I Landed the Jump. My Knee Did Not.

I love to use myself as an example… I'm often a good example of what NOT to do. Haha. Seriously though: When setbacks or injuries happen, it's usually a teaching moment.

So, when I strained my knee skiing the other week, it reminded me of two principles: one has to do with psychosomatics and the other with pragmatic training.

Let's start with the pragmatic. I'll get to the psychosomatic in the next edition.

"You're no spring chicken.""You can't keep doing what you did as a teen.""Act your age.""You should know better.""Stop being so reckless."

These are the thoughts that ran through my mind after I did a 360° off a jump. I landed fine! (Yay!!) But I felt a worrisome pop in my knee (boo!!), resulting in swelling, soreness, and the slow rehab process that followed.

You might be saying, "This sounds psychological, not pragmatic…"

Well, it's all connected. Stay with me…

All those thoughts are simply cultural memes. The meme is that life goes downhill after a certain age and you need to start doing less. I believe this is the wrong way to approach life.

The truth is, when we're younger, we can get away with a lot — our bodies have the resilience to push through or bounce back no matter how we treat them. When we're older, certain things do change, BUT the mistake is believing that aging means doing less.

The answer is to get smarter about our habits, lifestyle, and training.

In my case, I'd done pretty well preparing for downhill skiing and straightforward activities like running and walking. What I hadn't trained enough were rotational movements — spinning, twisting, and being able to land with precision through a 360° turn.

Yes, I got away with it as a kid. But now I realize that if I want to keep moving and playing like this, I just need to be smarter and more intentional with my training. This injury revealed exactly where the gaps were in my movement resilience.

Once I feel stable again — which takes its own time and consistent work — I intend to add more jumping, twisting, and turning into my daily movement. And if I want the freedom to throw a 360° on skis next year, I intend to be ready for it.

So, what do you intend to keep doing — or even start doing for the first time — as you move into this phase of life?

Do you know where the gaps are in your body's resilience?

Let's keep playing and living life to the fullest!

All the best,

Patrick