Better Him Than Me.

I walked into the gym today and the first thing I saw was a guy wincing in pain – a lot of pain. He couldn’t sit still. He was up. He was down. A trainer brought him a bag of ice and tried to calm him down. Then he called an ambulance. Dude had torn his pec. Ow! He was thirty-six. He was younger than me. I talked to his buddy and found out that the guy was going heavy at the end of his workout, which is the conventional wisdom or at least the traditional. I do the exact opposite. I warm up and go heavy while my muscles are fresh. My whole goal these days is not to get hurt, even at the expense of performance. I don’t improve the way I used to, but I’m not injuring myself either. My worst nightmare is to seriously injure myself at the gym. I’d rather get hit by a car, if I’m going to get injured. At least then I can sue somebody. I can’t imagine what it must feel like to tear a muscle, and I have zero interest in finding out. Today was back day, and I’ve been more and more careful with my back routine since the last time I pulled a muscle. I ramped up the safety to levels previously unheard of after seeing this guy writhing in pain. I can’t remember the last time I was this conscious of my form and technique. It wound up being a really good session. I did change the order of some things. I started with abs, which made the planks, crunches, and leg raises much less agonizing. I normally do abs dead friggin’ last, on my way out of the gym. Strangely enough the fatigued stomach muscles didn’t bother me until the second half hour of my cardio. I had no idea how much my core stabilizes me on the elliptical machine. Considering that I drove myself home without any need for surgery, I’m going to call this a good day.