Phew! Has it been that long since I updated this?
The rib healed fast enough for me not to remember how long it took to heal, If memory serves I was training a couple of weeks later and after 1.5 months there was no twinges at all.

I've been using my local gym for, cripes , must be at least 5 years now, and still a skinnymalink! I've never been a good judge of my own moods, character and it turns out body should be added to the list.
For the past 3 months I've been using a personal trainer who works in my gym and am feeling the benefits of regular bookings (knowing there's someone going to be properly checking up on what I'm doing seems to tap into a part of my personality that I can use to motivate myself...or perhaps I'm just at a place in life where I can stick to things better, but I'll never know!).
I started with explaining what I wanted, what's gone right in the past, what I've succeeded in doing and what flaws I've identified. Just by chatting then busting out some of the moves that I felt I had a problem with let the trainer see what's going wrong. Another pair of eyes critically examining what's going on is what I've needed for quite a while (and, again, maybe I'm just in the right place to query, explain and accept advice that may have passed me by in the past).

While I'm fit in regards to health I'm not strong, which has been a point of consternation for me for quite a while. In my self defence classes, when I compare myself to some of my other classmates I can see how they can do some things better. I can often run around, hit things, swing things, duck and dive around the place without breaking a sweat or geting short of breath while other people are left panting in a pile on the floor, but as soon as we do something like 30 pushups they've finished busting them out like pistons while I'm struggling to get to 10.

Through work and observations from my trainer I'm finally able to acknowledge and accept that I'm long-limbed and long-backed. In my head I suppose I've always just been 'people-shaped' and without realising how I'm actually shaped I've been trying to train like a 'normally' proportioned person. I've seen people shorter than me effortlessly curl weights that I'd be lucky to manage one rep with and I can now appreciate that as the 'levers' of my body are longer the simple mechanics of movement mean it's always going to be harder or me to do so (unless someone develops some ultra-dense movable armbands [you heard the idea here first!]).

The 'length' of my back is probably the main issue rather than my limbs. It's not that I can't use my core muscles properly, it's that my body has found different routes to get things done. The 'proper' core muscles aren't being used properly and the 'improper' core muscles are wound too tight. I can win on core flexibility (another trainer has compared me to a snake in that regard), but the flip-side is that I lose out on the core strength. I realise now that's where I've ben going wrong with things like press-ups. To do them properly you ned the body to act like a plank while the upper body does the pushing, but as my core is messed up the 'wrong' muscles I'm using to keep solid fatigue quickly as they're not meant to be used that way. The dry spaghetti that's needed for press-ups cooks too quickly and leaves my upper body trying to press a core that's al-dente at best, completely unresponsive overcooked pasta at worst.

So for the past 2ish moths I've been on a gym programme that's serving a few different purposes, the core (nyuk-nyuk) purpose being to start re-wiring the way I use my muscles, strengthening the core muscles that I've unintentionally been neglecting and improving my lactic resistance in unaccustomed muscles

As of yesterday (oh, wait, it's past 12, so that'd be 2 days ago) the workout has changed an will now be different each day and will be hella-harder. Both the effort involved and for the where I'll be doing the work. My most recent workout could be one in a few different places in the gym, so I've been able to work around the other users, but now some of it will have to be in the 'Olympic' area so I'll now have to compete for the benches and barbells. While not a workaholic I don't like to waste time, and generally do more than one thing at a time. Having to wait for people to vacate equipment just winds me up and rather than just standing queuing to use things I'm inclined to just hop on a CV machine or take off entirely.

So new work starts soon, lets hope the shock of it comes more as a novelty than something to retreat from. Technically I should start it today, but as it's 2Am I won't be exactly sparkling tomorrow and I did something to my knee in self-defense class tonight that's making me walk with a limp (either kneeing someone in the head or being pranged with a wooden knife!) so I'm guessing barbell squat jumps might not be the best thing at the mo.