Rest Days (ahem, weeks) Are Important Too

So the last few days my apartment has been a den of plague infested virus. I know, great visual right? Nate had been sick for a while and when I was busy counting my lucky stars that I hadn’t been infected yet, the plague got me.

I was totally out of commission from essentially Friday to yesterday, hence the lack of regular posting. I could barely function enough to stand up and get myself water let alone string to coherent sentences together, but thanks to the hell flu I broke my weight stall. Down to 196.8 lbs woooo!!

(See this comic? Yes. That was basically me for five days)

While I was in the midst of getting sick, I was still trying to be consistent with going to the gym despite feeling less than stellar. (I had a college psych professor lecture us about the importance of going about your normal routine while sick to trick your body into getting better faster.)

Anyway, I had been a little lazy and skipped going to the gym on Wednesday so I had to lift two days in a row. Which meant squatting two days in a row. Oh man. Big mistake.

At this point I am squatting about 145 and I am super proud of it. I had been having a little bit of difficulty with it so after squatting 145 Monday and skipping Wednesday, I decided to squat 145 again on Thursday.

I had been having a little bit of trouble with my lower back while I was squatting. It felt a little tight each time I went down. I now know that was because I wasn’t pushing my knees out far enough. Sigh….

Long story short, I was on my last rep in my last set of 145 and the second I went down I felt my hip/lower back freak out. I took a breath, completed the squat, racked the weight, and went to stretch thinking that all would be well.

It was not all well.

I had totally tweaked out my right hip and it was protesting hard. I did all I could during the workday with stretches and the like. Then when I went home I did more intense stretches, took some medicine, rolled it out on a foam roller, and used a heating pad.

I woke up Friday feeling determined to get back to the gym despite the pain. Also a bad decision. I still managed to squat 115 but everything else suffered. After that, the pain hit almost unbearable and I was fully infected with the plague so I took a break.

So what am I trying to get across here?

First: Pay attention to your damn form when you’re lifting heavy. I am still kind of pissed off at myself that I got sloppy. See below photo for proper squat form.

Second: When in doubt, double up on the vitamin C and disinfect your shared home before you get the plague. Took me until Monday to clean everything...mostly because I still felt like death.

Third: It’s okay to take a break once in a while.

I had been going hard at the lifting heavy and keto for two months and I am super proud of myself for that. But when my hip/back freaked out and I got sick, I took it as the cue that I needed a breather. So I took this week off from the gym. Back at it on Monday, but I think this was the breather I needed.

Don’t forget that in the midst of your training and busy lifestyle, it’s good and healthy to give yourself a break. Sometimes you need it.

And for the love of God please please please please if you have been around sick people lately disinfect everything. I don’t want you catching the hell flu Nate and I had.