Oh God, I am in agony

[nineveh_uk]

Laugh if you must - I have. Or sort of grimaced. I cannot walk without wincing. Stairs are a horror. The act of moving from a sitting to a standing position or vice versa is truly grim and requires levering myself up by my arms. I am in the sort of physical pain usually associated with extreme runners after a week of extreme running from lions. My thigh muscles, particularly all of the ones in the front*, hate me and have entered negotiations to leave me for any other body that will take them. My other muscles aren't that thrilled with me, either, but are not quite so furious.

How did this happen, you ask me. Let me explain.

I did an exercise video.

The story is as follows. I am a reasonably fit person when it comes to stamina. When not laid low with plague I could happily get up tomorrow** and walk 20 miles without a twinge, assuming I had decent shoes on and it wasn't all a 1 in 3 uphill. But after a couple of years of not being terribly well, my cardio-vascular fitness isn't what it might be, and my generally rubbish upper body strength is even more rubbish than usual.

I decided that this needed to be remedied. However, it is the middle of winter. The weather is foul. There's no way I have the motivation to go running regularly. I am too mean to fork out for the gym more than once ever few months. Aha! I thought, buy an exercise video. 20 minute bursts, I might actually be bothered to do that. I can even do it in bare feet, thus promoting balance.

So I did. And it turns out that my muscles do seem to have got a fairly good work out, if the pain is anything to go by. It wasn't a problem at the time. It's just that I woke up this morning and I can't move any more.

On the plus side, I understand that the agony really is proof that it's worked, because the muscle damage that it is symptomatic of is allegedly building better muscle. If that's the case, I feel I ought to look like Miss Universe.

It is not too bad. I haven't actually strained anything, it's just a fit of physical pique, and it will pass soon. But please could it do so by tomorrow morning.

*I always assumed you just have a couple of biggish muscles in the thighs, but it turns out there are lots of small ones instead. See, pain is educational.

**Not actually tomorrow. I could have on Saturday.

Comments

[pensnest]

Urk. Yes. A couple of days ago I did some work at the gym on machines I haven't used for a while, and my thighs were Not Happy. Best thing to do seems to be to go for a walk and loosen them up. Good luck!

[nineveh_uk]

A bit of gentle walking seems to be helping now the extreme pain has calmed a bit!

[antisoppist]

Owwww. Oh dear. I hope it's better now. I know people say "no pain no gain" but that sounds like a bit too much of a good thing. Is it going to be the same if you do it again or is it a first time only effect?

[nineveh_uk]

Allegedly it won't be as bad. The NHS says "Just one bout of DOMS* actually develops a partial protective effect that reduces the chances of developing soreness in that same activity for the following weeks or months." We'll see how that holds true...

*Delayed onset muscle soreness. I am learning a lot from this.

[antisoppist]

So glad it is being educational.

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. A lot of videos don't have enough in the way of stretching the leg muscles in the cooldown, particularly if they're heavy on the squats and lunges; I have one particular ballet DVD that I've attached a post-it to reading 'DO EXTRA HAMSTRING STRETCHES'.

Also, if it helps, I once managed to put my shoulder in pain for a week fighting a recalcitrant bra.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

That's adding insult to injury! I hope that both the neck and the DeathCold are improving.

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

Ouch, poor you! I hope the DeathCold and the muscle pain both sod off as soon as possible.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

That would indeed be the problem. I will be doing much more balancing on one leg stretching out henceforth. My thighs weren't really bothered at the time, so it didn't strike me that the stretching was woefully inadequate, but clearly it was.

A recalcitrant bra-related injury is definitely worse!

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

Which exercise video is it? I'm always on the lookout for new ones, though the sitting-room in the new house doesn't allow me a lot of room to exercise in. Even if I move the sofa, anything involving more than two steps back and forth or one step sideways is right out.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

It is Jillian Michaels' "30 Day Shred" (there is no way I am doing it every day for 30 days! Though I might if I were about to traverse Greenland). It doesn't need lots of floor space, but you do need to be able to lie down and extend your arms fully to the sides. I picked it because I just about have that floorspace, the only other thing it needs is small handweights, which I have, and it was reported to do lots of upper-body stuff, which is my weakness, and very useful for skiing. Also because it is in 20 minutes chunks, and that's as much as I can be bothered. I hadn't come across Michaels before, but I don't know much about the genre. Her brand from Google does seem to be quite into weightloss, but I didn't feel that was a focus of the particular routine.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Oh dear! That doesn't sound good at all. I do feel that my experience suggests it would be a bad choice for someone who doesn't already have some degree of physical fitness - while my upper body strength is dreadful, I can run a couple of miles, and am naturally flexible with reasonable balance. So while my legs are recovering rapidly and I will persevere in it, I wouldn't recommend it to a person with little experience of exercise.

Good luck with Couch to 5K!

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I do hope you feel better soon.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I trust you have recovered by now?

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I have. I failed to do it again today, but that was a question of time rather than impairment!

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Good :-)

[mrs-redboots.livejournal.com]

A hot shower, and then do the video again! Well, possibly not - but keep moving, you will loosen up and it will stop hurting quite so much.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I think it may be some days before I venture near it again! I am trying to move, though - it is definitely worse whn I've been sitting at my desk for an hour or so without moving.

[tudorpot.livejournal.com]

Poor you, that sounds horrific. Ice packs, hot baths, and NSAIDs, go slower next time dear.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

NSAIDs are a godsend! They don't seem to be making much difference re. pain but I am taking them any way hoping they are doing something for the medium term. Hot baths, of course, need no encouragement and are only glad of an excuse.

[littlered2.livejournal.com]

Ouch! Still, as you say, at least you know the muscles have been well and truly exercised.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

It is a silver-plated lining, but it is there!

[madamedarque.livejournal.com]

Oh, no! I hope the pain fades with time and rest.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

So do I! I am looking on the bright side that it should do, because it's just a bit of over-doing it, not pulling something, which would be much more annoying.

[alitheapipkin.livejournal.com]

*wince* in sympathy, hope it has eased by tomorrow!

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It has eased a little today, which is something.

[(Anonymous)]

reading your post I thought that sounded like the aftermath of a Jillian Michaels video and I see I am right! Everyone I've known, who's done one of hers has complained of the extreme pain! Hope you feel better soon!
-M

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I don't know whether to be pleased or disappointed to learn I am part of a trend! In any case, it is definitely true. I have done long-duration + hard-work exercise that's made me really achey before, but this is something new!

[stevie-carroll.livejournal.com]

Ouch! Much sympathy.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It is starting to improve a bit.

[widsidh.livejournal.com]

If it's the first time doing something new, it's probably you body just saying "oi, work????", second time is likely to be much less painful (don't ask how I know...).
I wouldn't even go slower.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I am definitely just going to try it again on Sunday - I haven't done any serious damage, and I am now able to do stairs again, so I don't feel the need to hold back. But I will stretch a lot more afterwards!