face.  I enjoy it.  Immensely.  But I have to admit, I'm a little uncomfortable about it.  Watching the fifteen to twenty BJJ folks grind up against each other (many removing their masks) reminds me that I have reached the limits of what I feel is a safe, careful, and responsible method of improving myself.  I'm pretty confident that as soon as this pandemic shows signs of slowing, I'll add a few classes of BJJ a week.  As for now, though,  I'm just sticking with Muay Thai three days a week.  Once I feel ready, I plan on taking the sparring class and adding a few non-beginner classes.  Right now, I'm good.

     What have I noticed that's different, three months in?  Just a few things.  First and foremost is that the classes are easier, and my recovery time is a lot quicker.  Almost every day that I have class, I am super pumped and ready for it.  There are days that my shin, or wrist, or foot will hurt a little, but I generally feel pretty well recovered by my next visit to the gym, which is about every other day at this point.  Sure, sometimes a class will just destroy me immediately, and I'll wonder just who the hell do I think I am, but yeah, basically, it gets a lot easier.  Another thing that I just recently noticed is that I have seen a LOT of people come and go.  Almost every class has a few new people in it, and most of the time, that's the last I'll ever see of them.  A few seemed to have tried it out for a month and just beat feet.  I definitely don't want to feel like I'm calling anyone out for not sticking around, as that tough guy mentality doesn't help anyone, but there have been a few times when my brain got to trying to tell me I was worthless, that I was the worst in class, and that I wasn't making any improvements and just needed to give up.  It's happened before many classes, in the middle of drills, and even in the shower afterward.  It's pretty cool to tell that part of my brain to just jump off a cliff, because I'm frickin' doing it.  I'm sticking it out.  I'm fifty, I've never done this before, and there are younger, healthier people who are calling it quits.  It's pretty damn killer.  The last thing I've noticed is my body, and something I feel just a bit awkward writing about.  I have noticed a change in my appearance.  My spare tire has packed up shop and hit the road.  My arms are getting a little defined.  I need to tighten my belt up a bit more, and there's new muscly parts on my legs I'd not seen before.  I try to deny it, and sometimes it works, but yeah, just like everyone else, I do bum myself out about my appearance.  And at fifty, some things pop up that I have never had to deal with before.  In my youth, if I thought I was getting fat, I'd slow down my eating for a few days.  If my skin looked terrible, I'd stop drinking for a week. BOOM! Everything would go back to normal.   These days, those things aren't that easy to repair.  Now add the grey, thinning hair, the failing eyesight, that damn stomach, and just growing into an older person's body can be a real god damn let down.  I have to admit, I can finally see some positive changes going on with my body, and I feel pretty good about it.

There.  I said it.  Now, hopefully that's the last time I write about my body.