I went to the gym yesterday. It has been time for me to get back to it, I’ve been really weak and have had zero energy for too long. WIth my vast experience of going back to the gym, I knew well enough not to overdo it. I did a rather leisure 20 minutes on the bike, and then did some core exercises. I did just enough for the muscles to know that I’m getting back to them, nothing more.
I slept really well, another benefit I had been hoping for. I noticed that my legs, back and abs were a bit stiff. I hadn’t done enough to make them sore, but it was clear that they hadn’t been used in a long while. Then I got my normal bought of spasticity. It’s totally normal for my legs to lock up when I wake up. They turn rigid and I can’t do anything with them for a couple of minutes. On my less good days, they cramp up too. This morning had a little more kick to it than I had expected, and I literally mean kick. Instead of simply locking up, my left leg went into a pumping motion, kinda like your dog when you scratch in just the right area… That’s happened before, but it hadn’t done that in a while. The thing that got to me was that my stiff core muscles decided to lock up on me too.
So there I was, with my right leg stiff, my left leg pumping, and my abs and back stiff as a board. I couldn’t move and I’ll admit to freaking out a bit. My legs calmed down like they always do, but my abs and back were a bit more tenacious. They would relax, and then I’d try to get up and they’d stiffen up on me again. This went on for some time, probably less than I imagine, but it seemed like a long time. I lay as quiet as I could, and I ended up dropping off to sleep again. I woke up a while later and repeated the process. By the time I could get out of bed, it was almost noon (right when I was supposed to be at work). I called into work and tried to limber up.
I probably could have gone to work, but I was a bit freaked out. I wonder how many more lovely little surprises I’m going to get as the years go on. I also wonder what it’s going to be like once I start doing some upper body exercise. With any luck this won’t happen once I’m in better shape and if it does, I’ll be a little more sanguine about it.