Health and fitness

Growing up I was always a pretty energetic kid, that energy probably came from the sugar that I was main lining in my veins, it may also have been because of my issues with sitting still and paying attention. I never wanted to/could sit still for long, I was always up and running about my house and out my back, playing on the swings or on the climbing frame that I used to have(which was probably a death trap by the way).

I always wanted to be outside playing which must have driven my parents mad, i'll always give my parents the credit due to them, I wasn't an easy child, there was only so much they could do to keep me in check, the rest was on me.

Even into my teens I was always outside with friends skateboarding or cycling or any number of things that kept me in good shape and off the computer and out of the house.

During those years growing up I always had a pretty bad habit of eating far too many sweets, my teeth can attest to that fact. Even though I was running about a lot and keeping active to some degree I was still my weight in sweets and drinking sugary drinks. Most people know that you can't out exercise a bad diet, sooner or later it's going to catch up with you and you're going to start putting on the pounds and getting winded walking down the street. That point came when I was around 18 or 19.

With the freedom that university and student loans gave me my diet really took a nose dive binge eating territory. I remember what I would have when I made it onto the Jordanstown campus each day. Each day consisted of me eating Subway sandwiches followed by chocolate, drinking large Redbulls and calorie dense hot chocolates. You have to understand, this was what I was eating when I was at University, what I used to eat at home was probably much worse, if I was hungry at night, or even  just bored and wanted something to do I would put a pizza in the oven and eat that. This could be 12 in the morning or even later but i'd basically be having another dinner, no wonder I put on weight. I also used to spend a lot money going to the local Chinese takeaway, I basically became a regular, the same now that i'm becoming a regular at the off license, but that's a topic for later.

It was probably around that time that I injured my shoulder, an injury that still plagues me to this day, among other ailments.

The strange thing about my shoulder injury was how I got it. I wasn't doing anything strenuous, I wasn't doing weights or twisting and turning in the wrong way. I was lying on my side in bed and was rolling my shoulder when I felt a sharp pain, it only lasted a second but it was something worrying. I don't remember it hurting too much at the start but as time went on I started having issues carrying things with that arm, I couldn't hold things for long so after a while I went to the doctor and got prescribed Naproxen, an anti-inflammatory drug which was supposed to have helped, as far as I can remember it didn't exactly work, i'm pretty sure it gave me insomnia for a week or so while I was taking it, maybe it was one of the side affects of the drug, maybe it was just me.

After that I guess things progressed, I carried on with my life and with my injury which eventually progressed to the other shoulder, so it wasn't just a fluke, my shoulders were that out of sync. While it progressed the issues it caused got worse, I started having even more problems with getting to sleep, getting comfortable and doing everyday things. A smart person would have gone back to the doctor but it took another few years before I did that, why oh why did I wait so long?

When I went to the doctor the second time I had blood taken to check to see if I had any other underlying issues that might have caused my injuries, whether it was something that could affect my joints like arthritis or some other condition.

X-Rays were next, a further check to see whether I could have any onset symptoms of arthritis, also fortunately negative.

The physio came next, this was were real progress was made in finding out was going on in my body. I wish I had only got a referral to the physio sooner, or even if I was just more active in my teens, all of this pain and discomfort may never have fucked with my life.

The physio told me that I control issues with my shoulders, that they were doing much more work than they should have and that I needed on to do some work on them to get into working order again. I had a few appointments with the physio where she showed me a few different stretches and exercises I could do to strengthen my shoulders. I managed to stick with them fully for those few appointments but after that I got lazy and failed to stick with the routine, routines just never seem to work for me, maybe i'm just too free spirited, or too lazy, or both, there could be countless reasons for me not being able to stick to the routine set out for me, doing the exercises 3 times a day, they only would have taken me 10 minutes at the most but that seemed like too much effort to me. I manage to do them now and again but I just can't seem to get back into doing them regularly like I should be doing. My shoulders are suffering for my laziness.

During the long period where I was jobless and goal-less I got a gym membership, those first few months I didn't have a clue what I was doing, I just did random sets of weights with no goal in mind. I had no idea about what kind of physique I might want to try and attain, I guess starting from scratch at a gym can be quite a daunting experience for some, especially so if you're like me and don't ask for help.

I finally found an app I could use that gave me a rough idea about exercises that I could do, I managed to get into a routine, a shock I know but for almost a year I was going to the gym regularly, at least 3 times a week, more if I had the energy. I was probably in the best shape of my life at that time, my shoulders still weren't in the best of conditions but I could see the progress that I was making, both visually and in the increased range of weights I was lifting. If only I could have maintained that for longer, looking at me now it seems like i'm a lot further back than from where I started, getting closer to my heaviest weight in at least 6 years and looking almost as bad as I did back then.

With all the free time I have at the minute I should be going to the gym as often as possible, that's not the case though, I seem to just sit about and do nothing worthwhile, I could be out exploring the world but no, I sit in and browse the internet aimlessly or sit on my Playstation for hours on end. It needs to change, change is good, I should be accepting that I need to change things but i'm far too comfortable where I am.