General body soreness

[Bob]

I'm always looking for a solution... 


I'm pretty sure my body doesn't always recover from practice on the previous day.  When this happens, I feel like the living dead.  Can't think.  Hands are stiff and sore.  Easily irritated.  The first thing on my mind is when I can take a break to rest and when I will be able to sleep.  Things that were easy become difficult.  "Am I going to take those stairs?  That's going to kill my feet and they already hurt."  My body and mind does not feel fresh and springy. 

I think it may just be part of getting old which sucks of course.  If that's true, there's not a whole lot I can do and the only thing I might do is manage it.


I've been watching things and have found these things are the biggest factors...

Sleep -- The last cycle of sleep.  I can get by on less sleep and can function pretty normally for a few days.  But without that last cycle, that last hour or two that I can function without, my body doesn't repair the parts involved in playing an instrument. 

Energy in general -- And that seems to be what it's all about.  The body having the energy to recover from practicing wear and tear from the previous day.  If I'm out running errands all day, out at work, that uses up energy that might have gone into repairing the body and mind from practicing.

Stress -- Another energy one.  If my mind is spinning worrying about something, it's burning up energy.  As a solution, it's good not to worry, but then again there are things that I should be worrying and thinking about, the life-steering choices that come up from time to time.  I have found anger can be useful for getting things done, but it seem short-lived and burns up a lot of energy, leaving me feel drained afterward.

Nutrition -- Eating the right foods so you have that long-term reserve of things when you're working.


I just find daily life is wearing me down more and more as the years roll along.  I'm thinking there's not much I do against it.  But instead of running around trying to do lots of things, I may just be wearing myself out, doing a lot but never being able to build up on what I did because my body can't recover from the previous day.  If that's true, then... if I did less, slept more, relaxed more, I would get a faster bounce-back recovery from the previous day.  So by doing less and not caring so much, I end up with more.

Does that make sense?  Any thoughts on those ideas?

[thalberg]

You could try:

1.  Upper cervical chiropractic--supposed to help with everything.  kcucs.org to find a doc near you if there is one.

2.  Mannatech glyconutrients.

3.  activerelease.com to find an ART practitioner for your sore muscles

4.  You could contact "electrodoc" on this forum.  He's into alternative medicine and is supposed to be very knowledgeable.

5.  "Cardio Cocktail" -- contains liquid L-Argininine which is supposed to clear out your blood vessels, decrease heart attack risk, and increase energy and male performance.  But do not take it after heart surgery--that is very dangerous.

Just some random thoughts since you asked.  I await many hostile replies from people insisting that everything I said was nonsense.

[Bob]

Ah, thanks.  I've been kind of thinking of it as "the living dead" because of how it feels.  Muscles feel stretched.  Joints are sore.  Thoughts are repetitive.  And I am extremely irritated by things -- people, dumb comments by tv newspeople, that door that doesn't open right but could be "motivated" to open by being forced to do so.

It's just not "me" if that makes sense.  And then about 3 in the afternoon I finally start feeling normal. 

Another way of thinking about it is feeling "cooked."

And then it's night and I wonder, "Should I do some practicing, and do I want to be a zombie in the morning?"

There's that thread about getting money to give up music, but you could do the same with pain.  How much physical pain would you go through before you cut back or quit music?  I know for sure I have cut back or not even attempted to practice when I know it will contribute to general zombieness.  That's when I decide something like just going to sleep instead to trying do my practicing routine, which can really become a "push" instead of just maintainance if I'm putting my energy into something else that day.

I've asked doctors now and then when I've been in for things, but they never give a good answer, or a satisfying answer.  "Try to get some rest and sleep more," they say.  "Thanks doc," I say.  What I'm trying to figure out is how to get to that place where your body heals up and you feel fresh and ready the next day.  Where the mind is ready to absorb things.

I've also noticed the stressors seem to happen all at the same time.  I end up getting less sleep, having more stressful things on my mind, and having more to do all at the same time.  It happened a little this past week.  I saw it coming, predicted what would happen, and have watched my practicing fall apart.  That startling situation where you sit down and can't do the same stuff you were doing a few days before.  My practicing is now recovering thankfully.  But then, I don't have the same things going on now as there was going on last week.  Except now I'm focusing on just recovering and resetting my practice, definitely not pushing anything.  I want it to feel right again.  In that way, I've lost the opportunity to push skills.  I suppose having less energy available is a type of pushing, but I've been jarred and am recovering now instead of just continuing to push/recover/push/recover.

And that brings me to lifestyle/career choices.  If my day job is interfering with my practicing, is the job worth it?  Is the career worth it?  Wouldn't it be better to cut back on job things so I simply feel better?  By doing less job things, I have more energy and get more out of practicing.

[Bob]

The idea I've been thinking about is that these things are the roots of other problems.  Instead of taking a vitamin or an aspirin which treats the symptoms, it might be better to just get an hour more of sleep per day.  No need for a massage if your muscles don't get sore.  Kills two birds with one stone.

[pianowolfi]

I have read several posts on that subject from you, and always I felt like I can relate very much to what you say.

[rant] I often asked myself if I have CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome. And no I am not a hypochondriac, I am in principal a very active and motivated person who hates nothing more than just let everything slide in my life) . I experience phases of "normal life" and I experience phases where almost *nothing* works properly. But, differently than your thread title suggests, it feels much more like "mental exhaustion" to me. Practicing makes me mentally exhausted. And often life does as well. And I admit that I am really tired of some people's "good advices" that try to prove you that you make *everything* wrong in your life. I think the last advice that is helpful in such a situation is to reproach someone with various critique on what he/she is doing wrong in their life. It's just demotivating and depressing to listen to all these advices like :"you eat wrongly" "You don't sleep enough". " You think wrongly" " you feel wrongly" "You should do this and that, no wonder you feel exhausted" And so on. I mean, I am *very* grateful for some advices. But I have after all no control over this, whatever I try to do. Or to leave. It's just f***** frustrating to realise every single day that you can't do what you actually *want* and *burn* to do, because of this silly exhaustion. [/rant]

 

[thalberg]

Well, the stuff I mentioned covers lots of categories.  Nutrition, chiropractic, massage......

Also could try Greens Plus.  My fav nutrition supplement.  Which I cannot afford at the moment.  But honestly I think the other stuff I mentioned is more likely to work.

And I sympathize with your other troubles as well--particularly in light of the fact the medical doctors are entirely useless unless you need drugs or surgery.  

[Bob]

It's only when I'm busy, not getting enough sleep, stressed, and still trying to practice "normally."  I don't really think a doctor could do much any way.  Not if...

I'm getting old.

(Bob picks of cane and wobbles about.)

(Bob realizes that the act of holding a cane would strain the muscles more in the hand because they're used in piano playing.)  Crap....

[richard black]

Get into the habit of getting yourself properly physically tired - do something _really_ energetic for at least an hour at least three times a week. I cycled 35 miles in and around London today, fast, and I'll sleep like a baby tonight and feel great tomorrow. We were designed by nature to get physically tired on a regular basis and a sedentary lifestyle just ain't right.

My 2 pennies of armchair hypothesis!

[ahinton]

Get into the habit of getting yourself properly physically tired - do something _really_ energetic for at least an hour at least three times a week. I cycled 35 miles in and around London today, fast, and I'll sleep like a baby tonight and feel great tomorrow. We were designed by nature to get physically tired on a regular basis and a sedentary lifestyle just ain't right.

My 2 pennies of armchair hypothesis!

Without wishing to put a spoke in this part of the thread, I am bound to say, Richard, that, having actually witnessed you in velocipedic action on more than one occasion, I have only to think of you setting off on a bicycle somewhere in London and I start wondering why they ever invented Concorde in the first place...

Best,

Alistair

[goldentone]

Bob, I would try a good greens product like Thalberg suggested.  I use Perfect Food from Garden of Life.  It would definitely affect your overall health and sense of well-being.

[richard black]

I am bound to say, Richard, that, having actually witnessed you in velocipedic action on more than one occasion

Lies, I tell you, lies! The speed I ride, I'm red-shifted out of the range of human vision....

.... that is, if the smoke rising from the threadbare arse of my trousers didn't obscure me first!

[ahinton]

Lies, I tell you, lies! The speed I ride, I'm red-shifted out of the range of human vision....

.... that is, if the smoke rising from the threadbare arse of my trousers didn't obscure me first!

Indeed! What amazes and irritates me about this is that you have, to the best of my knowledge, gotten away with speeding on the public highway on your two wheels far more times than the average obese person has had a double cheeseburger and fries; 'tis a black art, to be sure...

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

Richard is right. Whenever i cycle to work and cycle home, i get a much better nights sleep. If i drive, i am much more stressed and do not sleep as well.

Whilst my cycling is not exactly fast, i did beat the bus to Dartford (10 miles). In London (as illustrated on Top Gear), it is probably the fastest form of transport.

Thal

[pianistimo]

which bicycle did you ride?  the three wheeler?

[thalbergmad]

Trek Madone 6.9.

I would lend it to you, but it is difficult to ride with a straight jacket.

Thal

[ahinton]

Thal on a bicycle: "evil personified", apparently. Might such a notion be indicative of what Orwell might (had he been standing on his head at the time) have seen as "four wheels good - two wheels bad"?

For the record, I should perhaps declare at this point that I have never actually seen Thal driving a bicycle, although I don't doubt that some enterprising bicycle manufacturer somewhere has devised a velocipede capable simultaneously of supporting his weight and transporting him at speeds substantially greater than those achieved by the average bus travelling from Gravesend to Dartford.

Driving bicycles is just not for me, however. I always think that, had it not been for these two-wheeled designs from hell, Ernest Chausson might have lived to an age great enough to have enabled him to hear Boulez's first two sonatas. I would paraphrase the well know dictum of Marx (Groucho, wasn't it?) into an admission that I wouldn't mount a bicycle that would have me on its saddle. Sorry, Richard, but the Bicyclette à Grand Vitesse just ain't for the likes of me!

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

although I don't doubt that some enterprising bicycle manufacturer somewhere has devised a velocipede capable simultaneously of supporting his weight and transporting him at speeds substantially greater than those achieved by the average bus travelling from Gravesend to Dartford.

10 miles in 33 minutes aint exactly going to get me into the "Tour".

Treks are excellent bikes for the larger gentleman. The bike weighs about 16 pounds, I don't.

Thal

[pianistimo]

it's not about speed.  it's about endurance.  calm down.

[thalbergmad]

Not over 10 miles it aint.

That is a sprint.

Thal

[pianistimo]

i'd hate to see an all out 'dervish.' 

as i see it - the first ten miles are a mere warm-up.  don't those tour guys go 70 miles in a day.  you could do it, too, thal - because you can hike like that.  i lost 2 lbs per week when i went off pf.  (seriously).  i didn't realize what sitting at a computer does to a person.

ps my leg is much better and towards end of this summer i was passing most everyone i wanted to.  i just set in my mind 'pass' - and i do.

[thalbergmad]

You are supposed to warm up before you ride.

Bad for the muscles if you don't.

Thal

[thalbergmad]

don't those tour guys go 70 miles in a day. 

Double that sometimes.

Thal

[pianistimo]

nonsense.  waking up is warming up to me.  you must be in really bad shape.

ok. this is my routine.  wake up.  fill up water bottle (think about getting two).  get in car.  ride to trail.  get on bike.  go. 

[thalbergmad]

No cyclist would get straight out of bed and get on a bike. You are just asking for a muscle pull.

Anyway, i have got to go to bed now as i have got to get up early.

I am going to Bath with MM to see Hinty.

Not back until Tuesday.

Bye

Thalx

[pianistimo]

i suppose that's supposed to impress me.  *early bedtime now, too.   not back until tuesday?  good grief - you ARE slow on the bike.

i've never pulled a muscle yet and i've never warmed up before riding.  i've been riding for 38 years.  i'd have to warm up if i tried to jog - though.  i don't like jogging.  it pulls the back muscles of the leg far more than the position they are in cycling. 

[richard black]

No cyclist would get straight out of bed and get on a bike. You are just asking for a muscle pull.

Muscle pull? If I don't have breakfast before getting on the bike I risk starving to death!

[pianistimo]

wait until you are fat.  then, you don't even take a sandwich along.  i used to eat everything i wanted.  milkshakes before riding.  big sandwiches and candy bars, etc.  - all i take now is water.  and sometimes in very hot weather - i want a soda when i get back.  but generally just water.

i'm not so fat anymore.

[thalbergmad]

how insulting you are.

Thal (presently in Shaftsbury)

[ahinton]

i suppose that's supposed to impress me.  *early bedtime now, too.   not back until tuesday?  good grief - you ARE slow on the bike.

I'm not sure if you are aware that the distance between Gravesend and Bath is some 150 miles, so double that distance there and back; what speed would you expect Thal to drive his bicycle at? Anyway, it's news to me that he is coming to visit me, as the first I've heard of it is reading his post...

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

how insulting you are.

Thal (presently in Shaftsbury)

Now it would never occur to you - a self-confessed "gentleman" (see your earlier post) - to be "insulting", would it?

By the way, not only does Shaftesbury have an "e" in it, it's miles out of the way from Gravesend to Bath.

Best,

Alistair