So I am starting a blog to keep myself accountable… and if I
can help others along the way, that makes it even better! I am a 44 year old
mom of 3 grown (sob! Boo Who!!) children.
My oldest was just married and my youngest is about to leave for
college. After having my last baby, who
really shouldn’t be called my baby anymore! I developed hashimoto thyroiditis. BUT…. It was not diagnosed for 12 years! No
wonder I couldn’t take the weight off.
So last year I started CrossFit with a couple friends and found that I
LOVED IT!!! I was hooked. I didn’t lose
a ton of weight- only 10-15 lbs. But I
shrank, and I lost flab, and I had more energy. I went from a size 12 getting
snug, (and heck no! I wasn’t going up another stinkin’ size) to a very
comfortable size 8 and even occasionally, depending on the brand a size 6!! I
still had a long way to go until I could truly say I was happy, not completely
with my body, but I was happy with my progress.
And hey!?! In my forties, I will take that. An then on a Saturday evening, with
absolutely no fore warning, my back “locked up”, it literally froze in place
and I couldn’t move. I had sat down on a
concrete retaining wall at my neighbor’s 50th birthday party and
when I sat down, something just didn’t feel right. So I thought- hmmm…. That didn’t feel right,
but then again I probably shouldn’t be sitting on a concrete retaining wall. Get up and go get a chair, don’t be lazy!
(Yes, I talk to myself with full blown sentences, Sorry, it’s just who I
am). So I carefully stood, turned my
full body around and walked with perfect posture to get a chair. Now at this point my back is already not
feeling right- so I take care to grab the chair with both hands and carefully
lift this plastic lawn chair, that seems to weigh all of 1.8 pounds, properly
right in front of my chest, using both arms and carry it close to my body. I then place it next to my hubby and
carefully lower myself into the chair.
Well not 5 minutes goes by and my low back seems to be having
spasms. So I tell my loving hubby that I
am going home to ice my back, only when I carefully try to stand up… I literally get half way to a standing
position and cannot continue to stand straight up.
So fast forward to today, almost 3 full months later- and I
am only in mild discomfort now and still not exercising, my size 6 shorts/jeans
now make me look like a not very cute example of the Michelin Man. And I am between an 8-10 size pants again. NOT HAPPY!! L So I know I am not ready to go back to my
beloved CrossFit classes, but I have learned that I will never be one who can
exercise on their own, I need accountability.
You would think after 10 and half months 3 times a week of religiously
going to work out it would have turned into a habit. Nope.
Not me.
Long story short? Today is the day! I am going to start
exercising at home regularly to strengthen my back and build my pathetic cardio
level back up. Even after more than 10 months of CrossFit my cardio was still
pretty sad, but now after 3 months of inactivity- I think an 80 year old could
beat me around the block.
Today I stretched out using some of the standard stretches
at my CF box:
10 sampson stretches
10 side lunges
5 inchworms with push ups
10 iron crosses
Then I did some exercises from an old Shape magazine laying
around my house.
I have to admit- I only did the first 3 exercises. But, hey, I am at least doing something,
right?? The 4th one hurt my back to get into the table
position. So I skipped it. Jumping??? Not sure my back is ready for
jumping yet, and the slide lunges?? Well between the Sampson stretches and the
side lunges I figured I was covered. I
can justify anything!!
I really wanted to go for a run and see how that felt, but
decided I better stick to the elliptical.
So I jumped on my elliptical and did 18 minutes. I did a warm up for 5 minutes at a
comfortable speed of around 50 rpms and then picked up my speed for 5 minutes
to around 70 rpms, then slowed down again for 3 min and then back up to 70 rpms
again for 3 minutes, then cooled down again for 3 minutes for a total of 18
minutes. It sounds pretty boring and
lame to me, but the point was I did something again. My heart rate was up, I even broke a
sweat! Afterwards I did some foam roller
stretches, and worked out my glutes and my IT bands. I also did a 3 cobra stretches, holding each
one for 10 seconds, and a minute of cat/camel stretches. And my PT exercises for my hips.
I’m praying this is a start to getting back to the CrossFit
box and continuing on my journey of trying to find a lifelong fitness
routine.
I plan to post what I do every day to keep myself
accountable. It’s so hard to know if your herniated disks are healed, the only
thing I have to go on is my pain level. And all my research online has said
activity and exercise is better than no exercise. So the activity part started right after the
epidural injection. But that was over 6
weeks ago, and the past 6 weeks of doing the stretches and exercises to strengthen
my back aren’t doing a thing!! So I guess it’s time to make up my own
routine.
Have you had an injury that was difficult to recover from?
How did you do it??
Have an awesome day!!
Have an awesome day!!
C
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