Unlocking my tension bit by bit

My ultimate goal is to be able to do a Hindu squat indefinitely. Squatting is a rest position for most human beings but not for me. I struggle in the morning to get my circulation up to the point where I can easily plop down on the ground. Some of this was caused by varicose veins I have had since I was a teenager and finally got removed in May of 2018. The removal of the veins had an incredible effect on my mood and energy levels. A few days after the surgery I felt a tingling in my toes and felt an incredible rush of sensation from them. I don’t think I had a comfortable sensation in my toes for years. I just lived with heavy legs. A week after surgery I ran a mile in about 1.5 minutes less than it usually takes me. I went from a fairly unhealthy 11-minute mile, heart-pounding and sweating to a 9:15 mile with a good sweat and bursting energy in Singapore’s heat and humidity.

This started my journey down a lifelong road of improving my relationship with my body, legs in particular. Most of my 6’4” frame is my legs. My quads have always been incredibly tight and much of that is due to the nature of working at a computer and the ergonomics of sitting at desks and on chairs not made for people of my height. While leg problems manifest in a variety of ways, the origin is usually the hips, and my hip flexibility was god awful before the surgery. It improved a bit right after, but it took years of stretching and yoga to get me now to the point where I can kinda squat maybe without things going creak creak too much.

I now try to find a nice variety of ways to comfortably sit for more than 20 minutes.

On some days, I can sit Japanese style for nearly half an hour before feeling like my legs are dying.

This has the added benefit of making swimming much easier - ankle flexibility is an important part of a good kick in swimming - and I cannot wait to jump back in the sea or the pool once this COVID situation is over. My 30s will probably involve me being a much more aquatic creature.

I try to vary it up with Indian-style sitting, squatting and light movement throughout the day. As much as yoga and other forms of exercise have helped unlock my hips, I figured the best way to truly fix it is to stop doing the damage I was doing by sitting all day at a desk. I sit now on the floor in a variety of positions. It’s still not perfect but it’s way better.

Sleep is the other place where my hips lock up quite a bit - it’s still something I’m working on - cold environments seem to make the hips worse, but lead to much nicer sleep than a hot sweaty room.