Jump for Joy

Starting earlier this year, I began having trouble doing things that would ordinarily be easy, that should be easy.  Examples include jumping, punching, kicking, swimming . . . even clearing  my throat (aka hocking up a loogie).

Today at the gym I spent an entire hour trying to jump.  

Jumping

First, a little more detail on these activities, starting with jumping.  There are many ways to jump--jumpng jacks, hop on one foot, hop on two feet, broad jump.  Jumping jacks were easy when I started in Rock Steady Boxing (RSB) eight years ago.  It doesn't seem all that long ago, but to help put it in perspective, that was years before Covid, and my kids were in third and sixth grade.  In any case, eight years is a lot of time for the disease to progress.  Along the way, jumping jacks gradually became more difficult.  Same with jumping rope--at first it was easy, it gradually became more and more challenging, and now I don't even bother with it at all.  For most of this year, when a group class at the gym has a jump rope segment, I would leave the rope and just hop on one foot for whatever number was assigned.  For example, if the trainer tells us to jump 100 times, I would jump 100 times on one foot and then 100 more on the other.  Lately that one-legged hop is difficult, if not impossibile.  Likewise with jumping srtraight up, or broad jumping.  I used to do a mean TRX squat jump, but today I tried and tried, and for the most part failed to jump straight up from a squat.  The burpee broad jump is one of the eight workouts in a Hyrox, and I did fine as recently as the Las Vegas Hyrox in February of this year.  Now, when I can broad jump at all, the distance is barely more than a heel-to-toe step forward.

Punching and Kicking

Punching and kicking are things  I started doing in martial arts as a teenager and never really stopped.  Through the years leading up to a black belt, to the style switch to boxing in RSB, I have been able to wail away on the bag (and I enjoyed it!), but lately I don't even work up a sweat in an hour-long boxing class.  Strangely, I can hit mitts reasonably well.  Not quite like the old days, but not too shabby, either.  The heavy bag, however, is somehow different.  One would think that if I simply pick a spot on the bag and visualize a mitt, I would be able to throw a decent punch, but that has not been the case.  My kicks are similarly lackluster.

Swimming

Nearly 40 years ago I volunteered for lifeguard training at a local water park in Memphis, TN.  (Who remembers Adventure River, adjacent to I-40 at exit 14?).  The first order of business was learning to tread water holding a cinder block.  After that we learned everything from lifeguard entry to lifesaver's stroke to calming and getting control of the victim, hauling him/her to safety (shore of lake/side of pool), and completing the rescue with first aid, CPR, etc. as needed.  I worked hard to achieve those goals/meet those standards, and I passed the final exam by 'rescuing' the head lifeguard--who outweighed me by about 80 to 100 pounds (I'm guessing 220 to 240 for him vs 140 for me).  Needless to say, I was a pretty strong swimmer, and I remained so for many years.  My most recent swimming was in a lake whose name I do not know in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northerrn Minnesota in June 2021.  While my son paddled around in a borrowed (home-made) canoe, I waded out in the lake  until I couldd not touch the bottom, and then I swam for a while.  I remember that it was a bit awkward at first, but soon I was doing fine. Fast forward four years, and I fared much worse.  I drove to an Eos location with a pool one day in June of this year to swim laps.  I actually made it a length or two with each of three strokes:  a modified breast stroke (head out of the water), side stroke on my left side, and side stroke on my right side.  During those laps I witnessed my ability to swim fade until all I could do was walk back and forth in the swim lane.  Since then I have been working on those same three strokes--plus the elementary back stroke and treading water--nealy every day in my own pool here at home. 

Back to Jumping

I knew there would be a Labor Day class at the gym this morning at 6am.  A few days ago I said that I would be there, so I wanted to follow through.  I set my alarm for 4:30am . . . but I woke up at 2.  Since I was up, I went for a short run around the neighborhood, followed by a swim at home.  When it was time to go to the gym, I left early to have extra time to stretch.  The class starts with a warmup, so my rolling and stretching amounted to a warm-up for the warm-up.  My thoughts soon turned to jumping, and I grabbed a TRX and started trying to get some air.  For the next hour I mostly did squats (TRX jump squats without the jump).  By the end of the hour I had zero big jumps like in years past, but I did have a handful (maybe 4 or 5) of small ones, in which I was able to get my feet off the ground.

To end the morning workout, I relocated to the heavy bags.  I used to be able to jump up and grab one of the bars overhead and hang from it, do a pull up, or swing to the next bar.  Today I made several attempts before I was finally able to touch the bar with one hand.  I never did get high enough to grab it, or to touch it with both hands.

I suspect that this particular movement downgrade started before DBS, and my hope was (and remains) that DBS can fix it.  We just need to find the right combination of variables.   Once that happens . . . jump for joy!