Two Things I Promised to Never Do for Derby, and I Did Them

I vowed to myself that I would never do two things for derby, and I've broken every single promise I've made to myself about derby.  Oh well.  At least they've all worked out for the best, but damn, I hate breaking a promise to myself!

The first one is that I would never ever ever ever ever ever go to a chiropractor.  Never.  Ever.  Did I say ever?  To give you some history, my mother hates doctors, all kinds of doctors, and therefor, I hate them too.  I also have levels of hatred for doctors; some are a necessary evil, some are an inconvenient evil, and some are complete cranks.  In the past, my mind was firmly made up that chiropractors were complete cranks, and to be fair, every time I watched a 20/20 special on the medical field, the part they would inevitable do on chiropractors always showed them in a sleazy light.  Even though I have had back pain most of my adult life, I have never been tempted to venture down the chiropractic lane. 

Image found here.

Our league has a chiropractor as a long time sponsor, and when I first heard that, I tried not to roll my eyes too loudly, because hey, he was a sponsor.  Evidently many of our rollergirls went to him, and he offered free treatments to active skaters; great...awesome....reminding myself not to make quacking noises too loudly when someone gushed on and on about their chiropractic session.  Finally, last year I was desperate enough to try anything; my lower back was so tight, and I could barely bend over to tie my skates.  Not only has his intervention helped me in derby, but it's helped the consistent headaches I used to get from my crappy posture (which isn't completely my fault!  Hooray!)  I can touch my toes now without dying!  I can look over my right shoulder without partially blacking out from the pain!  These are very exciting things in my world.  I will gladly sit down to a dinner of my words about chiropractors and how they can help athletes in a contact sport especially ones that understand derby! (especially if they taste like duck.)  Our team's chiropractor is Dr. Outten and his site can be found here.

So, as some of you might know, I've been torturing myself with P90x since the end of November; it's been a struggle, but I still do it it every day. I seriously hate doing the core workout; it practically makes me cry every time I do it, but for some reason I keep coming back....just like I keep coming back to derby, even when it hurts me.

Why did I start P90x?  I decided that I really needed to up my game, and I had hit a plateau; after four years of derby, I was stuck and the work outs I was doing outside of practice weren't getting me to where I wanted to go.  Plus, getting older is kind of a drag on your body, so I decided to look around for something new to me; crossfit didn't really fit into my financial situation, as much as I liked what it was doing for my fellow teammates, and I do prefer working out in the privacy of my own home.  I did NOT want to try P90x.  Psychos do it, and I am not that crazy, but desperation leads to all sorts of interesting decisions, and I borrowed the dvds.

What a painful first week it was for Q!  I really wondered about my sanity, about the sanity of the people in the ad, and who thought any workout dvd would make me cry like a little girl after four years of derby?  Well, P90x did.  After the first work out, I was an aching mess.  After the first week, I had to keep telling myself I could make it through another day.  After that, I was hooked.  Now I feel weird if I miss a day.  How did this happen?  I even do the damned yoga, which I personally think is three times worse than the other days combined.  Also, Tony Horton, the coach for P90x, is super annoying.  Typical Tony Horton quote, "Halfway done, party’s almost over, what a bummer."

Has it paid off?  I would have to say yes; my core is stronger than it has been, ever.  Combined with my lack of back pain, I've noticed my hits are stronger, my balance is better and I can resist getting hit.  Core strength has really upped my game in ways I didn't think was possible, including controlling my "forearm" calls.  Hooray!  Would present day Q have been able to talk 2009 Q into doing any of these things?  Oh hell no.  I was and am a stubborn person, but I've noticed I've become more willing to try new things because of derby.  What will it have me try next, vegan bacon?