Now, as you are well aware, I am not a medical professional. Rather, I am a physical trainer, knowledgeable on how to train your body for power, strength or fat loss. I can tell you what good form is & how often to do what sets of exercise for your goal.
Physical Trainers are also humans with human bodies, as opposed to robotic ones.
Earlier this week, after a cardio session, I began to notice an uncomfortable feeling in my right knee. It wasn't painful so, for the next few days, I simple iced it for a few hours before bedtime. Then, after weight training session, I felt both my knees get warm from the inside, and then get hotter. I immediately RICE'd my knees and decided that I needed to take a break.
As someone who works out 6x's a week, 1-2 hours a day, the thought of not getting my daily burn on was really a huge bummer. My first mistake, however, was not listening to my body when it gave me the first clue that something was not right. Often times, CPT's do this because we get so into our workout routines, it's as natural as brushing our teeth, and it's very hard to pull away even for a few days.
I am neither the first, or the last CPT that gets tendinitis. Remember, training is our job and, if we have clients, we feel obligated to be there for them no matter what injury we have. There are group instructors that have instructed on sprained ankles, a broken toe, and many other injuries, because we love our client(s) and we will do our job to keep them happy. I don't have, nor am I taking, clients at the moment because of my already very full schedule (mom, wife, full time student thing) but being a CPT is not an easy job, even if it's just to yourself.
Both alone, with a client or a group, we all tend to get complacent because we know the routine or we know the drill and, in my case, when doing high-intensity cardio for an hour, it's not hard to see how the tendon might get inflamed due to over-use.
I know most of my friends/family are not CPT's and might not even be sure what tendinitis is so I thought I'd take the time to explain what it is a little bit. Disclaimer: Again, I am NOT a medical professional. If you have further questions about tendinitis, please ask your physician.
Now, I know why I got tendinitis and the answer is in my routine because aside from doing my 3x's weekly weight training session, I was doing 5x's weekly 45-60 minute cardio session with no real stretching time at the end. I know. I know better but {insert excuse here} and now I have tendinitis due to over-use.
Tendinitis does not always occur because of bad form, but it can. If you do a lot of plyometric moves or play a sport where you're using a specific muscle constantly (basketball, tennis, etc), it's easy to strain the muscle and tendons and develop this injury.
Is tendinitis something only amateur athletes get? No.
Many seasoned, professional athletes have been benched, so to speak, due to this injury. It's very common, unfortunately, because it can be prevented by making sure that you're stretching before and after your workout. I wasn't stretching post-workout because I made an error in judgement. Usually, the little one only gets a 2 hour nap so by the time she woke up, I'd finish up and didn't want to feel guilty about not spending that time with her because I had either been at school in the morning or I was now headed to an afternoon class. In retrospect, I should have just gotten some 10 extra minutes and stretched.
Since my hot-knee incident, I've really just taken a step back and given my body time to recover. It's still recovering and, the truth is, that while I miss my workout schedule, fitness is about ways to affect your health positively, not to do things that are a detriment to it. If I continue because of stubbornness, it could lead to an injury that won't set me back a week or two, but months. I just don't have that kind of time to waste.
You know, I love challenging my body. I know plenty of people who go to the gym, kind-of, sort-of play around with the weights and machines, jump on one, sweat a little & call it a day. I'm not one of those people. I don't stop until I'm no longer in my comfort zone. I don't stop until I'm drenched or my muscles are fatigued. Am I the best athlete out there? Absolutely not and, obviously, I make mistakes and errors in judgement but I'm not upset that I pushed my body. I'd be more upset if I never did.
The key is, and this goes for me as well, to stretch and never get too comfortable to see what is good, or bad for you. I'll keep y'all updated.
Judy
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