Rxercise!

The cycle seems to be repeating again. Woke up at around 6:30AM today, despite alarm being set for 7:30 AM. Blarg.

Looking at possible causes:

-I exercised later at night than preferable
-
-
-yeah that's all I got

Asking a doctor about my observation

I blame my decision solely on my preference to go gymming at 8PM. Why, you may ask?

To ask "Why?", press 1 now.

To just sit there and keep reading, stay on the line, and a representative will be with you shortly.

We are expecting longer than normal call volumes. Just stay on the line and we will be with you shortly.

How I Met Your Mother airs on Mondays at 8. That's the reason. Yes, I watch the show. Yes, its suffered somewhat in quality. Yes, it makes cardio workouts a lot less boring.

Anyways, after the cardio I tried doing a few squats. I've been on an endless quest to try and squat with proper form. My first attempts in university used videos and advice given by people who sadly didn't know what they were talking about. The advice "don't go below parallel" contributed to an annoying amount of knee pain I've felt over the years. Poppycock, I say! My attempts on the island's gym were thwarted when I began focusing on continual increments in weight plates, as opposed to how my body felt. After some back and knee pain, I finally stopped following sharp right-sided abdominal muscle strain, which I feared was a hernia at the time. In Miami, I came across a fellow that gave one or two suggestions, and also purchased a better book.

Each time, I try to incorporate the previous lessons I have learned. It actually reminds me a lot about medical education. Some facts/advice comes easily and a student understands and integrates into the thought process, and others are read but not consciously incorporated. Facts/advice that is easily understood usually forms the backbone of our understanding of topics, but at a cost that students may rely on this information at inappropriate times. Sort of like using a hammer that I understand well (hit the small pointy thing into the not-pointy thing) when what I read is a screwdriver.

A Uworld question comes to mind that asked about maximum pulmonary vessel dilation in relation to the respiratory cycle. I thought back to the cardiovascular cycle, where during inspiration, pulmonary vessel dilation reduces the blood going into the left atria, causing a decrease in heart rate. Thus, I assumed that pulmonary vessels would be maximally dilated during inspiration. The majority of other students chose the same response as I did, and similarly got that question wrong. The correct response involves understanding the pressure/volume curves of the lung/chest wall. This is why doing questions are an important part of many sciences. Its not that one fact is wrong, but rather, not all facts are equal, and thus the right fact is necessary for the right process, to answer the right question. I believe this is all part of the meta-test; you aren't simply learning pathways, processes, facts and associations; rather, a lot of the implied training is having your thought processes line up with those of the test-writers. 

Anyways. I wonder where others are at incorporating sensors to help visualize and keep track a body while lifting. Seems like a fun project for when I get back home.

Oh, nearly forgot. I was musing on Kessler Syndrome yesterday (a potential phenomena involving debris flying around earth). Creating a hypothetical solution to this also sounds like a fun problem.

So many decisions...