Self Inflicted

In late November last year I started taking an exercise class at Fulcrum Fitness. I had never used a gym before. I don’t go every day, but with all the windy rainy weather this winter that makes cycling unattractive or impossible, I have been there 2-3 times each week, consistently.

The workouts follow a pattern, although every session is different. This gives me a chance to discover new muscle groups to strain. After almost every class, something different hurts the next day. The pain typically goes away after a day or two. “No pain, no gain” as they say. But I have exercised (!) restraint and haven’t done any major damage. Until now?

I wasn’t smiling Tuesday or this morning…Ouch!

We start with some kind of warm up to get the juices flowing. Next comes a strength exercise working on a muscle group. Finally there is a kind of strength/aerobic/anerobic session of 9 to 15 minutes. There are 2 or 3 activities that we do in sequence for a specific number of reps or amount of time. Sometimes the instructor puts time on the clock and we are supposed to do ‘AMR’ which is short for ‘as many reps as possible’.

On Monday that ‘AMR’ involved burpees and floor to overhead dumb bell lifts for 15 minutes. This was an official Cross Fit National Competition workout. We even had a partner to count for us.

21 dumb bell lifts right arm. 21 burpees. 21 dumb bell lifts, left arm. 21 more burpees.

Repeat with 15 reps, then 9 reps. If you make it all the way through in the 15 minutes allotted you will have done 21+21+15+15+9+9 = 90 burpees and 90 dumb bell lifts with each arm.

Of course I didn’t do that. But I did manage to get though 81 burpees. After the 15 minutes were up my arms felt quite rubbery, but there wasn’t any pain.

On Tuesday morning I woke up about 3 am with my right arm screaming. I got up and rubbed on a topical pain reliever and took a couple of Advil. I could not bend my elbow and my right arm and shoulder were very sore.

Things weren’t too bad on Tuesday morning, although I had trouble zipping up my jersey to ride my bike to Lockeford and meet the regular SBC ride. I had to use my left arm for that. But after about 27 miles, both my arms started complaining and I took a short cut home. The wind was out of the southeast directly into my face, but my buddy Marlin left the group and caught me and pulled me all the way home. He has an e bike, which he probably doesn’t need, especially when the road is flat. But by using the e-motor and his own considerable VO2 motor he was able to give me a nice draft. I’m certain he had the bike on a low setting; Marlin is really strong.

After I pedaled home on Tuesday afternoon the aches got worse. The nightly news/Stoli dose relaxed things a bit, but that was temporary. When I woke up at 3 am Wednesday in real pain, I could barely move my arms at all. My left arm now hurt as much as the right. Any motion of either arm in any direction was agony. I couldn’t get back to sleep, so I struggled to get dressed and make coffee. I couldn’t raise the cup to my lips. I kind of held it with two hands and bent over so I could sip just above waist level. After going in the hot tub and taking a couple of Advil things got a little better, even though brushing and flossing was painful and awkward. As I write I think I can get a fork up to my mouth to eat lunch, if I don’t do it too fast.

A retired medical professional friend suggested Advil and rest and if I don’t improve by Friday perhaps see a physician. I don’t think it will come to that; now that I’m up and moving (and taking Advil) I feel a little better already.

I really do not enjoy the gym class, but I recognize that (until Monday) it was doing me good. I was getting a little stronger and improving my balance. I’m a mite peeved at myself for doing too much, but really how was I to know? The burpees were hard and uncomfortable but I was pretty sure I hadn’t done any damage based on 3 months of gym sessions. I know where my cycling red zone is, but not my burpee red zone. It’s fewer than 81, that’s for certain.