I’ve Fallen and I Can Get Up
Not sure what it is, but I seem to be on a TGIF kick lately.
One of my favorite shows was Family Matters.
Love that clip, especially two moments: when Urkel adjusts his glasses and the cheer, which I still remember to this day (Give me a V! V! You got yo V, you got yo V!) One of Steve Urkel’s catchphrases was, “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.”
Well, I’ve fallen off the working out horse. Bad. My last workout I documented on my blog was in May. I did a few workouts at home and went on a few runs since, but the only working out I did in June and July was leading worship, lifting my fork or chopsticks to my face, and picking up and carrying an 8lb baby.
While visiting friends, I was holding D2 in an upright position in my left arm. During the conversation, I start to feel wetness on my chest. I figure D2 spit up but when I look down, I see D2 is attempting to nurse through my shirt. My friends laughed, as did I, but when I got home, I had some real reflecting to do.
Although I stayed at the same weight (197), I’d lost significant amounts of muscle. Not to mention the moobs/mitties I was now sporting (sadly, mitties isn’t a cute word for teeny, tiny mittens) that D2 thought she could get milk out of.
Working out can be quite the battle because of what I call the Temple Principle. Jesus said He would tear down the temple and rebuild it in 3 days, which is a 3:1 ratio of building to tearing down time. It took me roughly 9 months of lifting to get to where I was; it took less than 3 to bring me back to where I was a year ago.
Additionally, with my lifestyle, I have to make a concerted effort to exercise. When we had guests from Thailand over, this was the gist of one conversation we had:
Me: I haven’t been to the gym in a while
Guest: What’s a gym?
Me: It’s where I go to exercise.
Guest: Oh, can we go too?
Me: Oh. You have to pay to get in.
Guest: You have to pay to go somewhere to exercise?
Me: Yes.
Guest: It’s pretty cheap, right?
Me: Actually, it’s quite expensive. Like a couple bucks a day.
Guests: Well, I guess that’s not too bad. I mean, you go everyday, right?
Me: Actually…
So yeah, even though I pay for it, working out isn’t a regular part of my day unless I make it.
As I stood on the scale and looked in the mirror, I felt remorse and sadness for a moment, and then I heard a voice in my head: Go, appa, go! No time to feel sorry for myself, it’s time to get back up. Sorry, Urkel – I’ve fallen, but I can get up.
So I headed back to the gym last Friday. I decided to start small (135lb squat, 135lb bench) but it sure didn’t feel small. I did stronglifts workout A and jogged on the treadmill for 10 minutes at 6mph. I want to say it felt great, but it felt terrible.
The next day, I was pretty sore but not terribly so. My brother-in-law and some friends were going to play basketball, so I decided to join in. Turns out, I was the oldest one in the group by far – sporting a wedding ring and bags under my eyes from D2′s sleep patterns immediately makes you an old man in their eyes. I’m in my late 20′s but there is a decidedly visible difference between late and early 20′s when you’re playing sports. Most notably, while the young guns were running up and down the length of the court, I mostly jogged back and forth between the 3-point lines and heaved up ill-advised three pointers that elicited groans.
The following day, I was so sore. Every time I had to move, I had to muster up a bit of courage to do so. Little muscles near my groin that I never knew existed were sore and turns out they play a vital role in walking. I dreaded each and every sneeze because my ab(s) hurt.
It was a terrible few days but the soreness has subsided and it’s time to hit the gym again.
So here’s a cheer for you, my fat and moobs: You don’t want none of Pop. Do ya?! Do ya?! Do Ya?! Do Ya?! Do Ya?! Do Ya?! No, I don’t think so.
Go, Pop, Go!
What motivates you to get back or stay on the horse?
For the stronglifts program, you retry the weight 
