Monthly Archives: June 2012
Pushing Through the Pain
On this Workout Wednesday, I thought I’d address what many consider a “touchy” topic: pain.
I’m currently starting my second week of physical therapy for a lower back and hip issue. I’d like to say the problem just popped up and I got on it immediately, but I’d be lying.
This problem began back in September of 2011. What started as a dull pain in the left side of my lower back and hip area turned into tingling and numbness down the front of my left thigh, calf and all the way down to my toes. Lifting weight over my head, kettlebell swings and push-ups made the pain worse. So what did I do? I pushed through it.
After a couple of months, getting out of bed in the morning became painful and sitting at my desk at work gradually for longer than 20 minutes became practically unbearable. I finally went to my sports medicine specialist last month to get checked out. An MRI showed I have a bulging disc in my lumbar spine. (Specifically between the fourth and fifth lumbar vertebral bodies, commonly referred to as L4/L5.)
The “mystery,” however, is that the MRI showed the disc issue is on the right side of my lower back back while the symptoms I’ve suffered have affected the left side of my body. Is my left side compensating for the dysfunction on my right or is the disc something I’ve had for years and not even part of the problem? This is what my doctor and now my physical therapist are trying to figure out. Meanwhile, I just want the pain to go away!
The bottom line is I’m pretty angry with myself for ignoring the pain for so long. Basically, I didn’t follow one of the cardinal rules I share with my own personal training clients and anyone who asks for advice on following a safe and effective fitness program: Listen to your body!
So, I thought this was the perfect time to remind everyone when you should NOT wait out the aches and pains:
- If you’re in an accident or experience sudden trauma. If there’s no help where you are, get to an emergency room or urgent care center. It’s also a good idea to get checked out if your muscle or joint soreness lasts more than 2 – 3 days following a vigorous workout or if you tried a new sport, group exercise class or other activity (e.g. gardening) around the house.
- If your pain affects every day functions. Does it hurt to raise your arms overhead in the shower or bend down to pick up your child? If your knee is bothering you when you walk up the stairs, guess what? You could end up with pain in your hip and back, too, as your body makes compensations to keep moving. Now you have pain in more than just one area of your body.
- If you have chronic but mild pain in any area of the body that doesn’t change no matter what you. This is what happened to me. What you may feel as muscle pain in your back that you have had for months could be coming from several other areas not even related to your spine.
Click here for a link to great list from WebMD about pains you should NEVER ignore.
While we all have different tolerance levels when it comes to pain, I hope sharing my experience is an example of why it’s not smart to take chances. I haven’t been completely sidelined, but I have had to slow down. As a bona fide fitness fanatic, that’s not easy! At the end of the day, listening to your body is probably one of the smartest things you can do to make sure you continue safely on your journey to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
Using Fitness to Make a Difference
If you’re looking for ways to add some variety to your fitness routine, why not turn your passion for being healthy into a vehicle for helping others?
As many of us look for ways to take our workouts outdoors, this is the perfect time of year to sign up for a walk, run or other athletic event in a town near you that raises money and awareness for everything from cancer to childhood disabilities. Just this past Saturday, my friend Rob laced up for a 5K run in Central Park to benefit the YAI Network, an organization that’s been helping people with developmental disabilities and their families since 1957.
Of course, there are also plenty of fun and meaningful indoor fitness activities to join. I was so excited when my weekend mail included my ticket to the June 29th Zumbathon event at Roseland Ballroom. The proceeds will benefit the Michael J. Fox Foundation and its fight against Parkinson’s Disease. The event co-stars the legendary Tanya Beardsley, who I was lucky to have as my instructor for my licensing workshop earlier this year. I can’t wait to enjoy a heart-pounding good time with some of the gals I met at that workshop, and make some new Zumba friends. The best part will be knowing I shook my booty for a great cause!
If you’re looking for ways to combine your love of fitness and the desire to do good deeds, I found a pretty cool website called CharityHappenings.org. You enter your home state or zip code, the range of dates you’re looking for, and you can then select from a list of activities ranging from golf outings to dancing. You can even narrow your selections by causes ranging from animals to autism.
Whatever you do, another bonus to signing up for a fitness event is you can encourage members of your fitness family to join in the fun. Not only will you motivate each other to push through the last mile or spin cycle, but you get to enjoy breaking a sweat with people you’ve probably been hoping to spend more time with anyway!
We all know the health benefits exercise has to offer, but how great is it being able to turn your heart-pounding moves into positive energy for the world around you? I can’t think of a better reason to continue the search for the countless ways to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
Friday’s Food For Thought: The Liquid Edition
Welcome to June!
We’ve had some warm and sticky weather here in New York City since the Memorial Day weekend, so I thought it was the perfect time to remind everyone about the importance of staying hydrated.
I often talk about the fact that the human body is an amazing machine, but it’s important to remember that machine is made up of two-thirds water. Like anything else, if you want the body to keep running properly, you need to give it what it needs.
Here are some of the benefits of staying hydrated:
- Regulation of body temperature
- Alleviating fluid retention
- Distribution of nutrients and oxygen to cells and organs
- Improvement of metabolic function
- Decreasing appetite
I’m still waiting to feel the effects of that last bullet point. I do my best to drink the recommended 5-7 glasses of water each day, but I don’t know how much effect it’s had on my overall appetite. (I love to eat!) However, I admit if I’m hungry and nowhere near a healthy snack, drinking a glass of water can stave off my hunger just long enough to avoid eating something I’ll regret later. (Chewing gum works in a pinch, too.)
Now let’s look at some of the physiologic effects of what happens when you don’t consume enough water and become dehydrated:
- Decreased blood volume
- Increased heart rate
- Increased core temperature
- Sodium retention
- Decreased sweat rate
Think of it this way: the body can go for a long period of time without food, but can only survive for a few days without water.
The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) offers the following guidelines for drinking water when exercising:
- Drink 16 oz of water two hours before exercise. In warmer weather, you can add an additional 8 – 16 oz.
- During exercise, drink 20 to 40 oz for every hour of exercise.
- If you exercise for more than 60 minutes, you can re-hydrate with a sports drink containing up to 8% carbohydrate to replace both fluid and dwindling muscle glycogen stores.
- When exercising for 60 minutes or less, water is best. (My personal choice).
Here’s how I rationalize that last point: If I’m pressed for time and can only squeeze in a 30-minute elliptical session, I’ll burn up to 340 calories. During that time, if I guzzle a sports drink like Gatorade or Vitamin Water, I’ll consume 125 calories. So I walk away from a shorter than normal workout, and I’ve only burned 215 calories. That is not the post-cardio high I was looking for!
I realize some people simply can’t stand the blandness of water and need a little flavor. Luckily, there are lots of zero-calorie flavored water options available. Remember, having a flavored drink with zero calories (or 5 calories if you add one of those flavor-crystal packets to your water bottle) is better than NOT drinking anything at all.
In the end, raising a water bottle to your health is an easy way to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
lauralovesfitness 