This is Pastor Tim’s article which appeared in the Evening Leader on Tuesday, Dec 17, 2024
I know that it is just a few days from Christmas, and I promise that next week’s article will be about Christmas, but for today, I would like to skip over Christmas for a moment and look ahead to the New Year. What that will do is give me the chance to talk about every pastor’s favorite thing to talk about ever: New Years Resolutions. This is the opportunity everyone has to make some positive changes in their lives and it comes around once approximately every 365 days ( with the exception of Leap Year).
Far and away, the most common resolution is to get in shape. And that is the resolution I want to talk with you about because this is one that almost everyone fails. I want to give you some advice, particularly to you men out there. My goal is to improve the odds that you will be successful in reaching any fitness goals you are considering setting for 2025. This advice will work no matter what kind of fitness you want to achieve. If you want to start a walking regimen, get back into the weight room, do some running or anything else. I want to help you be successful by giving you a very specific warning about how God designed that amazing body you have.
When it comes to fitness, there are three systems in the body that matter: skeletal, muscle, and tendons. An injury to one of these systems will have catastrophic results for the other systems. That is why you will need to take care of them all.
Let me begin with the skeletal system because this is the easiest one to care for. Bones are primarily cared for by nutrition. Plenty of calcium is important and that is doubly true for you ladies out there. Food sources of calcium are best, but if you are not sure you are getting enough, supplements can be very helpful. The biggest thing to take care of your bones is not to ask too much of them. That means do not allow them to bear too much weight and don’t hit or twist them too hard. Yes, stress fractures are a thing that can happen, but so long as you are taking care of your bones, they will serve you well. Contrary to popular belief, your bones actually like load bearing and they will get stronger over time. It is gradual, but it can happen.
The next system is your body’s muscular system. I have great news about this system. It is the first part of your body where you will start noticing results. Your body is designed to grow muscle very quickly. You will like that because if you are doing load bearing exercises, you will see development in your muscles within a few weeks. Drink lots of water to flush out uric acid and eat the proper amount of protein and you will be very happy with your results in just a month or two.
But now we come to the bad news. Those ligaments and tendons that hold the bones and muscles together. The vast majority of injuries that people sustain when they begin a new fitness routine are those ligaments and tendons. I cannot overstate how important it is to protect your elbows, shoulders, hips, knees and ankles. If you feel pain in your muscles, within reason, that is fine. So if your quadricep (the big muscle in your thigh) is sore, that is good. However, if you have pain in your knee, pay attention to it. Ease back on weight or shorten your walk because you must protect our joints.
The reason this is dangerous is because your bones are very strong and your muscles develop very quickly, but those ligaments and tendons that literally tie the two systems together grow very slowly. And what I mean by very slowly is incredibly slowly. If your muscles begin to strengthen and outpace your tendons, you will develop tendonitis. There have been times in my life where I have had tendonitis in my elbows so bad that I thought they would glow in the dark! Tendonitis is your body’s warning to you that you are out of balance. If you keep pushing those joints further and further, eventually you will injure the tendon and you will be out for months recovering.
The best advice I can give you is start slow. If you go in and try to pick up weights you were lifting the last time you were working out, and the last time you worked out was when Bill Clinton was president, you are going to get hurt. You have to give your tendons time to catch up to your bones and muscles.
However, if you don’t want to take my advice on this, let me help you out this way. Save this number in your phone: (419) 394-4636. That is the number you will need to schedule an appointment at the Orthopaedic Institute of Ohio.