The Opposite of Punch Therapy

It sounds so simple. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. This is one of those sayings that we have all learned somewhere in our life. The saying is actually one of Newton's three laws of motion. That means the idea has been around a long, long, time, and I guess you would think I would have seen it coming.

Last installment I talked about the idea of Punch Therapy. The idea being that when you are stressed, in a bad mood, or having a tough time at work, you should engage in Punch Therapy. Punch Therapy is hitting the heavy bags, hitting mits with a training partner, or live action sparring. You know what I'm talking about. You just punch on stuff until the bad energy is worked out of your mind and body. The workout can do wonders for your mood, and definitely beats going to a therapist. Well, at least it is a lot more fun!

What I wasn't expecting was the opposite reaction. When you punch, you get punched back. The other day while sparring, I got hit back. I got hit back hard. I actually saw stars and my head jerked around and pulled a muscle in my neck. I didn't go down, but man I was knocked for a loop. Luckily it was the end of the round, and the end of the day. I went home sore.

The next day at practice we worked on double leg take downs. We took turns taking each other down. At the end of the day, my neck was really sore again. Hmmm, I think I'm seeing a pattern. It looks like by the end of the day, when I'm tired, I get hurt. Note to self: Don't get tired.

The next morning, I woke up and was in quite a bit of pain. For the first time since loosing 160 pounds, I actually thought I might be getting too old to do Mixed Martial Arts. I was starting to get really depressed.

I decided to break down and go see the doc. I drove down to the Urgent Care at the Santa Cruz Medical Foundation. The Doctor who saw me was pretty cool. I explained my injury and asked him if I was going to be ok? He sent me down for a CT Scan.

When the scan was complete, the doc called me back in. The whole process took about 25 minutes. He said "Good News and Bad News." "First your neck looks pretty good. By that, I mean that nothing is broken. The Bad News is that something is pinching a nerve in your neck. It is probably just a swollen disk, muscle, or tendon, but the worst possible case would be a ruptured disk. If you are not better in a week or two, we'll do an MRI and talk about Physical Therapy."

Wow.

I then asked him the question that I wasn't really sure I wanted to hear an answer to.

"At 50 am I too old to be competing at this level?"

He laughed. He said that he was 45 and also does Martial Arts. He does that funky stick fighting style, and he once got caught with a whack to the head with a stick. He said he had the exact same thing, but he got better and continues to compete. If you ask me, this guy was crazy. I would much rather deal with big gloves and head gear then getting hit with a stick. He gave me a muscle relaxer and told me to take it easy for a couple of weeks.

I started doubling up on my supplements. I increased my intake of Glutomine, Vitamin D, and Vitamin B. I also doubled my intake of XCAP Max EFA's and XCAP Joint Flex. These supplements are amazing, and really help recovery from sports injuries. (Check them out at GetSeriousNutrition.com)

Well the neck has gotten much better. I have pretty good range of motion, and most of the soreness is gone. I took a week off from the gym. Well I guess I just took a week off of suiting out. I still went in almost every day for instruction. I guess I can't help it. I just love this stuff.

This last week, I went back to everything but sparring. I'm back hitting the bags, punching the mits, working on form, and lots of stretching. I'm even starting to really like this Brazillian Ju Jitsu stuff. The more flexible I get, the more I like it.

This morning I went to the regular Doctor. He said I should be ready to go back to full contact in another week or two, and he also told me that I'm not too old to continue on. Then being a wise guy, he told me, "Remember, when you get tired, don't drop your right!"