HYC Check In - Week 14

Still hanging in there and hanging around the same couple of pounds. I really need to find my groove again. Exercise is the key and I recommitted to getting back into it.

I did the trainer session last week which was interesting. The trainer was great, really attentive and talked through my goals with me for a long time and dilligently devised a new programme with me. What we discovered though, is that I need to re-think my focus a little bit. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I am hypermobile, which means I have crazy joints. They hyperextend and have a much fuller range of movement than is normal. I was diagnosed with Benign Joint Hypermobility Syndrome about 3 years ago. This means I am super flexible and also that I can injure myself easily. She told me not to run, at least not until I get much stronger, and stick to lower or non-impact exercise. She recommended spinning most of all and I agree it's great but I'm so intimidated by it because I think I'm fit and then go to a spinning class and feel completely useless and unfit, not to mention I feel like I'm going to throw up it's so hard! She also was concerned that I can't do lunges and squats without pain in my knees, but showed me how to do them with the Swiss ball to take the pressure off them, which was great. She then got very serious with me and said that although my goals to lose weight and improve my general fitness, heart health etc, were great goals, she felt that I needed to prioritise a different health and focus on strengthening my body so that I can train without pain. I hadn't really considered that in any great way before. I know that must sound weird but, first of all, I didn't know until recently that this pain isn't normal. I mean, this is the only body I've ever had and this is the way it's always been, so how would I know that how I feel in it is any different to other people? And secondly I guess I have kind of resigned myself to living with the pain, and to me it's manageable pain since I experience it every day. Painful feet, ankles and knees are perfectly normal to me. Getting her perspective on it really made me sit up and think about it and now I feel kind of weird and a little bit stupid! She gave me a lot of core work to do and told me to build up on that and we will review in 6 weeks, but she also suggested going back to physio if things don't improve after regular sessions and a noticeable improvement in strength. All a lot of food for thought for me.

Today I went back to TBC class for the first time in a couple of months and OMG, I wanted to die! When I got home I told J, please kill me, shoot me dead! This old war horse needs a bullet! It has been a while since I've been to the class and also since I've had a really regular exercise routine at all and I'm disappointed at how hard I found it tonight. J thinks I'm being hard on myself, because I'm just recovering from sickness and because it's a hard class that I've never breezed through anyway, but I feel I really need to do some work to get back to where I was and this time not let it slip again.

So, quite the week for exercise and thought! My next goal is to brave Spinning class next week. I'm going to do it!!