Monday 27 January 2014

Injuries in the Gym - Assisted Pull Up Machine - Ahhhhh

From time to time I am reminded that although I am mentally enthusiastic about weight training that I need to be a bit more cautious in order to avoid  injuries which can derail my fitness program.  My current injury occured about a week ago when I got a bit cocky about my strength on the Assisted Pull Up machine.  That is not me in the picture, and it is not even close to what I would wear to a gym :-0 but that is an example of the machine that I hurt myself on.

I did one chin up - narrow hold not wide and said to my trainer - too light!  So he made an adjustment and all of a sudden I was straining through 10 reps.  Thankfully I was sensible enough to do the next two sets at a more friendly weight - but I was to find out later that it was already too late.  When you try to lift weights that are too much for you you lose your form.  If you are on the 'hyper mobile' end of the scale you can also mess up your joints and then muscles can tighten to a frightening degree to try to support the now dodgey joint - anyway, that is what happened to me!

Here is a link to an article in the Huffington Post on how to use these machines (I might forward it to my trainer)  My Massage Therapist (magic hands Margaret) - thinks I may have let my 'traps' rise up … as well as having put to much strain on my 'lats' and now my right lower back and 'glute' are in open rebellion.

Fix Your Form - How to Use the Assisted Pull Up Machine

So far I have had one Osteo visit, two massages with another booked, a stretching and foam roller session for an hour with my trainer, and I have booked an acupuncture treatment as well.  I've had to cancel my training session for today and am hopeful that I can attend on Thursday.  Walking is still ok, so I have a 2 hour bush walk planned for later in the week too.  I am getting by with Ibuprofen and heat packs.

So it is a slow start to my fitness year.  Needing to peel back a few Summer Holiday kgs, and get back in shape may take a little longer than initially projected.  But as I am oft reminded - results are 70% about the diet - so I can do that.  It has been 1 year since I signed up with Vision and they have been great overall.  I can't see myself giving up on them anytime soon.  Whether I can justify another year of having two gym memberships in another matter.

2 comments:

  1. That machine is the hardest one at the gym! Not a great start to the year but you're wise to take it seriously and sort it out... and to keep going with other stuff. I have a bad habit of making sore muscles an excuse to be lazy.

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  2. I can report that my last appointment with Margaret seems to have straightened me out. She used her magic on my jaw, my ribs, my hip flexor and the bits that were actually hurting. I will be aiming to keep my next PT session on Monday :-)

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