As you may recall, in last Tuesday’s workout I didn’t push myself enough. I left feeling sort of unchallenged as though I had not taken advantage of the full potential of my workout. Well…that didn’t happen on Thursday (my 53rd birthday, by the way). I went in there and worked out with a vengeance. And for this past week my left knee has been getting revenge on me.
A couple of the exercises were potentially hard on my knees. One hundred and twenty jumping jacks certainly contributed to the end trauma, but the real killer was the weighted squats. I held a 20 lb. bar above my head and did eight or ten squats–four rounds. Sounds like no big deal. However, there were a couple of catches to it. First, I had to hold my arms straight without bending my elbows, in a slight V. So imagine pushing up and out on a bar that you’re holding over your head…elbows straight. Now squat…as deep as you can. Keep your lower back straight so you don’t strain it. If I didn’t think about nor focus on the squats, I could (and did) do a pretty good job at the upper body part of the lift. When I thought about where my feet were and how deep I was squatting, my elbows would bend. And of course Attila was right there to straighten them. Second, Attila instructed us to squat as deeply as we could. Now, as I’ve mentioned before, I have always operated on a sense of accountability. I want to please my coach. I want my ‘good job!’ And, since I had not pushed myself enough on the prior Tuesday, I wanted to feel the burn this time. So I held that bar up with elbows as straight as possible while squatting to what felt like the floor (I really can’t say how low I dipped…but I did get a couple ‘that’s good‘s from Yoda. Not good.
When I woke up on Friday, I could barely walk. Both knees were sore, but my left knee was so swollen I couldn’t bend it. I iced it for 20-30 minutes (front and back each) three or four times that day and again on Saturday. By Saturday evening I added heat to the more painful area and it actually felt a bit better for the first time in two days. Sunday and Monday, more of the same…waking each morning feeling just a bit better, and then getting less comfortable as the day wore on.
A couple things are working ‘against’ the healing. For one thing, ever once in a while, with no warning, my knee kind of ‘pops’ and it (for lack of better description) sort of twists sideways for a second. That causes temporary pain. Another problem is the ongoing, re-offending exercise. Both Friday and Monday mornings I did my 19 minutes on the elliptical (if you recall, it’s stuck on the highest intensity…so even when I’m supposed to be ‘walking,’ it’s like walking uphill). And Sunday, walking a minimum of 10 flights of stairs (laundry in the basement) was a problem because going down stairs is traumatizing to the knee. This morning my knee felt better than it has since the initial insult. I haven’t abused it with any exercise. I did start taking ibuprofen yesterday afternoon, and I took 800 mg again this morning–not for the pain, but for the inflammation.
At the daughter’s insistence (and honestly, for my own self protection) I ‘wrapped the heck out of it’ on Saturday before my workout. Yoda assigned me two substitutes for that workout. Instead of jumping jacks, I did the bench bicycles (flat on my back on a bench, opposite elbows to knees) which I controlled as far as depth of knee bend. Instead of the evil Get-Ups (which hurt my knee a couple of weeks ago when it was still ’healthy’) I did the weighted side bends. While I protected my knee I lifted as much weight as I possibly could. In one of the lifts…something like a ‘scarecrow’ lift (??) I “bounce” a bit at the knees and pull the weights up as far as I can…kind of up into my underarms. When I did this on Saturday, I pushed myself to lift a whopping 25 lbs, and each time I lifted, my upper lip curled compulsively. It was such a funny little uncontrollable body response which I’ve never before experienced.
This being Tuesday, I will work out again tonight. Wrapping the knee will be standard for the foreseeable future. My new goal is to focus on lifting as much weight in everything I do, to move quickly from one exercise to the next, and to be very careful not to over-bend my knees ever again! I’m finally (consistently) back down to 178 lbs after my Seattle weekend…and this even after having a luscious birthday dinner at my sister’s house on Saturday. And here’s the biggest thrill of all: this morning as I was waking up in bed, as I absent-mindedly rested my hand on my stomach I was startled to feel how flat my stomach felt!! AND when I dressed today my belt naturally buckled one notch tighter!!! Woo hoo! And this was not the case when I was at 178 two weeks ago.
So. Onward.
