Tough Enough - Rest First
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You probably thought I’d start out by talking about running obstacle courses, or swimming through shark infested waters. That sort of thing.
But actually, the first thing you need to do is get enough rest. In the beginning, there was darkness, and then light. The Jewish day starts at sunset, so there is rest and sleep first…. and then later there is daytime and activity. That is so wise. Because that is the way we are made.
We need to build up before we can tear down and make stronger. We need rest before we can work out to maximum benefit.
That is why the method I propose is in at least one way superior to the best military training, although I know I’m going to take some flack from saying that. There are reasons they do it the way they do, mostly having to do with obedience. And simulating the fog of war is useful.
But for maximum performance by an individual, a person must be at their rested best. That’s been proven infinite numbers of times in stress tests and contests of all sorts. And it just makes sense.
So you have to balance getting tough enough with being rested enough to perform well if an emergency suddenly happens.
This is not as easy as it sounds. And, I know, it doesn’t even sound easy.
Now I’m going to ramble for a while, so if you want to cut to the chase, just skip down to where you see the ***.
Or you can come along for the ride.
I like to work out. I’m happy spending three hours or more each session in the gym. I like doing it at least once a day, and a second one-hour session if I can possibly fit it into my schedule. I’m of the species ratus gymus, more widely known as the common gym rat.
But in my advancing years, I find that I can overwork my body more easily. Recently, this winter, I was not taking a rest day in between work out days often enough, and I started getting a recurrence of a virus that is in my system permanently. The ‘chicken pox’ virus, as they used to call it, which turns into a neurovirus called ’shingles’ as one gets older. Can be pretty painful. They have a drug for it, but personally, I believe that drug actually causes recurrences. When I was a child, people were told they could get shingles only once in a lifetime. Now we’re told we can get it over and over again. Could it be that the drug is in some way responsible for that unfortunate change?
Well, I don’t like the concept of taking the doctors’ drugs, and I really bridle against taking them chronically. So I looked to see if there was another way around the problem, and for me there was. Turns out that amino acids, the natural building blocks of proteins, have a profound effect on the immune system. I suppose that should not be a surprise. But it surprised me. For example, arginine (more properly, L-arginine, but I tend to use the abbreviated names of the amino acids) is taken by bodybuilders to help infuse muscles with blood so that they can get a bigger ‘pump’. But it is apparently pro-viral. Taking more than a person’s particular body likes to have of it seems to lead to more frequent colds, and other viral-related diseases.
It’s antagonist amino acid is L-lysine. Yes, amino acids tend to come in antagonist pairs, just like minerals (zinc/copper for example). Lysine looks to be anti-viral. So whenever I would get the first signs of a recurrence of shingles, I started taking a proper amount of lysine for my extra large, muscular body of 290 lbs., which I’ve figured out to be 2,000 mg. And also 1,200 mg of L-tyrosine, which also apparently acts an anti-viral for me, especially when used in conjunction with lysine. The symptoms used to disappear almost immediately. Same with ‘cold’ virus symptoms.
But not now. Now I know enough to supplement with those two amino acids when I’m stressing my immune system, so that I do not even start getting the first signs and symptoms, even though I’m pushing perhaps harder and longer now than I did when I was younger. I don’t know what the long term effects might be. But the short term benefits are so much fun, I really don’t care at this point. Perhaps that’s a bit shortsighted. But, expletive, I’m not anybody’s mother. Even though I know I sound like it sometimes in these posts. *sigh*
***
Back to the chase.
Nevertheless, if I did not get enough rest in between work outs, I’m sure that all the supplements in the world would not be sufficient to keep me from getting into deep kim chee with my immune system.
There’s a related problem. Even if I get enough rest between workouts… and I’m making sure I’m doing that, now.. if I work out until exhaustion, then what happens if there is a sudden emergency situation? I would be at my lowest preparedness level. So if I’m wise, I will not bring my system down to absolute zero. If I’m wise, I will always leave a reserve, just in case I need it.
Do I actually do that? Well… no.
I’m afraid on this one it would be best if you do what I recommend rather than do what I actually do. I like going all the way to the wall, then beyond, and then sometimes a bit further. But I’ve been doing that for quite a while, so I don’t think I get as exhausted now as I used to when I was first starting and actually doing a lot less physical training. Then I could get so whacked I would bounce off the walls afterward and be of absolutely no use to anyone for quite a few hours afterward.
I suppose the bottom line is, if you are just starting to toughen up, cut yourself some slack. Get really sufficient rest in between training sessions. Never train two days in a row until you have at least several months of steady training under your belt. Best is to train every other day. One to tear down, and one to build up. And make the first day a rest day.
If you’re already hard enough, you’re not going to listen to anything I have to say, anyway.
If you’re in between, just be wise and leave some reserve for a sudden emergency. And may the breaks always fall your way.
PS… for our third child (that we had at home, like all the others) my wife’s labor started exactly when our heads hit the pillows at night after a full, exhausting day. Talk about perfect timing! But no choice, at that point.
We all have a little more control over our physical training sessions.
