Obviously I’m getting older and shamefully lazier. I have been cycling less and less, I barely run anymore. Since starting nursing in 2015 I have put on 12kg. I am angry and frustrated at myself because I know better. I know muscles start to waste when we get older, we have to use them to keep them. I have let it go too long. I could go deep into my own stupid psychology to explain why I have been so dumb. I will spare you though.

The new year is boom time for new resolutions and all that so this morning I decided to accompany my ever patient partner to her gym class. I used the running machine to warm up before joining the class. We lifted weights and squatted and all that stuff. It was fine until I started the burpees, my most hated exercise. I pulled the multifidus muscle in my lower back. I stopped and tried a few tentative stretches, nope it was definitely stuffed.

The last time I was this out of shape was in 2007/8. I remember it led me to quit working in the Information technology sector. I got back on my bicycle, joined Nifty’s gym and did lots of bushwalking training leading to the the Kokoda Challenge and Muay Thai training. Life get’s too easy and the wheels fall off, forcing us to re-evaluate.

Today I am barely able to stand or even sit upright to type. Cold packs, ibruprofen and paracetamol help. The pain should subside in a day or two. I have made a, no doubt expensive, appointment with the physio for later in the week. It really is time to get back in shape I only have one life.