The Art of Setting a Personal Challenge
I love to challenge myself. Surpassing personal goals reminds me that I am a fierce survivor with warrior capabilities. I rise to the occasion, whether the challenges are physical or mental. And while I'm no athlete, I rise even higher if the challenge is both.
Last week marked the beginning of me using my left wrist and shoulder again. I've been waiting for it to heal since November. The tendon tear is mostly repaired. I went to my doctor this morning hoping I'd be cleared for overhead lifting. No such luck. It was absolutely devastating as what I was actually told was that she believes I shouldn't pursue overhead work at all given my history of shoulder (and now wrist) injuries. And she would know. She's adjusted my shoulder enough times in the last eight years that I trust her assessment. But it makes me angry.
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First of all, I'm not angry with my doctor. I'm angry because she's right. Overhead work is not good for me. I've always struggled with my shoulders. Aside from being yanked when I was younger, I had shingles in the left side and repeat rotator cuff injuries. I regularly have flare-ups on the left, and now it's far worse given the level of bursitis I have currently. But I adore overhead lifts. I love pushing my body. And I'm being told to challenge myself by not doing it instead of by trying.
Grr.
To be honest, I certainly will do overhead work again, but I will set low, modest goals and focus on form. And my doctor will support my choice even if she disagrees. She knows I get a lot of sensory input from the joint compression weightlifting offers. Plus there is that challenging the mind aspect of focusing on quality over quantity. I've got this.
Still truly bummed, though. I can't push yet, although I can pull. I'm allowed to do cage work, but I can't clean a bar due to wrist rotation. I'm in pain constantly. That's part of healing. I could go on. By now you know the whining is not what I'm all about.
Here's the deal: today I did a CrossFit "chipper" workout of:
60 alternating pistols on the box,
50 squats with a 14# med ball,
40 box step ups at 20",
30 45# deadlifts,
20 power cleans with a 14# med ball and
10 squats with the 14# med ball.
I completed it in 14:40.
I could be grumpy about all the modifications I had to do to complete this workout, but it was hard. I worked *hard. I did my best. I showed up. And I am very proud of the work I did. It demonstrates improved fitness even though I had to work with lower weights and avoid partial motions. Further, choosing to scale down instead of risking reinjury took some serious grit. I really wanted to do cleans (where you bring a barbell from the floor to your shoulders by turning your wrists quickly) with a barbell. I stuck with the med ball because that was safer.
Why is it so hard for us to be proud of doing what we can? That's what this is really about. I did a fantastic job completing my workout today. There is no reason for me to feel let down. I'm celebrating because I chose to take myself SAFELY to the limit of what I can do rather than what I wanted to do.
How have you respected your body today?
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Listening to our bodies and caring for our bodies is a very big deal!
Exactly!
Thank you for sharing. You'll heal eventually and you'll be doing planks and pushups in no time.
How do you like group workouts? Personally I want nothing to do with a bunch of other people "motivating me" to work out; I'm just not wired that way. What do you like about it. I find it so odd the whole concept of a CrossFit thing where you race and do things together, and challenge one another. My skin itches, but not on the outside, like my stomach needs to be scratched, or some really awkward moment in a movie and I have to look away. What draws you to it?
Personal goals are wonderful! One of the first things you can do is share and tell people about it, and then it becomes real, and you have an external factor to motivate you.
I like the Jerry Seinfeld strategy:
James Clear said it best for me
One of my personal goals is to write something every day. I have to write something and post it somewhere. I use the Jerry Seinfeld method to "not break the chain!" So far it has been transformative and I've been following it since October.
You know, I am not good at motivating myself. I really need that group atmosphere to keep going. What I've noticed over the years is that I have become one of the classmates who encourages others to push. It's a strange feeling as I've never enjoyed being looked at or raising my voice, but I am always shouting and calling people by name to let them know they've got this. It's exhilarating.
Thank you for sharing. I'm so fascinated by the group exercise thing because I'm so personally adverse to it but don't want to write it off out of hand without understanding it.
I like how you encourage others to participate and offer support. Does it motivate you when others do it for you?
What changed between the start and now that you're the one making the culture live?
As we've talked about before, there is so much power in showing up!
I have recently been very "snackish" and have been working hard to have snacks that are healthier. But this morning all I wanted was some chocolate so I chowed down on 4 mini Resses Peanut Butter Cups. This is what I call "soul food" instead of "body food" and sometimes I think the biggest honor you can give is to respect that feeling.
Oh I hear this. I fed myself loads of peanut butter yesterday because it was what I could get down. Other food had no appeal, and while PB is higher in carbs than I'd like (and probably a grand portion of why I feel like I have clouds in my head today), I was satiated and had the energy I needed to make it through the day.
I'm so glad the PB helped and that you were able to engage in eating something your body needed even if your mind rebelled a bit <3.
I love what you do because you do it best. Please be easy on the fitness thing
and your doctor's advice. Your fitness and health is our first priority. Your presence
in the steemit community has helped transformed the lives of so many people.
We therefore love to have you around everyday to continue your wonderful work.
Wishing you speedy recovery too. @shawnamanwa.