Stebby
Cathlete
Have you ever let yourself go and been in denial about it? I did this and just clued in yesterday after taking a good long look at myself in a change room mirror!
About a year ago I had a flare-up of patellar tendinitis - I get this every few years - it's my legacy from tearing my ACL in 1993 and subsequent reconstruction surgery. This time it was so bad I could hardly walk for awhile and couldn't climb stairs. I kept up with my upper body weights and abs, but I mostly just did stretches for my lower body, and very rudimentary strength work. I went to a chiropractor and athletic therapist, who helped a lot, but for 6 months I didn't do any "tough" leg workouts, more just rehab exercises. I did STS (3-month rotation) in the winter/spring - did the full upper body, but was not able to do justice to the leg workouts!
In the past few months I've been starting to try to build up my legs again. I had became very unbalanced - weak inner thighs and hamstrings & overly tight quads - so I turned to a knee rehab DVD to get all the muscles working correctly again. This has been my main leg workout until about 3 weeks ago. I've gotten my muscle balance back and my knee pain is pretty much gone - thank goodness. I was thinking, good for me, I'm staying in shape through all this, and I'm going to be back to my "old self" soon!
Now, for the past year, my weight has stayed basically the same. I noticed a few little oddities - for example, my thighs each measured an inch bigger than they used to, and I was starting to get a bit of a muffin top at the waist - but I didn't stop to think of the reasons. And I didn't worry too much because I could still wear my clothes ... well, OK, there was one pair of pants that I'd stopped wearing because they didn't feel quite right ... and, yeah, there were a couple of sweaters that kind of seemed like they made me look too lumpy. Well, yesterday, while in a change room trying on dresses for a Christmas party, I figured it out! After a whole year of easier lower body workouts & less cardio, I have lost a significant amount of muscle and have replaced it with fat. My thighs look huge. My stomach sticks out and looks ripply. Even my upper arms are looking kind of soft and flabby! I was looking at myself in the mirror with dismay, thinking, "Oh my God! I'm fat! I am truly, honestly, fat! How did I let this happen?" It's hard to believe, but I really hadn't noticed (or my brain hadn't accepted) the extent of the changes in my body.
OK, so now I need to get serious. No more easy workouts, no more excuses. I have to build back up to 5 cardio sessions per week, and 3-4 weight training workouts. I do 2 Spinning classes per week. I'm going to gradually add back my favourite Cathe and old Firm workouts.
I could use a bit of advice ... I haven't looked in the Rotations forum lately - is there anything in there for people who are trying to build their bodies back up? Anything that anybody here can recommend? I have most of Cathe's workouts from the last 5 years, and some from before then, and I have all the old Firms (the Classics and everything up until about 2002). I need to ease into tough workouts again, especially for the legs, as I don't want to aggravate my injury.
Stebby
About a year ago I had a flare-up of patellar tendinitis - I get this every few years - it's my legacy from tearing my ACL in 1993 and subsequent reconstruction surgery. This time it was so bad I could hardly walk for awhile and couldn't climb stairs. I kept up with my upper body weights and abs, but I mostly just did stretches for my lower body, and very rudimentary strength work. I went to a chiropractor and athletic therapist, who helped a lot, but for 6 months I didn't do any "tough" leg workouts, more just rehab exercises. I did STS (3-month rotation) in the winter/spring - did the full upper body, but was not able to do justice to the leg workouts!
In the past few months I've been starting to try to build up my legs again. I had became very unbalanced - weak inner thighs and hamstrings & overly tight quads - so I turned to a knee rehab DVD to get all the muscles working correctly again. This has been my main leg workout until about 3 weeks ago. I've gotten my muscle balance back and my knee pain is pretty much gone - thank goodness. I was thinking, good for me, I'm staying in shape through all this, and I'm going to be back to my "old self" soon!
Now, for the past year, my weight has stayed basically the same. I noticed a few little oddities - for example, my thighs each measured an inch bigger than they used to, and I was starting to get a bit of a muffin top at the waist - but I didn't stop to think of the reasons. And I didn't worry too much because I could still wear my clothes ... well, OK, there was one pair of pants that I'd stopped wearing because they didn't feel quite right ... and, yeah, there were a couple of sweaters that kind of seemed like they made me look too lumpy. Well, yesterday, while in a change room trying on dresses for a Christmas party, I figured it out! After a whole year of easier lower body workouts & less cardio, I have lost a significant amount of muscle and have replaced it with fat. My thighs look huge. My stomach sticks out and looks ripply. Even my upper arms are looking kind of soft and flabby! I was looking at myself in the mirror with dismay, thinking, "Oh my God! I'm fat! I am truly, honestly, fat! How did I let this happen?" It's hard to believe, but I really hadn't noticed (or my brain hadn't accepted) the extent of the changes in my body.
OK, so now I need to get serious. No more easy workouts, no more excuses. I have to build back up to 5 cardio sessions per week, and 3-4 weight training workouts. I do 2 Spinning classes per week. I'm going to gradually add back my favourite Cathe and old Firm workouts.
I could use a bit of advice ... I haven't looked in the Rotations forum lately - is there anything in there for people who are trying to build their bodies back up? Anything that anybody here can recommend? I have most of Cathe's workouts from the last 5 years, and some from before then, and I have all the old Firms (the Classics and everything up until about 2002). I need to ease into tough workouts again, especially for the legs, as I don't want to aggravate my injury.
Stebby
