Down and Out?
Captains log from the sofa.........Day 5
Sitting with my leg on a cushion unable to bend, black and blue stiff and gutted!
Life was not always this way.....
Wed the 6th of March
I was having a great day teaching classes as normal, many of which used my left leg as a target to practise timing, distance and power kicks (ouch!) The life of a martial arts coach is at most times painful, letting people practise the fighting moves on your body like a cheap whore; only joking!
Sometimes people go out of their way to kick you as hard as they can to prove to you they are tough and today was no exception (another day at the office).
After teaching 5 classes in a row I quickly changed and made my way to Eldon Square recreation centre to help the smooth running of the Eddie Bravo seminar!
The AFC Scrap pack set up the mats and made sure everyone was ok while Chris Mason and I went to find Eddie. The attendance was about 60 people, 27 of them from the AFC - so proud that they all came to learn from a true leader in the grappling field.
Eddie started to show us some stretches from the 10thPlanet system that we should do to make the most of the rubber guard (that Eddie is most famous for) and I was feeling like a kid at Christmas. I had seen Eddie in Nottingham a few years ago at my amazingly doomed adventure (see chasing twister blog) and here he was showing his best moves in front of a packed crowd! No matter how much you watch YouTube or DVDs or read watching it in person is the best, it is like watching a cookery programme, and the chef telling you how good it smells; it’s just not the same!
We were somewhat rushed out of the centre, not unlike a social club, after time by the staff switching the lights off and leaving one set on so we could get changed and get photos with Eddie! (Thanks for that - very subtle). Mickey, one of my friends and long time training partners gave me a lift home and we talked about how good the course was and what we were going to do with all the info we had been shown through the evening with Eddie! Five year old John came in to see Kerry, telling her all about the night still buzzing with excitement; I calmed down, ate food and went to bed!
Captains log Day 1
Thursday morning circa 7.15am
As I moved my left leg out of the bed to place it on the floor for my regular early morning toilet trip my knee would not bend and I was in a lot of pain but I could not understand why?
Most days I am in a certain amount of pain due to my occupation, or as I call it: my occupational hazard! But today was a different pain; I could not bend my knee, it was very inflamed and no amount of stretching was making the pain go away.
I spent the rest of the day resting hoping that one day of rest would cure the strange feeling in my knee.
Captains log Day 2
After no sleep through the night Kerry and I both decided I should go to A & E but as we have two girls to feed and take to school my Mam was called to take me to hospital. What is worse than being taken to hospital by your wife at the age of 43? Being taken to hospital by your 65 year old Mam! I have dragged my Mam to the hospital many times since I have been on this earth for many things, ranging from a broken leg to severed finger to split eyebrow - you name it I have done the walk of shame to the hospital with a frantic Mam in tow; today was another one of those days!
The doctor looked at my legs, which are not pretty as I have a plate in my right leg with a huge scar running the length of my shin; I also have purple knees from bursting my bursa and grappling for 30 years. The poor doctor did not know which one to check and tried to bend the one I had hurt, much to my amazement! The pain was about a 9/10, when I told her she did not know where to look and I thought my Mam was going to give her a right hook! We had to laugh or I would have cried (but I am tough and I cried on the inside).
My knee was sprained, I did not even know you could sprain your knee but you can and I did but I could not tell her how (my life is so strange) because of my job it could have been done many ways (see above). So off I went home to but my leg up for the next few days!
Captains log Day 5 (days 3 and 4 I have sat in the same place on the sofa with laptop, tablet mobile phone TV remotes and books except for the odd trip to the toilet, odd meaning I can’t walk or bend making getting to and from hard and sitting very painful).
So here I am writing this having just watched the mastering twister DVD, watching all the moves I am going to try out when I can:
A. Walk again
B. Bend my knee again
C. Go back to work to try them
It is a strange feeling that comes over you when you are forced to take time out of training and working at the gym. You get the time to feed your mind of all the things you are going to do and all the things you should not do (get kicked in the same leg for hours and hours on a daily basis) how I should stretch more and rest more (Oooh! That’s a dirty swear word) and I should let people help me to do things rather than struggle on with my cross (and left hook ) on my own!
I was told many years ago that if you don’t listen to your body and spirit (while I was in a cast on my left hand after breaking it in 4 places, never going to those places again lol) the spirits will make you rest! I do seem to have pushed myself to the edge many times in my life; sometimes I fall off the cliff but I know one thing, I will climb back up with my bare hands if I have to (once my knee is healed of course) and start again with baby steps back to the path of a warrior!
Until next time
Kirk out
To find out more about The Advanced Fighting Centre visit:http://www.advancedfighting.co.uk/ or e-mail John Atkin at johnatkin24@btinternet.com
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