Injured and feeling so depressed.
You know how hard it is to NOT work out. I have been training for over a year now and I mean TRAINING. I work out two sometimes three times a day. I like to break it up so that I am able to focus on what I am doing and then leave go on with my day (eat) and then go back for the rest. I like to do cardio at a seperate time from lifting. I am injured right now and of course it has been about 2 months now. I am so upset with myself because I am doing what so many people do. They start to feel better and then they go right back in the gym and push it which re-injures them. This has got to stop. I am hating seeing my firm legs go to crap and my self esteem is really lacking now. I loved lifting because it made me feel in control and strong. I feel weak and like I have no control. I have a lower back injury due to dead lifts and heavy cable crunches and on top of that I have a knee injury due to jumpers knee (areobics) and doing 405 pounds on the leg press (stupid). I didnt warm up correctly before exercising and I didnt stretch afterwards. Even more stupid. I sit all day at work for 8 hours so it absolutely kills me to go home on my lunch break instead of the gym and to go home after work and sit more. I have been walking every day twice a day for about 45 minutes and swimming. However I realize that I cant even do that. I have two injuries and if I keep this up I will never heal. I am eating L-Glutamine, aleve, Glucosamine and loratabs constantly to try and get through this. This blog is to be honest with myself. Heather, you cant do any exercise for a while. Just take a month off. Upload some pictures and start the journey again. You will get back to where you were and next time you will know what you can and cant do. Listen to your body and remember why you work out in the first place. Yes, it is to look good but mainly to be in shape and feel good. If you push your self so hard that you never feel good or you hurt yourself than you are doing it for the wrong reasons and your body will not stand for it. Take this time to focus on the other things in your life that has taken a back seat because of your fitness goals. YOU are the only one that you have to be happy with, no one else. With this being said today. I am promising to STOP. To not walk, not run, not dance and not lift for one month. If I take one month off and heal I can patentially save myself months or even years to trying to recover because I wont stop. This too shall pass. I ask for your words of encouragement as this is the hardest thing that I have ever done. Even harder than getting started on this journey. I know that only you can understand. You all have been there for me through this whole time and if any of you have ever had any knee/back injuries and know of something that helped you get through it PLEASE tell me. I thank you for your time.
-Heather
July 1, 2009 at 10:13 am
Ur getting wiser, even if it has a toll on ur body right now. There’s always a positive side to any crisis. Maybe u can focus more on ur diet, and be more atuned to ur body’s signals for incoming injury. U’ll do some neat workouts after your rest month, and u’ll value them so much more!
God bless you.
July 1, 2009 at 10:15 am
Hey Heather, I feel your "pain". Occasionally my lower back acts up, or I tweak it. My knee bothered me last yr for about 6 wks. Here’s what I did: Ease off on squats & leg press. But I still did leg extensions & curls. Keeping the quads strong actually helps the knee. I also did all cardio on the elliptical or bike to avoid aggravating the knee, while still getting it done. Plus, I always wear my weightbelt these days for squats so I can go hard & heavy (I avoid deadlifts because of my back……I have scoliosis).
Give these a try while throttling back the workout intensity, so see if you can still get the workouts in while allowing the back & knee to heal.
PS: Thx for the comment. I’m sloooooowly getting there.
July 1, 2009 at 10:35 am
Injuries are a pain. Overtraining is a real risk just like anything else. In my experience - professional help is extremely valuable in plotting a course to recovery. If not - I can tell you that I had a shoulder impingement that required me to modify my training for a year in order to keep a regular workout schedule and minimize the "losses". You can see the effects in the difference between left and right should muscle seperation in my AVI. Positive attitude and smart recovery will get you back quickest - best of luck!