Back in the Groove....

LONG POST ALERT! Sorry...

So, Joseph and I have recently re-joined the gym. I feel really good when I workout, and I honestly don't hate going. I would just much rather be somewhere else. However, I am determined to force myself to go as much as possible (ideally every day), and hopefully start liking it so much that I WANT to be there. I don't know if this will happen but I am going to make myself go every day if at all possible. One incentive is the fact that our gym has tanning beds. I know, I know...tanning is no good. I haven't laid in a tanning bed in forever!! My goal is to lay in it enough to get a good base tan, then maintain it by only laying in it a couple times a week...at least for Summer anyway. I've laid in it twice so far, and am already a good bit darker (the benefits of being an easy-tanner). This will hopefully keep me motivated to go workout....knowing that I can relax and tan afterward. We know the owner and he gave us a SuWEET deal on the membership! :) They also have individual TVs at every treadmill, elliptical, etc. That helps too!

I typically only use the treadmill and some leg and arm machines. My knee can't take the elliptical, but sometimes I will do a bike. Speaking of my knee....yours truly did a dumb thing the other day. First, a little background info: I have a bad knee which resulted from a nasty fall onto an asphalt parking lot during dance practice back in high school (almost 9 years ago). My knee pretty much took the brunt of the fall. It hurt afterward, but I was so focused on the HUGE laceration on my knee (that I still have the scar to remind me of) that I didn't really notice that my actual knee was hurting. I just toughed it out and got used to it. A while after that (like 1 1/2-2 years) I got it checked out because it began to hurt a lot of the time. (keep in mind that I played sports growing up, and took dance...my knees aren't the best to begin with) My doctor did an x-ray and maybe even an MRI and saw what he believed to be a small tear in the meniscus. He referred me to the local orthopedic doctor who said he didn't see anything that concerned him. So, that was that. Well, for the last several years it has continued to hurt but I have been able to live with it. The pain flares up from time to time.

Back to the dumb thing: Yours truly KNOWS that leg extensions are bad for my knee
(and pretty much everyone's knee), and KNOWS that I shouldn't do them, but for SOME reason I decided to try them out. BAD. IDEA. I didn't try them with just like 10 pounds, I tried them with more like 75 pounds.....REAL. BAD. IDEA. My legs could handle the weight, but my poor ol' knee could not. I knew right away that this was going to be bad...yet, I did about 10 of them. This was Monday...today is Thursday and I still have a swollen knee. Actually, this knee pretty much stays bigger than the other, but it's even bigger than normal. For comparison's sake, I can take both of my hands, touch the middle fingers together, and wrap my hands around my right knee and my thumbs touch. When I try that on my left knee, there's a good 3/4 inch between my fingers. It's not hurting AS BAD as it was, but it still hurts and the pain goes down the side of my leg too and causes my lower leg to be swollen also. It's not horribly swollen, but still, it's not attractive. It doesn't help that I'm wearing like 3 inch wedges today either! HA! I'm giving it time before I go to the doctor, because I don't like going to the doctor. AT. ALL. I just hate going. I'm really stubborn about the doctor. For now, I'm putting ice on it, taking Aleve, and resting it as much as possible. I've done my usual thing and gone to webmd.com and tried to diagnose myself. My ideas are: obviously, the meniscus tear, possibly a PCL or MCL injury, or a tendon injury. I guess I COULD find out what it is at the doctor, but we'll wait on that. :) I have still been going to the gym but have yet to attempt running on the treadmill, which I won't do until it's better. There will also be NO. LEG EXTENSIONS. EVER.....EVER, EVER AGAIN. I bought a knee brace last night and will wear it when I workout so hopefully that will help with swelling and pain. We shall see tonight. I about had to quit yesterday because it hurt so bad. I think I'll walk at 3 mph instead of 4 today. :)

Hopefully the knee won't get worse, and there will be no visit to the doctor. I think I've learned which machines hurt and I won't be doing them anymore. I'd LOVE for both of my knees to be the same size! :)