Tag Archives: back pain

Injuries and Olympics

Posted by beautifullystrong in Uncategorized and tagged with , , , , , , ,

In light of the frustration I’ve been feeling lately about hurting myself over and over in the gym… and of course the Olympics (trust me, this will make sense…)…I’d like to discuss with you my recent brilliant idea… :-p

This past Saturday I came to the 9am class at Innate, like usual, and proceeded to whoop my own butt, like usual! One of the movements in the workout was a standing med ball throw (more like HURL…or CHUCK!) at a wall. My team chose a 14# med ball. Now, while doing the standing med ball throw, Andrew continuously said to me, “check your alignment, Jen. Square your hips!” (We have great coaches at Innate who care about your well-being, AND your spine!) I honestly didn’t know how to do that…I continued rotating MASSIVELY at the waist, and hurling this #14 ball as hard as I could at the wall.

Later that day, which seemed as if “out of nowhere” my back gave out on me. There was nothing directly tied to it to make me associate it with any particular movement. I felt like I was officially in a body cast of pain. The next day I ended up stealing Nick’s massage to try to loosen everything up around my spine so that I could get a better adjustment…and alas the massage and adjustment left me feeling a wee bit better. This all lead to ANOTHER conversation of frustration with Nick (not WITH Nick, the conversation was with him though… :-p) in that I’m SICK of HURTING MYSELF!!! Nick very gently played with my hair and assured me that he understood why I would be so frustrated…that HAS to be super frustrating…(way to validate, baby…way to validate :) ). Where we went from there was this…

…while I maybe (I accent on MAYBE) could be a higher than average athlete compared to the “average American”…out of the pool of athletes…I am (and I quote, this came out of my mouth today…) “the lowest of the low”. Damn girl, why are you so hard on yourself? This is actually a fact. The MAJORITY of athletes who are my age, have been an athlete since they were small. They MOVE like athletes; they have learned how to use their body to access the most strength, power and agility. A seasoned athlete would have done that same standing med-ball throw, and moved THROUGH his/her legs and hips…instead of essentially doing standing med-ball throwing twist spasms…ahem…like me. Nick explained to me that I am unusual in that I was NEVER an athlete, and then I was an athlete in one of the most intense sports out there…I dont’ necessarily know my body yet…which is why I am learning the hard way day after day after day. So, what am I going to do?…

…Nick suggest that I join a sport (other than Crossfit, I know that is a sport…) which will teach me foot work and how to move my body like an athlete. HE suggests tennis…ehhhh…while I want to learn tennis, I don’t get all excited and fired up about it. So here is where the Olympics tie in…

We were watching the Olympics on Sunday night, and the women’s rowing competition came on. Oh mannnnnn, I would be SUCH a good rower! I am long and lean, and I have a pretty decent 500m row time…not bad for a novice…imagine what I could do with a little practice! However, before I could jump into a regatta, I realized that there really is NOTHING available in this area for the average adult, post-collegiate career, to join a team. Ehh! Unless any of you know how I could do that??….

The other thought I had was…da da da DAH!!!…BOXING! Yes…boxing. I think I could be a BAD-ASS BOXER… There are plenty of places in Santa Barbara for me to access some training in that area…so, that may be the thing for me.

In the meantime, I’m working on lengthening my hamstrings, doing some gentle yoga…and trying not to beat myself up for not working out right now. Listening to the Olympians last night, they have rehab on lock-down at this point in their careers..what do all of YOU do for rehab when you hurt yourself? I would LOVE to know!

Much love,

Jen

Taking personal responsibility…and potty talk

Posted by beautifullystrong in Eat Well, Move Well and tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

I have been asked on numerous accounts why I am doing the candida diet. The number one (and probably ONLY reason) I started the candida diet is because (I’m going to get REALLY honest with you right now…) I have had digestive issues since college…

My senior year of college, shit hit the fan in my life (family, school, relationship,friendships, not knowing what I wanted to do with my life, etc, etc…you know, the normal stuff!) and my poor body could only handle the stress I was going through by deciding to seize all function of my digestive system. I was in and out of specialists for a year (my lowest low was having an “examination” (digestive system…take a gander at where that exam was taken…) by a 70 year old man…lowwww low). I was drugged up, knocked out, and had the pleasure (*puke*) of experiencing my first ever colonoscopy at the ripe age of 22. The final diagnosis was IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). What’s a girl to do with that information??!   I was terrified to eat ANYTHING; I was constantly full of fear. It got to a bad point where I was only eating about 500 calories a day (not on purpose…just because everything was making me sick!). That 500 calories usually came in the form of a Smart One (the broccoli and cheddar potatoes :-p).

I was CONSTANTLY on the lookout for some MAGIC PILL that would get rid of my digestive issues.

*In walks Nicholas Araza*

Through Nick I learned all about the Paleo diet, and it completely changed my world. I started exercising…uh duh, I think we know how that affected my world. I started getting adjusted. All three of these things have COMPLETELY changed my world for the better…including my digestive issues. I no longer FEAR eating (I am actually quite OBSESSED with it, thank you!) and I haven’t had an “episode” in a couple years. Phew! :)

So why the candida diet… well…while my guts are much happier, they are not 100% better. I have messed up my guts for the majority of my life…and while changing my diet, exercising and getting adjusted has stopped it from getting worse I’m sure…I have lost a LOT of integrity of my gut lining. In laymen’s terms: my guts are screwed. Presently :-p I was hoping that the candida diet would clean up the last of those bad bugs because since adding exercise to my life, my bad guts have posed a WHOLE other kind of problem…

If I, or anyone, is unable to keep their abs tight while doing Crossfit…you are essentially efffffffffffffed. There is WEIGHT you’re lifting, weird positions you’re getting into, high repetition of exercises, BURPEES, full extension of exercises…etc, etc. If you are unable to protect your spine during these exercises, you are GOING to get hurt…period. WELL…unfortunately, when you have inflamed guts due to something you ate, or bad bugs that are taking over your guts…you cannot properly protect your spine, and you get yourself in the predicament I have been putting myself in for the last year and a half…which is constantly hurting myself, over and over again. 

back pain

Here’s where some venting comes in: people constantly ASSUME that since I am married to a chiropractor I don’t EVER have back pain, that I have a BEAUTIFUL spine, and la da da…well, not exactly. I met Nick in 2009, and I was diagnosed with a Phase 1 subluxation…borderline phase 2. My spine was as straight as a rod…and I have a congenital scoliosis in my mid-back. Not the “ideal chiropractor’s wife spine”…sorry to disappoint. We have made AMAZING changes so far (I literally started crying when I saw my most recent progress x-rays, I was so happy)…but as magical as my husband (or ANY chiropractor for that matter) is…he’s not a magician…and in order for him to do his job the best he can, I NEED to stop hurting myself!!!! Which in short means (because after many, many discussions, we both believe is mainly related to my irritated guts)…I need to stop messing up my guts, and I need to KEEP working on PERFECTING my form in the gym (and in life for that matter!).

I started the candida diet on June 25th, and then decided to have some homemade coconut ice cream this past Saturday (that would be TOTALLY okay if I were not doing the candida) that was topped with homemade whipped cream (this would NOT be okay even if I WASN’T doing the candida) and let me tell you…that whipped cream EFFED me. I have been feeling it since Saturday. Yesterday was a workout with burpees and pull-ups (my two biggest offenders)…so last night I was laying in bed, complaining and whimpering because my back was in so much pain. I’m frustrated. I feel like I should be stronger, I feel like I should be able to go faster, I feel like I should be able to do MORE reps; it’s hard to do that when you start progressing, then jack yourself, you know?

Let me tell you THIS much…I am SO grateful that I AM married to a chiropractor…I can’t imagine doing this, and learning this journey without my sweet, sweet husband to clean up after me. Tip, however: do not use your chiropractor as a custodian for your injuries and then wonder why you’re not getting the results you want. Clean up your own messes, prevent messes, and do what your chiropractor says! :)

Anyway, the point of this post was a vent, mostly. I needed to be honest and “out” myself…I DON’T, yet, have a perfect spine…I don’t, yet, do the movements perfectly…and I still hurt myself…kind of often :-\ I, too, am working on my health everyday. I, too, am on this journey with you.

With love,

Jen

Big Effing Tire-1: Jen-0

Posted by beautifullystrong in Crossfit Workouts and tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Let me be clear:

Big effing tire that weighs approximately 275 pounds- 1: Jen-0

This Saturday the workout at Crossfit was: “Pet Rocks”. We were put into teams of two, had to accomplish a list of absurdity, all the while holding your “pet rock”, that of which was a 25# weight for me…. One person works at a time, the other hold their 25# pet rock.

“Pet Rocks”

800m run

150 wallballs

80 pullups

60 pushups

30 burpees

20 handstand pushups

5 rope climbs

3 tire flips

800m run

The gym was counted off into groups of two, and guess who my partner was?! Mr. Araza himself. How we managed that I don’t know…we were no where near each other :)

We took off on our 800m run, and decided to get the burpees out of the way first since they’re pretty friggin’ tiring. 15 burpees each…next!

Handstand pushups, rope climbs…

…then we headed outside for the tire flips.

Now, I’ve never done a tire flip before. It looks pretty fun, I wanted to at least see if I stood a chance. Nick did two flips; made it look way too easy. So, for those of you that know me (or for those of you that do not, I’ll fill you in…) I am a littttle competitive. Being competitive has its pros and plenty of cons for me. When you are in Crossfit, and you work out with a large number of EXTREMELY capable athletes (when I say capable, I mean JACKED…SHREDDED…STRONG AS WHAT!!), and you “lose” repeatedly (this is when Nick would, once again, tell me it’s not a competition, and not to compare myself…but my very point here is that I tend to do that…often), that is when being competitive isn’t so awesome. So anyway…I wanted to AT LEAST TRRRRRRYYYYYY to flip the 275 pound tire….I mean, it’s not like I was push pressing the thing…just flipping it….

So I get down on my knees, into proper position to flip this sucker…

try #1- didn’t even budge

try #2- I think it came about an inch off the ground

try #3- I got it off the ground about a foot, then it slipped and dropped

try #4- same as #3

try #5- Danny decided to help me, and I got it up and over!

HA. HA! Take that huge flippin’ TIRE!!! Then, I go to stand up…ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! Not good batman…I felt like one of those cartoons where someone bends over and then tries to stand up and is still stuck in the bent over position….

I straighten up and head inside to do Wallballs and continue down the laundry list of exercises with my partner :) . When we have done all of the reps for all of the exercises, we head out to do our final 800m run. The last 400m I am DEAD TIRED! Nick thinks we should pick it up the last 200m (that is where you make the most gains). We do. When we get to the end, I immediately squat down, head between my knees and start that lip quiver, eyes watering…realllly want to cry. I start to…then realize….suck it up Nadeau. Deep breath, I’m over it. I walk inside.

At this point in the day, or even ten minutes into the awesome free yoga class we had following the workout, I was NOT over it… my back was killing me. I really hurt my back….again.

So here I am again, only a month after the LAST time I hurt my back…BUT, at least I can say I hurt it because I was trying to flip a TRACTOR TIRE!!! haha! Seriously…who AM I? :-p

Once again, I am realllly glad I have a boyfriend who is a chiropractor! I spent the majority of Saturday being adjusted, laying on ice packs, or walking around the block to get some movement into my spine. While I was grumpy about some of this at the time, I am really glad Nick made me do them. Thanks to him, I was able to drive up to Portsmouth, NH on Sunday and walk around town for a few hours with my friend Lauren…that of which I would NOT have been able to do if I had just taken a nap on Saturday like I wanted to. Thank you Chiropractic, and thank you Nick :)

Thank GOODNESS I Know A Good Chiropractor!

Posted by beautifullystrong in Crossfit Workouts and tagged with , , , ,

Happy Monday everyone :) I hope you had a fantastic weekend!! The weather was GORGEOUS…and well, it was the weekend!!

I had a great weekend, mild injury aside. Well, I say mild, but judging by my seriously colossal babiness, you would think otherwise. I hurt my back this weekend. My lower back…ouch!

On Saturdays workout at Crossfit we were split into teams of 3. This was the first time ever I got to be on a team with Nick :) Guess what the workout was? 3 stations: first station, mile run; second station, as many deadlifts as you can do in the allotted time (they wanted us to deadlift 155#, but since I have never even done that ONCE, I chose to do 100#s); third station, as many strict pullups as we could do in said time. So the way it works…one person runs a mile, another is doing deadlifts, and the other, pull-ups…as soon as the person running get’s back, you switch. I asked if I could go running first, since I don’t LOVE running! Wait, on a side note, I need to talk about this…

A week ago, the thought of running 400m irked me. Seriously, I dreaded going to Saturday workouts because often times the workout included running. The last month, however, running has been the poison of choice in ALL workouts, weekdays included. So what happens when the thing you dread is constantly in your face? You stop thinking it’s so scary! To top it off, I decided to dedicate last week to making running even LESS scary by doing a few of my own workouts that had running as the main course (Two rounds of 1.3 mile runs and 50 double unders, 1 mile for time, etc). So my mindset this past week, and still, is no longer “RUNNING is SCARY so I’m going to avoid it!”, it’s “Running is difficult, so I’m going to face it head on and show that pavement who’s BOSS!!”

Okay, I’m digressing…back to Saturday…

So I was the first to run the mile, and I took off! I was a little worried I would take forever because I knew that the men in my team would be kicking their own bums as long as I’m out there, but I stopped worrying about that about a minute in. I became more concerned with listening to my body, finding a healthy pace, and getting to the end! Guess what! I ran my PR (personal record)!! A week ago I was running a mile in over 9 minutes..closer to 9.5…Saturday I finished in just a little over 8 minutes!!!! Amazing!! Just the encouragement I needed!!!

Okay, no time to throw a party, have to move on to deadlifts. I had 100#s on there…which felt heavy, as it should, but my form felt good and I wasn’t going crazy with them… I did 30 of them in the 7 minutes it took Nick to run the mile. Then once Vlad took off on his run, I banged out 28 strict pullups on the blue band (heck yeah!).

So the workout was great, we went out to breakfast in Manchester, and then came home. A few hours later, my back started hurting…really hurting. It grew more and more painful as the day went on. As the day progressed, I grew more and more worried about my night out dancing. Could I dance? Any of you that has ever seen me dance may have noticed I dont’ take dancing lightly. It’s a full body workout, a full contact sport. There isn’t a muscle I don’t use, or a move I won’t do. My mom usually refers to me as Gumby. So, the thought of dancing when it was painful for me to even walk without looking like I was balancing an apple on my head, was somewhat causing me a tad bit of worry!

Come 8:30pm, some of the guys came over to our house to play poker with Nick, and Lisa and I decided to go get a “drink” before heading over to go dance (I was still going to attempt it at this point). We ended up having the tastiest virgin mojitos EVER and had great conversation, however, my back was not feeling any better. I made the call to go home for the night.

I have been adjusted about 4 times since Saturday, have iced (maybe not as much ice as I should have…but I’m currently sitting here with ice stunningly cold on my back), have moved, have stretched (I was given stretches to do today because my hamstrings are so tight, which is probably what is causing, or at least REALLY not helping my back pain), and still not stellar…just need to keep following the doctor’s orders, and make sure I think twice about mixing running with deadlifting again (dont’ realize your form breaks down when you’re tired…).

As for tackling ”Fran” tonight at Crossfit..not so sure about that…may go and do something else (Fran: 21, 15, 9 of Thrusters and pull-ups).  

The rest of my weekend was fantastic :) Quality time with an incredible man, and a lunch date with my love, Lauren! Mexican, iced coffee, walking by the water and great conversation :) Love life :)

Have an incredible Monday guys…kick this week off right!