Murphy's History with Physical Fitness
Baseball.
That was the big thing when I was a kid in grade school. Baseball. Your worth was measured by your ability to hit the ball, run bases and catch the ball. Given that I did not get a pair of glasses until the Fourth Grade, it was pretty unlikely that I was going to do well as a baseball player in school. I was always picked last, always sent way out into left field, and pretty much ignored.
It doesn't help that to this day I have a terminal fear of objects falling at high velocity from the sky.
I didn't run particularly well as a kid, always getting stitches in my sides, shins aching, hyperventilating and so forth. Basketball wasn't my thing either due to the glasses and so it goes.
Throughout most of my childhood, I was definitely a weak individual. I was the target of bullying throughout my public school experience and I didn't win my first fight until the fifth grade.
I was an active kid though. I rode my bicycle everywhere I could, constantly pushing the parental imposed boundaries. My mom made sure I got swim lessons so long as they were free. In fact, I became a fairly strong swimmer and those skills stay with me to this day. And by middle school I had a 20 to 40 pound pack on my back for my daily walk to and from Middle School.
Yet I was not a jock. I still do not consider myself to be one though I seem to get more respect from them these days.
What changed? Well, in roundabout terms, the Army changed me. But the answer is not as obvious as one might think. Plenty of people go through basic, get run to death, do push ups and so forth, and yet end up fat slobs by time they get out. Certainly I fought my battles with sloth and obesity in my post military career as well.
But it was the skills I picked up in the Army that got me started on the road to decent health.
Weight Training
It seemed insanity to me to workout more than once a day. The Army already made me do PT in the morning but Specialists Cathey and Stavros suggested that I take up weight lifting at the gym. I had just landed on the fatboy program after my deployment to the Gulf and I needed to lose the weight.
Granted, the fucking sergeant put his thumb under the tape but that is neither here nor there.
When I started I couldn't even curl the 45 pound bench press bar but over the course of a year, Cathey and Stavros patiently taught me how to use the weights. They taught me how to use the bench press, the curls, and other free weights. They showed me my first program, a three sets at 12, 10 and 8 reps with increasing weight per set. They also, as a plus, showed me the racquetball courts, which were free.
Toss in the salad bar at the mess hall during lunch, cutting back on the sodas and limiting myself to a bag of popcorn for snacks and it wasn't long before yours truly lost enough weight that even the thumb wasn't enough to keep me on the fatboy program.
Weight training has probably saved what little is left of my sanity over the years. It is something my body seems to be built for. I'll never look like a body builder but I seem to have a natural reservoir of raw strength potential, something I wouldn't have believed as a kid. Gym time got me through the worst of my year in Korea and it helps me get through the tough times today.
It definitely saved my sanity during the Uniguard era. Anytime my temper was about to explode, I'd go over to the gym and pump it all away. Next day I'd be sane enough to get through another day.
Swimming
It had always been my intent to get back to swimming. When the free swimming lessons came to an end, my Mom mentioned something about, if things got better, paying for more. We never got to that point and worse, there were no swim teams in the Northland when I was a kid (there are now). There were no indoor pools either (there are two now).
From time to time I'd swim in the Army. Fort Riley had two indoor pools but I never understood lap swimming, nor did anyone around me. It didn't occur to me to look for a book on the topic at the post library (where I spent a lot of my time) so I mainly splashed around without much thought.
I tried to get back to serious swimming in Graduate School. UMKC has an indoor pool but the problems were many. First, I didn't know what I was doing. Second, the pool was always jammed with early morning swimmers. Third, I was increasingly embarassed by my massive weight gain due to the paxil dose I was on. Fourth, I never seemed to have any energy at all.
In the summer of 2008 I tried again but the wash of life caught me. Same with 2009. We have a campus pool but at the time the water had some odd flavor to it which made me leery. Now, given that I don't want a summer job in security, I suck it up and swim anyway.
Once I set my mind to it, it did not take long to evolve from 100 meters nonstop to 200, then 300, then 500 and finally 600. I've had to modify my weight training a bit to augment my swimming objectives. More endurance based weight training, less effort at gaining raw strength and mass.
What I have found is that the two programs work hand in glove together. My private swim instructor tells me that I have a lot of raw power at my disposal. All I need now is to work on my form to improve efficiency, conserve energy and work more effectively.
The irony is that I am probably more athletic than most 38 year old Midwestern males. I definitely think I am one of the more athletic instructors in my division. Yet I do not consider myself an athlete. I am not a jock.
I'm just someone who wants to stay healthy, which I think is the best attitude to have about exercise.
The Teaching Front
Talked about Hitler today. I should have Poland invaded and the war underway by Hump Day.
So it goes.
Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
North Kansas City, Missouri
18 hours ago