Friday, December 20, 2013

I've Been Diagnosed...

Tennis elbow :(

Tennis elbow is a common condition in those who overuse their arms. It is inflammation on the outside of the elbow, where the tendons insert into the elbow bone. Tendons are tough bands of tissue that connect muscle to bone. The medical term for tennis elbow is lateral epicondylitis, which means inflammation at the bony prominence on the outer side of the elbow (the epicondyle). This is a type of tendinitis.

I will be wearing a strap on my forearm to keep the tendon in place for two weeks, if that doesn't work then I get to have a cortisone shot in my elbow :(  I may have quite a few tattoos, but I HATE shots, I HATE big needles and the thought of getting a shot in my elbow sounds plain horrific.

No lifting with my arms, I can still do lower body and cardio.  I'm not looking at it as a set back, just a little break and I'll be back at it in January.  Kyle isn't worried at all and thinks we can still get 5 pounds of lean muscle on me and have time to cut for the competition in May.

Glad I caved and went to the doctor, wishing I would have went sooner, maybe someday I won't be saying that and I'll actually go right away ;)

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Cupping Therapy

My massage was wonderful and painful last night.  Kelly did some cupping therapy on me, my first time having that done.  It was interesting, I imagined for some reason that it would hurt, but it didn't.

When she first got started she was openly surprised by how bad my right shoulder area was.  In her words, "this is really bad", not really what I wanted to hear but I figured it was.  I have a huge knot in my right shoulder, little knots in my tricep, elbow and forearm.

She really worked me over, when she was focused on my forearm and elbow it was so painful.  She asked me if I wanted her to ease up a bit, heck no let's get through this and get me fixed!  I can't say enough about how amazing she is, so strong and really gets into it.

I have to go back next week, no heavy lifting with my arms.  I will probably just stick to working my legs, chest and back, no shoulders or arms for now.

I am pretty sore today and look like I have huge hickeys on my back, lol.  Everything still feels pretty tight, I will work on stretching with the foam roller and keep trying to get my muscles to ease up and RELAX.

I should have reached out to Kelly a while ago, another lesson learned about thinking I wait it out and the pain will go away.

Getting older sucks, doesn't my body understand I'm just trying to get it in the best shape possible???

At least it is a busy time of year, I'm not freaking out about missing days at the gym.  Focusing on taking care of me, once January hits though I better be feeling great because I will be back to hitting hard!

Monday, December 16, 2013

Frustrating Arm

Hello there :)

I'm still plugging away, not eating as well as I should be, this time of year is so hard for me.  I have no excuses, I'm just making some poor choices.

Feeling extremely frustrated because I am still having issues with my right arm.  It actually seems to have gotten worse.  I reached out to my friend Kelly, she owns a massage studio here called Body Mechanix Massage.  She is amazing and will hopefully be able to help me with my arm.  I'm all in place, the chiro can't really do much more for me.

I've pretty much been doing just legs and abs, my major areas that need work so it's good I can still do that at least.  But I swear my biceps and shoulders are shrinking, it is a little hard for me right now to not freak out!!!!

I've still got just under six months to get ready for the competition, I'm just so, so frustrated.  I can barely lift anything with my right arm, now there is constant pain, seriously WTF?!?

I can manage to do chest, but that even gets painful at times, back, no way.  So I guess I'll have big legs, a big booty and a big chest, LOL!

Never would have though I'd be so hell bent on getting my butt bigger ;)

Send me happy thoughts for my arm, it just has to get better!!!

Thursday, December 5, 2013

All Better!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to my AMAZING chiropractor Dr. Swope at Chiropractic Health Care Associates!!!  He got me all fixed up today :)

My muscles weren't nearly as tight he was able to adjust my hips, neck, back, shoulders and after discussion about my elbow he checked my arms and those were a bit out of socket as well.  I'm so glad he checked my arms!

I feel like a new woman, no lifting today of course but I am cleared to start back tomorrow.  The heavier lifting is pushing my body to new limits and I HAVE to keep a better eye on myself.  I will be seeing Dr. Swope once a month just to make sure everything is in place and of course if I'm having any issues again.

This is where people will say something like, "see, working out can be bad for you, especially how much you are doing!"

No working out is not bad for you, it takes time for your body to adjust to any change in your workout.  Clearly I made a bad choice by not going to see my chiropractor right away when I had the pain in my elbow and chose to continue lifting with it.

Lifting heavier is an adjustment for my body, after four weeks of it and getting adjusted I'm hoping I won't have any issues once I start back up.  We all have to listen to our bodies, some bodies aren't built to lift heavy and if I'm ever told that I will stop.

Thankfully I was not told that, but rather that I'm in amazing shape, continue lifting heavy and follow my dream, BUT listen to what my body is telling me and get adjusted, a massage or rest when I need to.

I'm eating like crazy, I love the Fighter Diet, a bit shocked by the amount of veggies I'm eating but boy does it fill me up.  I am not hungry following this plan and the cravings don't hit me like they did before.  Weight wise I'm a bit high for where I would like to be, I blame that on Thanksgiving and overindulging on massive amounts of pecan pie.  Feeling like I can lose 3-4 pounds in the next couple of weeks though and I'll be right back on track :)

Monday, December 2, 2013

Mandatory Rest :(

Glad I went to the chiropractor, not too happy with the outcome, but it could be worse.

I really, REALLY, need to learn to just go in right away when anything feels "off".  He got my neck adjusted, couldn't do anything with my shoulder or shoulder blade because my muscles were so swollen and tight.  

I told him I felt the pain after lifting last week, that was when I got my ear full of making sure I go in right away when something like this happens.  He checked my elbow and wrist to make sure they weren't out of place, thankfully they were fine.  When he got to my shoulder and neck he told me I'm lucky I don't have a ruptured disc.

I then had to have some ultrasound therapy, that felt wonderful with the Biofreeze and ultrasound machine.  Definitely loosened things up but I still have pain in my elbow.

I told him he was killing me, I'm starting my 24 week prep!  He just laughed and told me I am killing myself, need to stretch more, listen to my body and no more lifting until we get the issue taken care of.

I don't go back until Wednesday :(  At least this has happened in the very first week of my prep, still discouraging and frustrating.  I know I won't lose any muscle tone even if I'm off for a whole week.

My mind set is to keep pushing no matter what, time to change that.  I'm so glad I went in today and hope to be back in the gym Friday or Saturday!

24 Weeks

I'm still here, still lifting heavy and GROWING :)

This time around I will be doing a 24 week prep using the Fighter Diet Contest Prep.  I'm looking forward to getting started, especially after stuffing my face with so much food on Thanksgiving.  I'm surprised I haven't turned into pecan pie I ate so much!

I'm staying away from the scale for the time being, I'm honestly far too terrified to know how much I weigh at the moment.  Good thing is that my pants still fit in the waist, not so much in the butt area.  BUT that is a GOOD thing, my butt is really growing thanks to leg workouts twice a week and increasing the weight on my squats and deadlifts.

You know how I said before that I wasn't a fan of leg day?  Well now it is my FAVORITE.  I think it is just because my legs have gotten so strong, I'm seeing changes in them, my butt is lifting and getting rounder, it just makes me happy :)

About two weeks ago I started having pain in my right elbow.  Of course this happened after a shoulder workout.  I'm assuming it is a pinched nerve in my right shoulder, the pain goes from there down to my elbow (that is where I have the most pain) and it goes down into my hand.  Yesterday I lifted legs and shoulders, had to stop partway through the shoulder workout because I literally couldn't lift anything with my right arm.

Today I will be visiting my chiro and hoping he can fix me, then I might be making an appointment with my friend Kelly for a massage.

These little bumps in the road really, really irritate me.  Today will be an unplanned rest day thanks to me having to go to the chiro, tomorrow I plan on heading to the gym.

For legs I'm up to 225 pounds on three angle calf presses, 115 pounds on back squats and deadlifts, I'm getting there!  And these aren't half ass squats, I get below my knees!

Here's to my next prep, I'm ready to GET IT, work my butt off and bring a more muscular and lean ME to the competition in May :)