Protracted irresponsiveness of overworked muscle

[EverythingInModeration]

I_iz_a_fatass wrote: "Do not EVER put your health on hold for an employer. Fuck their deadlines, and fuck them. Your health is sacrosanct. They are not."

But what if you are your own boss?

Depending on your line of work, you may not technically be your own boss, but the effect is the same. For example, if you're in the sciences, you're the only one who benefits or suffers depending on whether you publish or perish.

You can voluntarily take off a short time
to get health issues sorted, or have no choice but to take a long
time. It's risk management.

Yes. I'm skittering on the border between the two. I push right to the limit of what I can recover from in two days, and I often find that I cross the limit, then I take a longer recovery. Getting old sucks, because even though it feels good to strain against limits, you pay the price.

I was tempted to just comment on the irony of your username, but appreciate exercise as stress relief and am trying to be more helpful, so:

1. Explore other means of stress relief - doesn't necessarily have to be something that isn't physical, but it has to be something that doesn't break your body. Ashtanga yoga has done wonders for my stress levels and recovery from workouts and I haven't lost any strength from picking up the practice.
2. Find a way to remove the source of the stress, or lessen your reaction to it.

You have to do one or both. How old are you and what's causing the stress in your life?

The career is the source of stress, and it is a constant search to find ways to manage it. The challenge of looking at the bigger picture and making the right trade-off in priorities is a much, much bigger issue that I contend with compared to DOMS or rhabdomyo. I'm not ignoring that avenue, but it's rather complicated to discuss.

I do resort to other exercise routines other than resistance exercises. They don't give the same rush as pushing against the brute force limits of resistance exercises. They are not nearly as expedient. But I realize that reality is what it is.

Thanks.

[olddognewtricks]

Just an observation based (unfortunately) on personal experience: you won't get any work done if you're in the ICU. It's like they say on the airliners: put your own oxygen mask on first before helping others. Wreck your health and you're no good to anyone.

[EverythingInModeration]

Oh, I'm nowhere near a heart attack. The psyche and ego take a beating, that's all. And maybe the physical fitness does, but not in terms of lacking exercise; rather, in terms of overdoing it (may vary from individual to individual, but that's my case).

As I said, I've taken a step back and assessed the life options. I'm sure all the colleagues in my shop have done the same. So far, the best option is stay the course, push as hard as possible on the career, take the psyche/ego beating, and push the limits on physical exercise for stress relief. This is not a SOB story -- I'm sure that every walk of life has its challenges. I wouldn't even say that the danger there is suboptimal exercise, because as I said previously, I willingly accept that for the stress relief. The real "hazard" (if I can even call it that) is suboptimality to the extent of declining performance. And that makes itself known quite readily, with the ready response being to back off. I was just seeking ways to mitigate that consequence so that I can squeeze more stress relief out of the exercise. Looks like there are fundamental biological/age limits, and I have to accept more limitations that I would like.

[crc]

How old are you?

[EverythingInModeration]

51

[George Christiansen]

On the bright side: at least sex isn't your chosen stress reliever.