“Some challenges along the way!

My trip to Baltimore was only one of the big tests for me!  Backing up a bit, you recall I said the staff watched me like a hawk so I wouldn’t injure myself. But even with that my left glute muscle started tightening up from doing burpees.  The first week at  Renton Results Boot Camp

 I learned about these so called burpees! They are an exercise like no other!! I’m told they are the best full body exercise I can do!  So what’s a burpee?  From a standing position I go into a squat, hands on floor in front of me—thrust legs straight back into a full body plank, jump legs back into squat and spring into the air landing on my feet to repeat the procedure as many times a I can in 30 seconds or so—sometimes 60 seconds. I think Luka had us do 2 minutes non stop the other day!!!!! That’s the basic burpee that probably goes by lots of other names as well.

 I was doing several regressions below that when I mentioned to Luka the pain I was feeling in my left glute . He had me start rolling on a black high density foam roller before and after boot camp. Wow, did it ever hurt as I rolled over those knotted up muscles! It was like a deep tissue massage focusing right on the knot! BUT after I rolled and got back up on my feet it felt so much better.  Eventually the knotted muscle relaxed and I’ve been doing foam rolling every since. I have my own at home and use it daily. 

I did mention getting back up on my feet didn’t I?  That reminds me of some humbling opportunities when I started boot camp. I guess I should be happy that someone didn’t have to come to my aid for me to even get up off the mat!!!  Why is it that all the exercise sequences seem to have you on your feet one second and then on the floor the next, then back up again!  So as I’m trying to get my 244 pounds off the floor, Luka looks at me struggling and shows me how to put one bent leg onthe mat  first and lean on my knee to get up!  DUH!!! That is how I still get up sometimes, but I can also jump up  too!! Hurray!!

One of the intervals included a 60 yard sprint. I was so excited that I could run, I decided to do it around our neighborhood for my cardio!  After an exhilarating run, rather than listening to my body—specifically my knee that was complaining from the pounding on the pavement, I poured it on all the more. I was at my sister’s who had invested in a very nice treadmill. So I cranked it up to 5 mph+ and proceeded to run for 30 seconds, walk for a minute. I did that for 15 minutes. My knee was further complaining. Did I listen? Of course not!  I did it again the next morning after which I could hardly walk!!  The pain was not pleasant to  say the least, but the thought that I may have unwittingly messed up my boot camp experience and not be able to exercise was very 'painful'!  And I wasn't even at boot camp when I did it!!

Not to worry. Yup I had messed up my knee---nothing torn, just irritated and in need of the supporting muscles being strengthened!  Luka modified my exercises and had me rolling the IT band and quads. I thought the glutes hurt when I rolled them. That was nothing compared to the extremely tightened up muscles in my right leg!  Even now I still grimace at the thought of the pain. But I worked through it continuing to roll in spite of the pain and as before there was relief each time! He further showed me what to do to avoid stress on that knee---just as he had modified exercises to allow my glute muscle to recover. I never missed a day of boot camp even in the midst of hurting myself! Pretty soon I was able to add back in high knees and reverse lunges.

To show you how much of a novice I was at all of this, I emailed Luka to tell him about the tight muscles. I had to google front leg muscle/back of leg muscle to even come up with the proper names to explain to him my problem!  I now know a bit about my hamstrings and quadriceps and where they are located!!

The big lesson for me is that I never got hurt at boot camp, but I needed to watch what I tried to do on my own!  It took about 5 months for that knee to be happy with sprints!  I guess it took that long to strengthen the supporting muscles. I’m so glad to tell you that I can now run again. However, I don’t over do it and I LISTEN to what my body is telling me!!! Lesson learned!

To be continue. . . . Thanks for visiting with this babyboomergrandma and until next time may God richly bless YOU!