We gave away the old trusty treadmill a couple weeks ago. The in-laws' old treadmill broke, so we gladly gave them ours. It was just collecting dust ever since we started doing Beachbody workouts a year ago. I had the elliptical to fall back on anyway. Little did I know that was going to matter soon enough!
The treadmill was in our finished basement. And, of course, the steps are not a striaght shot up. Rather, a few steps up, turn around on a landing, and then a few steps up again to the main floor. I was on the bottom of the machine, the part with the motor and all that. When we got to the turn, I had to twist as I laid down the machine. You X'ers might compare this to a really heavy core synergistic move. It was uncomfortable, but I had little choice as the thing was in my arms and I had nowhere to go! We continued carrying it out and loaded it up.
Within minutes, I began to feel my back tighten up. I thought "oh know, this is not good." You see... I knew this ache all too well. A couple years ago, I went through the pain of a bulged disc in my lower back. My dad and I lifted a granite tabletop with too little help. Same result. But hey, I'm in shape now. I do P90X, it can't happen to me now, right? Yeah.... it can. No one is "iron man", as my chiropractor pointed out.
I've been going in for therapy a couple times a week for the past 3 weeks. Week one, I kept doing my X workouts. Then, it began to actually turn from an ache into sharp pain. Game over. No more X for me until I'm free of pain. As it began to heal, we isolated the problem area to a rib that is out of place. As I understand it, I created micro-tears to the ligaments joining my rib to my back. It feels about as good as it sounds. Very similar to the bulged disc, but this time it's in my mid-back. Fortunately, it required a somewhat compound movement to feel the pain. The bad news was that any workout with jumping or running was out until it healed. The chiropractor told me that it is really tough to get the rib joint to heal. Even better is that it may never be the same, even after healing. This is apparently due to the constant movement of that joint as you breathe. I guess I could just try and stop doing that...
Elliptical running is the only workout that doesn't aggravate the rib. I throw in ab ripper x every other day just to hopefully keep that area from weakening up any more than it has to. The elliptical is really boring. And, I can't help but think about all of the progress I could be making if I were doing X right then. A couple of days ago, I was feeling pretty good. The pain was almost completely gone. Therapy was working nicely. Amy got 10 minute trainer in the mail. I was interested in seeing it and I was itching to do a real workout. So I said I'd join her on it. Upper body workout felt great. A couple of the cardio workout moves made me uncomfortable, but I stopped them right when I felt it. The next day, my pain was back to full strength! Argh! Two days after, and I'm actually in as much pain as ever now. Twisting a little to say goodbye to my kids in the car earlier and I froze up from a sharp pain. Never, ever, a good sign.
So here I am, stuck doing light workouts, miserable, and going nowhere fast. And why? Because I thought I was a superhero and could lift something I shouldn't have. Remember, don't be a hero. Ask someone for help! I am looking forward to better days. Getting back to X and rocking a 2nd round out! Until then, I'm hoping to maintain as best I can. At least I can use the time to help others get on track with their programs!