Hi everyone, hope all is well. Fitness and sports are something I have only really had introduced to me these last two years and unfortunately my stubborn attitude cost me this week. I thought I might share to make me feel a little better, and hopefully to stop anyone making the same silly mistakes I did.
I absolutely love my exercise. There is rarely a day when I don't do anything and I absolutely love pushing myself as much as possible. I made a new years resolution at the end of 2012 to take my first jiu jitsu class. While it took me a few months to actually get there, I did and have fallen in love with the sport ever since. I have competed several times and even won a gold medal in our nationals last year.
There was another tournament scheduled for last weekend, and I've never worked so hard for something. I didn't rest, I did excess what I normally do and took all the soreness with that. I had also been preparing for my first amateur Muay Thai bout about 2 months away and along with grappling 5 days a week (and running 7), I was also working on my boxing and sparring on top of all that.
To put it simply, I did too much too quickly and was too stubborn to see the warning signs. On my runs I started noticing my left knee starting to become sorer then normal, especially when I stopped. To the point that I literally had to stop walking and sit down for a good 20 minutes. I have had knee issues for a long time and they have popped up in training in the past, though never a major issue. My knee was getting constantly sore and I should have said something and let my body recover. Unfortunately to my mind that meant I would be throwing away time that could be spent preparing for the matches.
Last Thursday at our final training before the tournament on Saturday my knee hurt simply by kneeling. To the point where my training partner stopped because he could tell, I rested for a few minutes and then got back into training. Sure enough not long after while drilling a defense pressure was put on my knee and it was dislocated. Not only that but while lying on my back, in a way that made it very hard to do anything about.
That was my training done for the night needless to say, and I got it checked the next day. I was told to stop putting pressure on it and give it time to recover, I had to pull out of the tournament on Saturday.. That was really hard to do and my knee has been hurting ever since.
Unfortunately I didn't learn my lesson, went for my usual run on Sunday, thinking I had given it enough time. The run itself was okay, but as soon as I stopped the pain came straight away and the walk home was a very long one. I think that run actually made everything worse.
Strike three came today, I have been doing only exercises that won't strain my knee, and the pain was still there. But it was so much less then what it was a few days before hand. I went back to training tonight even though I doubted deep down that I had taken enough time off. Sure enough I started off well, but as soon as I put pressure on the knee again everything went downhill. I dislocated it tonight and have to admit I'm still angry at myself because of it.
I'm sitting at home now, limping around the house because I didn't see the warning signs. When I was injured because of it I pushed it and didn't give myself the time to recover. I'm not sure about the match coming up, and while I would like to do it, perhaps this is my lesson to relax and listen to my body. I was working like there was no time in the world, in truth there will always be another competition, and if I had not been so stubborn I wouldn't have had the painful week this has been.
I typed this partly to let off some steam. However I also want to share what I have learnt, and while it might seem like common sense, it took all this for me to realise it. Exercise is great, sports are great, and working hard meeting your challenges is an incredible feeling. But our body is precious, if you feel pain that alarms you, take it easy. Even if its nothing, its better to relax and let your body catch up, then to be stubborn like I was and risk injury.
That felt good to get out.
God bless.
I absolutely love my exercise. There is rarely a day when I don't do anything and I absolutely love pushing myself as much as possible. I made a new years resolution at the end of 2012 to take my first jiu jitsu class. While it took me a few months to actually get there, I did and have fallen in love with the sport ever since. I have competed several times and even won a gold medal in our nationals last year.
There was another tournament scheduled for last weekend, and I've never worked so hard for something. I didn't rest, I did excess what I normally do and took all the soreness with that. I had also been preparing for my first amateur Muay Thai bout about 2 months away and along with grappling 5 days a week (and running 7), I was also working on my boxing and sparring on top of all that.
To put it simply, I did too much too quickly and was too stubborn to see the warning signs. On my runs I started noticing my left knee starting to become sorer then normal, especially when I stopped. To the point that I literally had to stop walking and sit down for a good 20 minutes. I have had knee issues for a long time and they have popped up in training in the past, though never a major issue. My knee was getting constantly sore and I should have said something and let my body recover. Unfortunately to my mind that meant I would be throwing away time that could be spent preparing for the matches.
Last Thursday at our final training before the tournament on Saturday my knee hurt simply by kneeling. To the point where my training partner stopped because he could tell, I rested for a few minutes and then got back into training. Sure enough not long after while drilling a defense pressure was put on my knee and it was dislocated. Not only that but while lying on my back, in a way that made it very hard to do anything about.
That was my training done for the night needless to say, and I got it checked the next day. I was told to stop putting pressure on it and give it time to recover, I had to pull out of the tournament on Saturday.. That was really hard to do and my knee has been hurting ever since.
Unfortunately I didn't learn my lesson, went for my usual run on Sunday, thinking I had given it enough time. The run itself was okay, but as soon as I stopped the pain came straight away and the walk home was a very long one. I think that run actually made everything worse.
Strike three came today, I have been doing only exercises that won't strain my knee, and the pain was still there. But it was so much less then what it was a few days before hand. I went back to training tonight even though I doubted deep down that I had taken enough time off. Sure enough I started off well, but as soon as I put pressure on the knee again everything went downhill. I dislocated it tonight and have to admit I'm still angry at myself because of it.
I'm sitting at home now, limping around the house because I didn't see the warning signs. When I was injured because of it I pushed it and didn't give myself the time to recover. I'm not sure about the match coming up, and while I would like to do it, perhaps this is my lesson to relax and listen to my body. I was working like there was no time in the world, in truth there will always be another competition, and if I had not been so stubborn I wouldn't have had the painful week this has been.
I typed this partly to let off some steam. However I also want to share what I have learnt, and while it might seem like common sense, it took all this for me to realise it. Exercise is great, sports are great, and working hard meeting your challenges is an incredible feeling. But our body is precious, if you feel pain that alarms you, take it easy. Even if its nothing, its better to relax and let your body catch up, then to be stubborn like I was and risk injury.
That felt good to get out.
God bless.
