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.

Back from two weeks skiing in New Zealand

What a great holiday, or as it could be alternatively known as:  "Boot Camp" or at least "Adventure Holiday"  Despite the Eggs Benedict in the morning and the Pinot in the evening, managed to put on just 1kg!

My PT and I had worked together to try to prepare me for this trip.  I knew I would be in better shape than the year before, but I also planned to ski more and was concerned that my legs in particular would let me down.  So we lunged, we stepped, we pushed all with challenging weight involvement and I was very happy with the results.

In fact it was my arms I had to be wary of, but once I figured out that I should not try to ski uphill but just pop my skis off and carry them I was fine (I know I know).

The year before - 10kgs heavier and out of condition, I even found it hard to walk around the cafes and Base with my ski boots on.  This year - no worries!

It was fabulous to watch my kids all improve so rapidly - especially my middle child - who ended the holiday at level 5/6 and doing black runs!

I had some moments during the holiday where concern would creep in that I had been too long away from the gym - just proving what we already know - that exercising and doing weights can be addictive.  I would get worried that my newly defined muscles might fade away during the break and then find myself relieved to get a glimpse of a chest or arm muscle in the mirror etc.


So back to the grind and the real world now ...

Just numbers but ... measuring up

I have been trying not to get too caught up on the numbers on the scale, figuring that as long as I know I am not cheating on my diet and I am being as active as I can manage given constraints that I will be heading in the right direction.  But today, when Paul went to weigh me, I told him I would be keener on him checking my 3 measurements.  My original measurements were Bust: 99, Waist 99 (that's right - problem area) and Hips 107.  I had a 9 week goal to reduce my waist by 10cms on my way to achieving a waist measurement of less than 80 as recommended for women for general good health.  Checkout the Australian Government campaign www.measureup.gov.au

The good news was that in 4 weeks I have reduced my waist measurement by 13cms and my hips by 5cms and my bust by 2cms - which he reasurres me is not my actual boobs but my 'wings' - said while indicating an area on my back - niiiice - NOT.

Of course I had noticed the improvement around my middle, so it was just confirmation.  Interestingly, when I check my measurement against womens size guides like the ones used by Allanah Hill and the fact that I usually wear a size 12, it is a mystery how anything fits me!  Before or now.  But for example, I bought a dress of hers for NYE in size 12.

She says size 12 is 95/76/104 which would make me before this program a size 14 bust, size 16+ waist and size 14 hip.  My dress, with some assistance of some fancy knickers (see left) fit quite nicely I thought.  With my 'now' measurements the only change is that I am a size 10 in the hips ...

But I will admit that I find this new evidence to be very motivating and I am looking forward to dropping the remaining 6cms off my waist by the end of the 9 weeks period.  I am told it can be done by focussing more on my core and on high intensity cardio, which I think is going to have to be carefully balanced to nurture my dodgey feet/knees/back.

I've got "the bug" and other surprises

For 10+ years now I have been a Mum.  And in all those years, by the time I have got the child/children in bed I have felt I deserved to sit on the lounge and enter a vegetative state in front of the television till bed time. Tonight, in response to realising that I consumed too many carbs this morning, I got the kids in bed and headed out the door with my dog for a walk/run, arriving home 40mins later hot and sweaty and heading straight for the shower.  This is seriously the turning of a corner.  My kids are still exhausting, but they are more independent than ever before and it is time to accept that I can change these post kids habits.  Hence: "I've got the bug."

Another discovery today, was that my charming PT is 20 years younger than me. I had suspected as much, but I really didn't have any interest in having my suspicions confirmed. How did it come out you ask?  A music video came on at the gym while I was on the bike doing a Tabata, and it was Big Audio Dynamite (I saw them live in the late 80's), apparently a band that Paul, was unfamiliar with, but I was certain that he would have heard of The Clash - nope.  He was born after Mick Jones was kicked out of The Clash in 1983. Punk is dead :-(



And in other new discoveries, I heard in my Philosophy group today, about a Christian mystic woman who was writing in the 13 and 1400's.  Julian of Norwich was ahead of her time.  She was very positive by traditional Christian standards and in hindsight quite the feminist and Universalist.  I am looking forward to learning more about her as we continue to study Devotion.

What do Rock Climbing and Ikea have in common?

Ok, that is a trick question.  On Sunday I went rock climbing with my family and my sister and her partner.  It has been 6 years since my last climbing session and before that probably 10 years earlier, but then I used to climb in a gym every week and go climbing, abseiling and canyoning in National Parks on the weekends.  I didn't know if any of those skills were still with me.  My kids took to the walls with no hesitation.  Quite surprisingly even my 10 year old had no reservations and my 4yo daughter was up and down the walls like a mountain goat!  My 7 yo boy was enjoying the challenge of trying the harder climbs.  My husband on the other hand stuck by his opinion that he is too heavy to climb - despite his obvious muscular power which in my mind should have made it possible.  And me?

While my upper body strength is not what it used to be I still had the skills to let me scramble to the tops of the wall without thinking too much about it.  Yay.  Having trained with Paul, just the day before my lats were screaming by the time I reached the top each time, but they recovered in time for me to do it a few times before retiring to lunch.  Belaying the children took some toll on me as well, so I felt I had achieved some kind of acceptable level of activity for a Sunday.

Was I content with that?  Oh no, I had to go home and put together a large Ikea flat pack for my daughters toy storage.  My husband has an allergy to Ikea, and my interested children only maintained their interest for a few minutes at a time.  By the time I had completed putting it together my hamstrings were on fire.

I must have had a premonition about the state of my body by Monday morning, so off I went this morning to see Margaret of the magic hands, so that I could push through to another training session with Paul.  The upside:  I jumped on the scales this morning and I have lost 5kgs since I embarked on this adventure nearly 3 weeks ago. Woo hoo. Paul is happy with me as he has been cranking up my weights quite a bit during that time as well.  I am feeling more clear headed and together than I have for a long time - what a great investment in my lifestyle.

So the answer to the original questions is that they both happen on Sundays.

Personal Trainers - my thoughts

I have had a few Personal Trainers over the years.

I had one that used to come to my apartment at 6am and collect me and take me downstairs and to the beach across the road (gotta love Sydney) and train me on the sand as the sun was gathering strength for the day.  (This was in a pre wedding panic phase in 1999) Ouch for ankles!  Once I was nearly ruined then she would take me into the gym of our building and finish the workout there.  She would have been 50 and fit as hell, and after a while my husband-to-be joined in too.

Later, after the marriage but before the kids we went through a very fit phase where we woud get up at 5am and head to a gym that hung out over the ocean and work out 3 mornings a week, sometimes with PT's and these positive experiences will stay with me always as having probably been instrumental in me finally falling pregnant with my first child.  In fact my current PT is doing a core exercise with me that I first learnt in these times.

When I joined a new fancy gym that opened just a few years ago, they let you pick your PT from a 'menu' and what I wanted at the time was:

1. A woman
2. Preferably over 30
3. Preferably who had children

I felt that they would be able to understand where I was coming from better, and that I would generally be more comfortable with them.  It actually proved to be quite difficult.  The first one fit the bill but the PT's at this gym turned over quite rapidly and I went through 3 before settling in with Carlita and was just grateful for a 'young woman' that I seemed to be able to talk to OK.  The realtionship never really bore too many results given that I basically only turned up at the Gym for the one PT session a week.  On top of the Gym fees I also found it quite difficult to justify and eventually settled into going to regular classes each week.

Then I had this brain wave to learn to swim (see earlier post re Plantar Fascitiis and Swimming) and asked about some stroke correction lessons at the gym.  Brandon, did not fit my above criteria at all and there was a certain level of discomfit involved in meeting him in the pool (I would try to make sure that I was already in the water when he appeared ...) but it was a great experience and I got the results that I was looking for and information that I will always carry with me in regard of swimming.

The PT's where I am at now are a very tight knit bunch who I know are getting great results with their clients - many of whom I know from my neighbourhood one way or the other.  The difference is the holistic approach to the program - not just the exercise but the food, and feeling accountable and having tools like online food and training diaries to keep you on the straight and narrow.  I decided to go with my husband's trainer for consistencies sake and because I felt that in knowing my husband he at least knew a bit about my home life that might prove useful.  I later learned that he has had quite the journey to arrive at his chosen career having dropped about 30kg's himself, which gives him a lot of credibility with me.  It is a relationship that is still in its infancy but is looking very promising.