Right ankle tweaking, that’s something besides the stitch in my side I want to clear before more labor.
The funny truth is it’s a topsoil pitching injury, I was pivoting it at the end of stroke to add some final momentum to the pitch in an adaptation of dojo skills but I tried it against a scoop still too heavy to pitch and jammed it.
Alright went to the public pool and realized that movement in water was another one of those things I had totally lost muscle memory for: not just swimming was reduced to gross muscle movement + remembered instructions and secondhand memories but walking in water too, the entire experience of water felt different than I remember – like high-frequency Jello? – for half an hour until I stopped consciously parsing the smallest eddies and just felt them enough to subconsciously process.
My muscles are sore and achy and stiff in an old man way exactly as they’re more capable than ever, it’s funny, it’s like “ah, my whole lower back feels like one solid piece, and every time I bend over… I can hold the pose indefinitely and come back up smooth”
Alright, 4.5 more yards of topsoil, which is 3 bedloads. The twisting pitching motion exhausts my hip flexors, so after 2 I’m swaying my hips like I’m trying to pick up a whole ship of sailors and after 3 I’m walking like I did.
The testosterone-boosted growth means the morning after being totally exhausted they’re stronger than they’ve ever been, no sway at all when I stand still now.
Oh shit, and I can lift my legs far enough sitting down to put boxers on now. I’d been having to grapple my legs up by the ankle, which was retroactively the most important thing I learned at the dojo. (From our sensei being “if you want to do this BJJ lock but you’re getting old…”) Leg flexibility used to be big for me, some of that was probably it was loose from never developing muscles for arched-foot movement, but anyway it’s nice to get back.
Alright, 4.5 more yards of topsoil, which is 3 bedloads. The twisting pitching motion exhausts my hip flexors, so after 2 I’m swaying my hips like I’m trying to pick up a whole ship of sailors and after 3 I’m walking like I did.
The testosterone-boosted growth means the morning after being totally exhausted they’re stronger than they’ve ever been, no sway at all when I stand still now.
Can now stand up from chairs without pushing off, still feel a little unsteady up erect but not even need to adjust my footing
You know, in that after the brain Covid I had to relearn my basic controls both as a person and as a body from scratch (and some of the gameplay mechanics that I still knew on an intact, intellectual level were different) that was kinda an honest-to-God born-again experience, huh?
Just finally regained the ability to reach down and touch my toes in bed like two months ago and I’d say I’m already 60% to rehabilitating the stretchiness of my hamstrings.
Latest muscle development making things smooth like they haven’t been since before Covid but because it goes through these motions slowly instead of throwing them through with enough momentum it actually makes my motion seem more old-man
Oh also as the last of my physical limitations wear off and I get quite strong remember I was also a blue belt in American Kempo from that very fighting-focused LA dojo and everything the old personality knew has been internalized in depth as something the new personality has always known before he learned how to walk, so very good chance I could kick your ass in a fight.
I don’t take the cane where I’m just walking in from Darwin to somewhere anymore.
Forcing the knees straight (involved in a lot of variations of standing up) was the last movement I’ve really had to recover. I still have to pull on or prop myself against something rising from the ground, but with the help of a 65-step staircase in a nearby park it’s getting better.