Friday 2 September 2016

On The Mat Day 746: I'm Back

After a 4 month hiatus I finally went back to training. To be truthful, I think I could have done with a further 2 months off to let my neck heal more. It feels like it's at the point where it is about to fully heal. The stress of not training is too much for me though plus F-sensei contacted me by Facebook and asked how I was. I was 50-50 about starting back this month before he contacted me. It pushed me over to go back and train.

The last 4 months have been rough. Hot humid summer, which I've had a hard time acclimatizing to since I am not working out. I've had an MRI on my knee and discovered I have a torn meniscus. This means that if I twist the bottom half of my leg it can cause the knee to swivel into the tear which makes it feel like the knee is dislocating. In the future, I may need to get an operation but I am going to see how it goes after starting a squatting regime from now.

I also got an x-ray for my neck. It didn't show any herniation so the doctor presumes it is a musculature problem. He did note that I had some bone spurs on the front side of my neck. He gave me some exercises to do and they help to some extent. I think it is something that may get better if I focus on correct posture more. With that in mind, my club offers a yoga class so I will be joining up. I plan to play a low-key for BJJ for the moment and focus on things that will improve my posture and alignment.

When I decided to go back to BJJ last night (instead of waiting another 1~2 months) it gave me a warm feeling inside. I felt very happy and as soon as that euphoria hit me I knew I had made the right choice.

The journey to the gym has changed with quite a few new buildings having been finished on the way. Japan changes so fast. The dojo also has a new pull up bar rack and now a new shower room! It looks a lot more spacious on the mat too as well since F-sensei has obviously re-arranged a lot of stuff around. It was already a large gym but it is so much better now than when I started there 7 years ago. I am so happy to be back.

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