musings on six months of working out

[caragoub]

...since September. I've kept up my little workout log, and thought I'd share the good, the bad, and the stupid :rolleyes: !

Good...I'm much stronger, and have more endurance. I've lost 14 pregnancy pounds, and my clothes fit. I can now do about 45 minutes of cardio with no trouble.

Bad/stupid (let's just combine them!)
I let myself get carried away, and did too much to soon. Now I'm dealing with the consequences. I'm angry at myself, but I'm trying to forgive myself.

Let me be more specific...I should have stayed on my Jennifer(Kries) roll and avoided the Joyce. When I started out, I just did Pilates and yoga, with a bit of cardio. Then I got into Joyce (and was really impressed by Marthe's post-partum success), but why didn't I modify? I now have shoulder and knee injuries.

So I guess what I'm trying to say (my point) is that these six months have taught me alot. I need to listen to myself and my body first. I need to not yell and be impatient with myself. I am glad for the progress I've made, and am coming to the realization that the injuries I have may take quite a few months to go away (or may not completely go away.) That needs to be okay with me.

I'm *trying* to be mature about this whole process, which for me is a challenge !

These are all things I *should* know! Believe it or not, I'm an ex-psychotherapist, and most of my work was with eating disorders. It's easy to be understanding of others' pain, but I'm still really hard on myself. Hey, after all, maybe that's part of the reason I'm an "ex" therapist, LOL! :rolleyes:

In any case, it's not my weight or diet that bugs me, it's that my body isn't able to do what I want it to do when I want to do it!

remember that genie in a bottle thread...

okay I'm going to stop here, and try to grow up. I'll be 37 on Wednesday. It's high time.

thanks for listening.

Cara

[kplondon]

I hear you on the "listening to your body" issue. I recently ramped up my workouts to include lots of Cathe, and I finally had to admit that my current state of permanent soreness is not a "good" sore, and that my body needs less of what it is getting and more of something it's not (hence my excessive "Best Buy" order yesterday, which included lots of pilates and yoga DVDs). My back hurts, a lot, these days, and I never had back problems before.

It's sometimes hard to know whether we are pushing ourselves to triumph or failure. I have had to push myself in the past in order to get over a hump, and it was very satisfying to do so. However, this time around, I must have been going too strong. Time to ease up.

Out of curiosity, Cara, did you feel any bodily protests while you were doing the Joyce workouts, or was your injury an after-the-fact effect?

[mamacc]

You're doing great Cara! You've stuck with it through everything and soon enough you'll be able to do what you want. Six months isn't that much time after having a baby.

Hope you knee and shoulder are feeling better soon!

Courtney

[caragoub]

Originally posted by kplondon
I
Out of curiosity, Cara, did you feel any bodily protests while you were doing the Joyce workouts, or was your injury an after-the-fact effect?

Actually, I felt pretty good while doing Joyce, which is partially why I was lulled into complaceny. But as my PT explained, when muscles and joints are warm, they complain much less.

I am lowering the bar, and lowering my expectations, and it actually feels good to do.

I'm also planning on joining a gym when I get back from February break, so I can work on those stabilizing knee and shoulder muscles, with someone watching me.

Then maybe in another six months, I can follow you guys into Cathe nirvana ! I hope so, anyway...

I guess I've been repeating myself alot on these threads lately, but if I can help one person to not get injured stupidly like yours truly...

take good care everyone


Cara

[Leela]

Happy upcoming 37th! I enjoy being 37!

I am sorry you were injured, but you seem to have a good head on your shoulders, and you are doing the right things.

Thanks for posting this.

[Lenore Levine]

Cara, I enjoyed reading your thoughtful post. The things you say really ring true.

[Jacqi A]

Cara, I'm glad you posted about your injuries. I hope you recover soon. And kplondon, you may also have just saved someone from injury.

Just to balance out the current Cathe Fever: I'm doing lots of yoga now, especially Kundalini yoga, with lots of Christi & NIA & aero chi & Zumba cardio, & I feel great. (Note that I never do much step & weights anyway - max. once a week). And many VFers are focusing on Pilates & are very happy with how they feel, too.

[BLuna]

I started working out regularly a year ago, doing a Firm Basics video three times a week. I had no problems with that. A few months later, I got ahead of myself with Cathe step videos, and my knees started to bother me (tendonitis). I "worked through it" for a while, then realised that was not helping, but might be causing serious damage. Other body parts started acting up too. Since then I've been working out occasionally as best I can, and nursing iffy knees, feet, back, and shoulders. It's confusing and frustrating, but rather than give up or get mad at my body and punish myself (been there, done those), I'm just going to do as best I can day to day and hope I get to Cathe Intensity series shape eventually. Maybe we should start a "recovering overachievers" checkin?

On the plus side, I've tried Yoga, and I surprised myself and really like it! Thanks to all the yoga advice on this forum!

Bev

[caragoub]

Originally posted by BLuna
Maybe we should start a "recovering overachievers" checkin?


Bev

Hello, I'm Cara, and I'm a recovering overachiever.


"Hi Cara!"


LOL, Bev, I'm there! I just had to drop my Joyce check-in because I'm not doing Joyce anymore.

Thanks for everyone's support.

The "Shooting too high" thread is in this same vein.

Leela...it's now okay with me too to be interrupted, and to "just" do 30 minutes(responding to your comment in the other thread). Sometimes children take precedence over exercise (I know, that sounds crazy, doesn't it? )

9PM France time, and I go to bed

Cara