Fitness – Page 4 – Serenity Through Sweat

Power Curve

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. This last week has been all about getting over the case of the cooties as a family, and it reminded me of an old aviation lesson.

Learning how to fly is both art and science. You can learn and apply without getting too deep into the math and engineering side if you are so inclined, but where is the fun in that. For me, the math and science made it real and added to my ability to process the phenomena I was experiencing in the plane.

I did a lot of riding at night after the rest of the cooties filled house was asleep, these two were still behind the power curve

One of those phenomena is the aircraft’s position at any given time along the power curve. The power available curve (or thrust available curve, the difference is important but beyond the scope of today’s discussion) is relatively straight forward. The engine is capable of producing different amounts of maximum power based on engine specifications as well as environmental factors like temperature, pressure, and altitude.

The power required curve is a combination of the different types of drag that the aircraft must overcome based on its particular flying conditions. Some drag is based on pure speed, some is based on how much lift is produced.

When both curves are graphed together (power required vs power available) the image is a power envelope. This envelope allows us to determine scenarios (in this case environmental and airspeed) and how much excess power the aircraft has. How much more power it is capable of producing than what it needs.

Notice at a certain point in the graph, it actually requires more power, (and significantly more power for that matter) to fly a slower airspeed. This is denoted on the graph as the region of reversed command and is also known as flying behind the power curve.

Behind the power curve, is where I found myself in recovery from the cooties. I wasn’t moving as fast, or getting as much done, but It felt like I needed way more power to do it. I was moving a lot slower, but my engine felt like it was closer to red line than it ought to have been.

As the week progressed, I started to move out of the region of reverse command and get back ahead of the power curve. My power envelope and “excess power” expanded for things like resuming training and the extra attention and patience that El Duderino and Speedy often demand.

These zwift rides were a bit more structured as I got back in front of the power curve

Obviously the cooties were a significant environmental factor that put me behind the power curve, but I was thinking about other times I felt that way. Whether it was the Doldrums, over training, poor dietary choices, jealousy, anxiety, nervousness or any of the other negative emotions that can drain excess power.

There are lots of ways to put ourselves behind the power curve, and while an aircraft can and will fly there, it isn’t the most efficient or the most comfortable place to fly. It is important to understand how and why to operate behind the power curve, and it is just as important to know how to get back out in front of it.

This was a warmup lap and then 2 laps for my first zwift race. I have a long way to go but it was a fun experience and felt good to rev the engine

I’m thankful I was able to support my family and recover while on the backside of the power curve. And I’m even more thankful to be back on the other side and back to pushing up the power.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Blanket forts and popsicles help you get back in front of the power curve right?

Cooties

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. This week I think the cooties might have finally caught up to my family and I.

We should have the test results back in a few days but my wife and I have taken turns with fever, chills, headache, and sinus congestion. Speedy and El Duderino have both showed similar although thankfully less severe symptoms.

Admittedly, riding 18 and change miles on zwift with the beginnings of a sinus headache and following it up with a few glasses of wine might not have helped.

The next morning when I couldn’t clear my left ear and the sinus headache was in full swing, the 1.1 mile swim date with my wife didn’t do me any favors either.

It is hard to stop the momentum from a full training plan, especially one that is supposed to be peaking, as opposed to being sidelined.

I was willing to look past a few of the more subjective and intuitivemetrics of how I was feeling, as well as some of the more objective ones (like increased body temp and respiration rate) in the name of a training plan. The results were probably not advantageous.

Thankfully no signs of respiratory decline

I’m grateful that my biggest concern is how I will bounce back for competition. I know that not everyone’s run in with the cooties is so favorable.

I’m grateful that I can be an effective father/husband/provider while still in cootie recovery mode.

I’m grateful that I have taken my own advice to stockpile fitness for times of trouble. I hope that my stockpile pays dividends as the calendar closes is on race day.

I’ve talked ad nauseum about how SerenityThroughSweat makes me a better, calmer version of myself. How engaging a strenuous physical activity pushes on the pain receptors, enabling the pleasure centers to have their turn in the aftermath.

The cooties have taken this option off the table. So not only are my wife and I not feeling so hot, but I think I’m in a (at least short term) below baseline hormonal state.

Photo evidence of the cooties in the house

I’m reminded the quote from Fred Jung played by Ray Liotta the movie Blow “sometimes you’re flush, and sometimes your bust. When you’re up it’s never as good as it seems, and when you’re down you never think you’ll be up again. But life goes on”

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Pleasure

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. This week I was listening to the Huberman lab podcast episode 32 on pain and pleasure, and it brought me back to something my highschool rowing coach used to tell me.

Dr. Huberman is a Neurobiologist and professor at the Stanford school of medicine and his podcast covers a number of topics with a scientific and specifically a neurobiology approach to various topics.

Dr Huberman, does an excellent job covering very complex scientific topics, breaking down on a mechanistic basis what goes in the body and brain while remaining surprisingly approachable to the novice, unscientific enthusiast.

El Duderino was very excited to go full cannibal on Halloween. A lollipop eating a lollipop

The episode on pain and pleasure was a two hour deep dive into the various ways we experience and modulate pain and pleasure and how the two are interconnected. Specifically of interest, to me anyhow, was the research around dopamine reward prediction error by Dr Schulz

The study explored the way that dopamine levels are modulated when behavior is rewarded on a variable schedule. The best example of this is slot machines in a casino. Not knowing when you are going to win and then getting a bigger reward than expected makes the behavior more rewarding (from a chemical perspective not necessarily a financial one)

Dopamine is not really a feel good hormone, it is actually a behavior reinforcement and learning hormone. The dopamine levels in patients did not change significantly and actually dropped after a reward was received. The dopamine is instead released based on anticipation of the reward so that the behavior used to obtain the reward is what is learned.

Pumpkins and protons, not spooky but groovy

This is one reason why athletes feel so connected to their training and preparation prior to a win. The dopamine is released in anticipation of the win to reinforce the training behaviors.

This same concept can be applied to our own behavior outside a clinical setting. We can regulate our self rewarding in order to continue to motivate behavior. The thought being, if you reward yourself every time you engage in a behavior you want to keep doing, your dopamine response will gradually decrease. Whereas if you reward yourself on a variable, intermittent, or otherwise randomized schedule for that same behavior, your dopamine levels (which help drive motivation for that behavior) will remain higher.

The practical application example that was given was rewarding yourself or your teammates after a win or a hard training session. There is certainly something to be said for celebrating your accomplishments, but celebrating every time can lead to reduced dopamine which in turn would lead to less desire to perform those actions that lead to the win in the first place.

In high school I joined the crew team my freshman year and was lucky enough to be part of a few very successful boats. Competing in both a lightweight eight man boat and a lightweight four man boat, my friends and I won numerous local regattas, placed at the NY state championships and even won a Canadian national championship.

Keeping myself honest with the speed work mixed in.

After every win, regardless of whether it was our local club race or a national championship ship our coach would say “enjoy it today, because tomorrow it doesn’t mean shit”.

While that’s not my particular coaching style, and that type of coaching and motivation isn’t for everyone, it seems that it is at least backed by the science of motivation and dopamine reward pathways.

Halloween half marathon by coincidence (not planning on making that one a thing)

By not celebrating our wins and overstimulating a dopamine response, our desire to obtain a reward and thus the behavior that was required to obtain that reward was reinforced.

As with most topics we cover here, and many more we don’t, a delicate balance must be struck to obtain optimum levels of pleasure, dopamine modulation, and serenity for that matter too. In a first world of instant gratification, a self regulated variable reward protocol can help us reinforce good behaviors on the path to serenity.

Adding up miles and time in the saddle as IM FL 70.3 approaches

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Doldrums

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. I’ve struggled the past few weeks finding topics that I’m really excited about. I’ve also been struggling to get research done for my book project and struggled to make progress in my ironman training. It’s not that I haven’t been putting in the time, and doing these things, it just seems like there has been a relative lack of forward progress. Like I’m stuck in the doldrums.

The doldrums are nautical term dating back to the 1700’s that refers to the latitudes 5° north and south of the equator, and their relative lack of wind. Known as the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (or ITZC) this is the area where the northern latitude trade winds blowing southwest, meet up with the southern latitude trade winds blowing north east. Combined with surface heating along the equator this results in predominantly rising air rather than lateral surface winds.

Ships that got caught in the doldrums could be stranded for days or even weeks with no forward progress because of the lack of wind. The term has since been adopted beyond it’s nautical roots to mean a period of stagnation or a slump in our own individual journeys or some other external phenomena (think low sales numbers or no new music from your favorite band).

I remember learning about the concept of global atmospheric circulation in my aviation meteorology class in college. The idea that we can map out and predict the predominant weather patterns that affect our planet is pretty cool. Understanding those concepts 300 years ago is almost unfathomable to a generation that has grown up with technology.

Stagnation is a completely normal occurrence, both in a maritime and an everyday sense. The wind can be blowing at your back (a wonderful thing for cycling, running, and flying,) or it can challenge you, blowing head on (which you need to takeoff and land, and grow in general). Despite being a normal occurrence, It can be somewhat eerie when it disappears altogether.

As the name of the blog suggests I’m a person particularly predisposed to perspiration. The plight is only exaggerated in stagnant air. Detailing airplanes in a hot Florida hangar with no airflow, I would lose track of whether I was wiping up sweat or cleaning spray. I would finish cleaning an airplane and look like I just finished a wrestling match.

Stagnation can be in your mind as well. I can feel the anxiety beading up and rolling down my forehead like the sweat rivulets otherwise would when I feel stuck on a particular task or goal. Coming up with new exciting weekly topics and continuing research for my book project can definitely fall into this topic.

Regardless of how or why you experience periods of stagnation, and in spite of your ability to rationally and scientifically explain it, it is still a real drag. The doldrums can feel like a life sucking force.

Unlike those sailors caught in the middle of the ocean without wind, we have a lot more options at our disposal to combat the doldrums today. Maybe it is pivoting to a new topic or approach, maybe it is taking a break to return refreshed. As we’ve talked about on this platform before, there is value to be gained in pushing through a stagnant point in training even if it is only mental.

I’m trying to put one foot in front of the other, and one more mile together after the last one. Trying to string together words that reflect my own thoughts and feelings, and hopefully provide something of value to you and your own journey. The winds will rise again at some point, and when they do, I’ll reflect on my plateaus and stagnation points as I breeze by. The path to serenity isn’t one of linear progression, but no path worth taking is.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Unable

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. Last night I was squeezing in a short Peleton ride at the hotel gym in the MSP airport after a long, reroute induced day. My favorite instructor (partly because she is so often quotable), Robin Arzon, said something that stuck with me.

I decided I needed to get some additional movement in after eating a late dinner and spending most of the day butt in seat. It was just a short twenty minute hip hop ride, but Robin was able to work in this gem. “no, is a complete sentence”.

El Duderino making Play-Doh medicine so daddy can feel better (may or may not have pushed the limits last week)

She then went on to say, something along the lines of “if it isn’t increasing my bank account, or increasing the vibe of my tribe, the answer is no, and that is part of self care”. While I think the latter part of the statement is a bit more crafted and word smithed, the first part felt more organic and resonated with me.

It is also something that we hear on repeat in the aviation industry but struggle with both inside and outside the cockpit. “Unable” is also a full sentence, and it is one that is extremely important to use.

Speedy getting in some jungle gym action at Crayola

Pilots tend to be not only a mission oriented bunch but also type A personality predominantly. This often leads to pushing beyond a sense of personal comfort to complete the mission.

This is a common occurrence amongst the triathlon and endurance community as well. Pushing past the comfort zone is something that is inherent to those sporting domains and seeps into the everyday decisions that those members tend to make.

Enjoying the splash pad in the land of endless summer

I know I have more hobbies and responsibilities than time, and I often find myself trying to “do all the things”. Not wanting to give up the things that are priorities, but also not saying no when other requests pop up is a real struggle for a lot of us. Doing all the things is never an achievable goal and even aiming that high, knowing and accepting, that you will fall short can still lead to burnout.

This is where “No”, and “Unable”, find their essential place in the conversation. Pilots are very familiar with the term when it comes to the limits of their aircraft. If a controller wants a speed/altitude/heading that isn’t possible or safe, pilots don’t hesitate to play the “unable” card. But, being mission oriented, pilots are more reluctant to assess their own limits the way they would the aircraft.

To be fair, the aircraft comes with a manual, black and white criteria that it can and cannot perform. They are also tested in safe conditions to find their limits, and then placarded, with an appropriate safety margin or course. How familiar are you with your own limits and safety margins? Are they fixed and placarded, or more fluid and malleable?

Getting back in the saddle after race week and a brief cold

With many of my hobbies, part of the draw is testing those limits, finding where they are and how far they can be pushed. The endurance/triathlon community knows all about this. So to does the grappling community, because there is nothing like testing your skill against a brother or sister who is also trying to test themself whilst trying to render you unconscious.

There is something about pushing limits, that pushes the throttle up on life. Life becomes amplified, in way that is addictive. Pushing that throttle up, is not without it’s costs, and limits inevitably need to be pushed further to find that familiar feeling.

Putting in work on the trail and the book on the long DAY layover

It is ok to be unable. It is ok to say No. They are both complete sentences. In spite of the little voice telling you to keep pushing, there is serenity to be found in respecting your limits with complete sentences.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Doors

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. This past week my wife and I raced in a triathlon for the first time in the years and two years respectively. It felt good to get back on the road, and open a door I hadn’t before.

Listening to ultra runner Zach Bitter talk to Lex Friedman, they floated the idea of race outcomes as doors you walk through. Specifically they were talking about quitting.

Race week warm up runs on layovers in Columbia and Destin, with a barefoot beach 5k and sprint thrown in for good measure.

Once you have quit, it is like unlocking and walking through a door. Now that door is always unlocked and open. Once you have gone through it, it is always an option. If you have quit, you are a quitter, and can be again.

I understand the thought process and I agree with it, although there is some nuance to that designation, quitter. Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor, and quitting is the best option.

But, that’s not really what I want to talk about today. The idea of race outcomes as doors is really interesting. And the idea that if you haven’t unlocked the quit door that you are somehow more insulated from it is also interesting. Does that same idea work for other doors?

Feeling like Ralphie’s brother in his new coat

If it is your first time racing a certain distance, you’ve never unlocked and opened that finisher door. There is naturally a level of uncertainty with taking on a new distance, and likewise a level of confidence having unlocked and walked through the door of the finish line.

So every race has a door labeled DNF (did not finish or quit), and a door labeled finish line, but I think there is another door. A harder one to unlock and walk through. A door that most of us never get a chance to traverse.

That’s the door of winning. Lots of people race, lots of people finish, some may not, bit very very few win. For most folks, it’s not even a consideration. They race is against the clocks, the course, themselves, maybe a training partner or friend, but the idea of winning is never considered. The door remains locked, in an unlit and dusty corner of the room.

But every race has a winner, someone walks through that door. I would imagine that door is very much the same as the other doors. Once it is unlocked, once you have walked through, the idea that it is in fact an option becomes more realistic in your mind.

I like most racers, have never walked through that door. But this past weekend, I found the key and got my toe in it.

My badass wife finishing second in age group and me first place male* and third overall

I finished as the male winner of the international distance triathlon. However, as my wife likes to remind me, fast girls have good times, and I was beaten by two very fast ladies so I finished third place overall.

It never occurred to me before this weekend that I might ever win a race. That’s the reality of this sport for 99% of the participants. And while I still haven’t walked through the winner door, I think I’ve found the key, and more importantly I believe it is a viable option.

The door has always been in the room, and it turns out I’ve had the key all along, it was my belief that was lacking. (And maybe some of the faster dudes staying at home that weekend, who knows.)

*there was a chip error which led to an incorrect assignment of second place which has since been corrected.

I’m excited to get back on the race course again, knowing that there is another usable door in the room. And I hope I can find a way to pass on to my boys, that many doors are open to those with the desire to walk through them.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Learning

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. My toddler said something interesting to me this week that got me thinking about learning.

While burning off some extra energy jumping in his bed, El Duderino decided that I needed to jump with him. I told him I was too big to jump on his bed to which he replied,

“Don’t worry daddy I can teach you, Just bend your knees then stand in the sky that’s how you jump”

Super adorable I know, kids say the darndest things. But, what caught my attention more was the interplay between teaching and learning. In order to teach something, it needs to be broken down into manageable sections.

For my toddler, jumping comes in two manageable sections, and while academically unspecific, it is a significant step from the “this is how you do it watch me” approach.

He had to break down the two different steps and then articulate them to me, the learner, pretty good for a a three year old.

I’ve gone through this same process with a number of activities but specifically grappling and flying. In order to teach something you need to be able to dissect it. Teaching effectively often times leads to more learning, because you are forced to analyze in a process oriented way that you might have omitted before.

Teaching someone how to land an airplane requires a mechanistic understanding of weather, aerodynamics, momentum, gravity, mechanical engineering, and the interplay between them all.

Teaching a double leg takedown requires an understanding of physiology, center of gravity, physics, momentum, defensive counters and reactions. Breaking down the process for others often improves your own technique.

Like any skill though, these data points all get recognized and processed almost automatically after a while. So going back and teaching them can be a refresher in what is happening at a subconscious level.

Not only does teaching then promote more learning (for the teacher as well as obviously the student) but it also enhances neuroplasticity and fights aging in the brain.

Any time we learn something new (even if it is a relatively small nuance to an already known process or technique) new neural connections are formed and old ones are strengthened. This is why the mechanistic breakdown required of teaching helps the teacher learn.

Getting zwifty before race season starts

Even though you already know how to do a double leg takedown, you create new neural connections and synapses and strengthen old ones by breaking down your technique. Creating new connections and strengthening old ones keeps the brain plastic, just like keeping your muscles supple.

Life long learning can help fight cognitive decline as we age, and teaching can help promote new learning, even for already known skills. So teaching El Duderino how to jump a little more eloquently than “stand in the sky” will help me age gracefully and find serenity. (So long as there are no major tumbles off the bed)

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Stressed out

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. This week I want to talk about stress, especially the benefitial sides of stress for various areas of health. Maybe even reframing stress in a more positive light.

Stress gets a bad rap. Sure modern life is full of stressors, and you can always find something to worry about if that’s what you are looking for. In it’s most basic form, we need stress in order to have an adaptation response. We need stress to grow.

I can’t think of any group of people that doesn’t have multiple stressors in their life, but parents, aviators, and athletes each have their own unique variety.

One of neat things about stress is that the body doesn’t really differentiate between where the stress comes from. Did you just run some sprints, fly through some turbulence, did your toddler hurl his plate of trail mix across the kitchen? Your body doesn’t discriminate, it just responds.

Lots of easy walking days this week in recovery

The response is a cocktail of hormones that trigger a myriad of reactions that have helped us survive and evolve as humans. One of the primary hormones is adrenaline/epinephrine. This is a case where my highschool chemistry teacher would say “in the scientific community why have just one name when two will do”.

When we experience any event that our body has deemed as stress, amongst other things, adrenaline is produced in the body by the adrenal gland and in the brain by the medulla oblongata.

Adrenaline/epinephrine then has a number of downstream effects such as increased energy and alertness, increased blood flow to muscles, tunnel vision or a singular focus, increased memory retention, and increased immune response.

From an evolutionary standpoint these all make a ton of sense, if something was trying to eat you, the adrenaline boost would better equip you to escape, learn from the event, and heal any injury you might sustain.

Exploring koosh balls, gravity, and surface tension

The stress system it turns out is not just for unplanned, try to stay alive type of events, but can be activated at our discretion to engage all of those benefits. The following study from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, demonstrates just that.

In the study of 24 participants was split into two groups of twelve, with one of the groups receiving ten days of training in mediation, breathing, and cold exposure, and the other receiving no training. Each group was then infected with E. Coli.

The intervention group which was trained had “profoundly increased plasma epinephrine levels”. This led to increased levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines, decreased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, and lower flu like symptoms. The study ends with “In conclusion, we demonstrate that voluntary activation of the sympathetic nervous system results in epinephrine release and subsequent suppression of the innate immune response in humans in vivo.”

The breath work, cold exposure, and meditation served to activate the stress response, while also modulating it (too much stress for too long a period as we all know can be a bad thing). This allowed participants to have a significantly better immunological outcome to a pathogen exposure.

Balancing stress is always a tightrope walk, too much and you risk burn out, too little and you won’t evolve or adapt. The magic of the sympathetic nervous system and epinephrine pathway is that your daily SerenityThroughSweat habit (assuming appropriate application) also comes with an added immune boost.

A light cardio week with a minor surgical intervention

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty (and maybe even a little stressed too) my friends.

Solitude

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. This week I want to talk about solitude, and how it changes throughout the many topics (parenthood, travel, and sport) we cover together.

This particular week saw me in the dog house with my lovely wife. The details of which are a story for another time, but suffice it to say what can already be a lonely job, felt even lonelier.

It got me thinking about the times when I find my serenity in solitude, and the times when I find only sorrow, and what makes them different.

Triathlon tends to be a lonely sport. As does any endurance sport, especially as the distance you cover gets longer and longer. Sure you will have friends and training partners for support, but there is no getting around long days and miles with nothing but your thoughts.

Most of the time this is an escape, and a peaceful place. Even on those days where the demons need to be put down, I’ve always felt that we are at least on an equal playing field under the stresses of self induced cardiovascular effort.

Grappling is unique in that it is almost impossible to train alone, but competition is always a solo event. You are always preparing to bear the sole responsibility of your performance, physically, mentally, and emotionally.

As a parent of two young boys, solitude is often viewed an oasis, a place devoid of the constant needs of children who are not yet self sufficient. That same solitude can also be a a trap, bringing with it a sense of loss from lack of adult communication and connection.

Flying presents a unique form of solitude that presents a double edged sword similar to that of parenthood. I don’t have coworkers in the sense of seeing the same people day in and day out. This presents a wonderful opportunity to learn from and share experiences with a lot of different people, but is somewhat preventative to the formation of more meaningful relationships that come out of more consistant proximity. I also have a very different schedule than many of my non aviation friends, so scheduling social events can be quite difficult.

On the plus side, time alone, especially in changing settings, can bring with it new appreciation and new perspective. A change of scenery is seldom a bad thing especially when approached with the right attitude.

Leaving my serenity behind for the next Peleton user in ATL

Set, setting, and dosage, appear to be the key difference makers in the outcome of solitude. Is it solitude that you are actively seeking out, or that you are being forced in to? Are you in control of it’s duration? Are you otherwise actively engaged while you are alone? These can all change solitude from that place of serenity, to the prison of sorrow.

I’m grateful that for the most part, my solitude is a result of my own choosing, and a place where I can actively seek serenity and solace. And, on those rare occasions when solitude is not my choice, it is a good place for reflection, so long as I’m able to get past my own emotional baggage. Lots of time invested in the former, tends to help the latter.

Some extra sweaty morning miles in Columbia SC

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Empathy

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. After a busy week on vacation we are back and better than ever, with an interesting take on empathy.

The following article was posted on Sunday’s with Sisson, and was an incredibly compelling read. The cliff notes version is that consumption of physical painkillers (acetaminophen was used in the experiment testing) blunt not only our own pain, but also our neurochemical pathways for empathy for the pain of another.

That’s a pretty heavy scientific finding, and as the author’s put it, “Because empathy regulates prosocial and antisocial behavior, these drug-induced reductions in empathy raise concerns about the broader social side effects of acetaminophen, which is taken by almost a quarter of adults in the United States each week.”

I’m going to take a somewhat anti NSAID (non steroidal anti inflammatory drug) position in this post, but I want to clarify that these products have their important uses and have both improved and saved lives.

Acetaminophen as a fever reducer, especially for infants is a godsend. Pain management is a critical component to successful outcomes in many surgical, medical, and rehabilitation environments.

That being said, it is easy to misuse and abuse. That is coming from a guilty party, who spent the better part of my wrestling career eating Tylenol, Advil, and Aleve like a unsupervised child in a candy store.

Speedy’s first flight and a beautiful day at the beach

I remember a conversation I had with my wife after first starting jui jitsu, that despite being very similar to wrestling, my mindset was so much different in my practice of the gentle art. I remember telling her how I used to run through training partners in the wrestling room. In the pursuit of my own competitive goals, I pushed some of my teammates beyond their athletic comfort level, sometimes into over exertion and injury. There wasn’t any room for feelings or slowing down to teach them, it was all about me.

Contrast that with my practice of Jui Jitsu where I spend a lot of time explaining to someone how a position or scenario unfolded, and what they could have done differently, or posing those same questions to my brothers and sisters on the mat with a reasonable expectation that they will be answered. I start each round asking my training partners about their level of preparedness prior to each roll, how they are feeling, positions that they want to work on or avoid based on injury or weakness.

There is a gentleman’s agreement amongst almost all Jui Jitsu practitioners, that even if someone is too stubborn to tap out, it is your responsibility to your training partners to maintain their safety, especially above and beyond any of your own training goals. This same concept applies to an extent in wrestling, (you are responsible for safely returning an opponent to the mat when you forcefully remove them from it). But, because of the differences in rule sets, wrestling can largely be about moving someone where they don’t want to go, rather than systematically attacking from the changing positions you find yourself in, in Jiu Jitsu.

Some may say that wrestling is inherently more of a tough, grinding, grappling sport, when compared to the flow of jui jitsu, and they may be right. It can also be said that even my own stunted emotional maturity in my thirties is still light-years beyond that of my late teens. I would say however, that there is a significant difference in my self medication habits between the two periods of similar grappling activity, and I’m wondering how much of a impact this has had on my empathy, and thus my social engagement.

Beyond sport, there is nothing quite like being a parent to enhance and clarify your sense of empathy. There is something about carrying a kicking and screaming child that enables that neural pathway to empathize with all the other parents who have gone down the path before.

And if it takes a village to raise a child, as they say, sharing in the emotional well-being of said villiage is in the best interest of all the parents.

As I chased a screaming El Duderino around the Southern tier brewery’s outdoor seating area, and tried to keep him from terrorizing his little brother as well as the other patrons, I was pleasantly surprised to get a fist bump from a fellow father saying “dad, you’re doing great”.

This man’s empathy put a smile on my face and gave me the extra boost I needed to maintain some modicum of serenity throughout the rest of the afternoon.

So where NSAIDs may well blunt some of our more important social niceties along with some pain, it turns out sunshine and craft beer might just help replace them. (Trust the science)

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.