Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Owie, Owie, OWIE!

OK, there's pain, and then there's PAIN. Today I'm in both.

I started the New Rules of Lifting (for Women) program yesterday. Yay for me! Did my first barbell squats. Or, at least, I did something which was supposed to be barbell squats. I'm not sure how good my form was. The bar felt unstable (side to side) and my form had to change completely from dumbbell squats as my center of gravity was shifted. But I now get why people really love barbell squats: they really do work so much more of the body. I can't wait until I start dead-lifting in my next session.

So my legs (and a few other spots) are sore from yesterday's workout. Good. That's good pain. I actually sorta like this kind of pain. (No, I'm not being kinky.)

The routine also brings push-ups back on the scene. Now, you know me enough to know that I just didn't throw myself on the ground and start push-ups, right? Nah. I did somewhere around 45° pushups, where I did full push-ups against a window ledge. When I'm ready, I'll progress down to 30° and then floor push-ups. No girlie push-ups for me. At least, that's the goal.

But here's where I messed up. I've heard that the elbows should stay tucked in on push-ups. Where? I dunno. Around. I've always let my arms go out naturally, but now I tried to keep my elbows stay by my sides. Because that's what "they" say.

What the bleep was I thinking?

Halfway through my first set, I decide that this is a mistake, but I finished out that way. Why? I dunno. But I grew a brain before my second set and let my elbows go where they wanted to go.

Too late; the damage was done. My left shoulder hurts. Not the "Ooh, I really worked out my shoulders hard" pain, but the "Oooh, what the bleep did I do to myself?" pain.

Then what do I decide to do this evening? I go on an easy run. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Now I have real pain. The bad pain. The kind of pain where I sometimes have to use my right arm to help my left arm go where I want it to go. I'm taking NSAIDs. I'm icing it. I'm kicking myself. I'm praying I didn't do serious damage.

Although, you really should have seen me try to get my sports bra off after the run. That would have been hilarious to watch. Well, if you didn't care about the fact that my shoulder was hurting so much that I could feel it in my belly. Yeah, that kind of made it slightly less comical.

I appreciate any happy, healthy, healing thoughts you can send in my left shoulder's direction. And I promise I'll stop listening to "them" without doing my own research.

2 comments:

Cidtalk said...

THEY say a lot of things that we all try to follow until it's too late!! The guy who 'sold' me my gym membership recently (little did he know I had every intention of signing up with or without his little pitch) was going on and on about how he USED to do this, and USED to do that. He said THEY always said to hammer away at this muscle group and do it this way, that way...etc. Then he said, "Wow, now we know better." Soooo what I was thinking was, if you know better NOW, what about in 10 years, will you know better again?
He was talking about the standard lifting routines, sitting on a bench doing curls, etc, now THEY say you have to "work the core", so do it sitting on a ball. AND they say now you have to breath with your lungs, not your stomach....now THAT's genius, THEY sure do know what they are talking about..hahaha
Take care and don't give up, just ease up on that sore arm!

Karen said...

Indeed, not only do "they" say a lot, but "they" keep changing their minds. Ah, well, the important part is that my shoulder is, indeed, all better. I hit the gym again Sunday and did my first ever set of deadlifts. (Yay, me!) When I next return to the gym, I'll be hitting push-ups again, and you can make darned straight that I'll be letting my arms go where they want! :)

(Thanks for the well wishes.)