Well, it’s been a while, yet another long gap between posting on the blog. Over 4 months this time, ha.
So, as usual when things are going nice and smooth and I think I’m getting into a good exercise/work routine something happens at work to throw me off and I have to take a step back from my physical activity outside of work to make sure I can cope with the demands of the work.
Literally within a month of me writing my last blog entry I had hurt my back, handed my notice in and then within a week withdrawn my resignation.
It was an interesting week or so to say the least.
And out of it all I came to the realisation that I’d been hurting myself long term without even knowing it.
So. I’d spent the month of September ramping up my workouts. I’d been adding a little weight almost across all exercises and despite feeling a little tired towards the end of September, my body was recovering well and I was managing it whilst at work when it didn’t, allowing it to recover and then going again.
But then one Friday came around and I was put onto a heavy high volume delivery area and then also told I was going to have to do the collection later in the day too. So just with that one delivery and collection I was about to handle over 400 parcels and the weight was going to be anything up to 3 ton.
Which is fine, I can handle the heavy work load. I know my body, how to pace myself, when to take a breather etc.
But that week I’d gone up some weight on my overhead presses. Nothing massive but I’d squeezed out a few extra sets of 6 reps at 47.5kg on top of my normal few sets. I’d also done some barbell squats the day after them and my back muscles had felt a little tired when I got up on the Friday.
I thought to myself I’d make sure to take it easy and I did, mostly.
I’d got to the heavy collection in the afternoon and I was on for an early finish. There were a few really heavy boxes, but nothing I couldn’t handle I thought.
Chuck em on the van and off I go back to the depot and finish early on a Friday, happy days.
For whatever reason I left the really heavy parcels to last. Normally I put the heaviest shit on the van first and then finish with the lightest. Just not today.
I was nice and warmed up I thought and lifted a few of the heavy parcels, on to the van, yeah no problem. The literal 2nd to last one I picked up, I thought to myself oooof this feels really heavy, braced myself when lifting it, awesome, went to turn and bam, not so awesome. Something popped in my lower back and I had a shooting pain down my leg.
Fuck did it hurt.
I dropped the box, tried to walk and sit down on the back of the van, but my leg with the shooting pain in it had gone numb and I couldn’t feel it.
Oh fuck, now I’ve done it I thought. Why the fuck did you twist with the heavy parcel in your arms you idiot!!
Anyway. I managed to lean up against the van and thankfully within a few minutes the shooting pain had gone and the feeling in my leg came back. Where the pop had happened in my lower back was still aching like fuck but I could at least stand up straight.
I walked around for a few more minutes and decided that I needed to finish loading the van quickly and get back to the depot incase my leg went again.
So I very careful, rocked, levered and angled the last 2 remaining bastard boxes onto the van, got in and very carefully drove back to the depot.
It actually felt ok driving. I guess as there was no weight on it and I wasn’t twisting or putting load on it, it was doing ok for now.
Anyway, I got back to the depot, told my supervisor what I did, got called an idiot, logged it in the workout accidents and then I managed to unload the van very slowly and with some help with the heavy parcels, generally with just a dull ache.
I left work and got home feeling a lot better. It was still aching but I’ve had worse and thought that I just needed to be careful for a few days.
Yeah right. I woke up the next day and fuck did it hurt again. It was aching so much that it woke me up a few hours before I normally get up on a weekend and I just thought, fuck I’ve done it bad this time. I spoke with my manager and said I’d need to go see a doctor and physio and that I’d probably be off the next week so I could recover properly.
Rest of the day came and went and I’d had a good think about the job and just put it all down to it being too physical for what I want to do outside of it and that I needed to move to another driving job with less handballing of boxes.
So I wrote my resignation and sent it off via email. I thought fuck it, I’ll take a few weeks to recover and then whilst off I’ll find another job and all will be well.
A few days later I’d been able to see a doctor (I don’t have a permanent one and this was the first time I’ve seen one in nearly 10yrs!) and then been advised to see a physio who basically said I’d moved the heavy object incorrectly and caught a nerve in my back and that I was lucky to have done nothing permanent and just rest and a few stretching exercises should see it right.
So I spent the next few days doing the stretching exercises the physio showed me and had tried to stay as active as possible at home, which meant several hours just randomly walking around the house and garden.
The physio had said to not doing any weight lifting etc for a few weeks, but by the Thursday of that week it had started to feel a lot better. A combination of anti inflammatories and the stretches had done wonders for it.
So I did some basic bodyweight exercises. Pull ups, back felt ok. Push ups, back felt ok. Squats, back felt ok.
Awesome.
That night it felt a little tired and when I was due to take some more anti inflammatories I decided not to so I could see how it felt in the morning.
I woke up the next day and all was well, I’d managed to sleep through the night without being woken up by the dull ache and I didn’t feel anything from the bit of exercise I’d done. So I decided to stop take the pills and do 2 lots of bodyweight exercises and see how I felt that night.
Night came round and I felt great. The dull ache was nearly gone and I had no reaction to the basic exercises.
Even more awesome.
That weekend I had a look at my exercises for the last few weeks and also had a think about the work I’d been doing. I couldn’t figure out work wise what could’ve caused my back to give up like that, it’s pretty strong imo I do a varied amount of movements to keep it that way, mainly for my job but also because I like back exercises.
Then I looked over my exercises again and specifically my overhead presses. I already knew what I’d been doing, but then it kind of stood out when I looked again and looked at the progressive heavier weights I’d been putting overhead, specifically that last week when my back gave up.
I remember really having to push the last set and normally if I feel any sign of tiredness in my body I stop. I remembered feeling more strain than normal in my back and specifically feeling in my lower back like I had arched too much to get the weight overhead.
I’ve always done my overhead presses with some arch in my lower back, but this time I remember over doing it and then it felt tired when I had finished. I just put it down to doing a few extra sets and thought nothing of it.
But then thinking about it again on that weekend and I put it altogether and realised I’d obviously weakened it and then moving the heavy boxes at work had stressed it even more and then with bad form lifting the heavy parcel had just tweaked it and it gave out.
Having realised this I had a rethink about my resignation and decided that as there wasn’t a job I really wanted to go to, I was better off staying where I am now and just rethinking my exercise routine instead.
So I went back to work the following week, took it easy throughout the week and it felt pretty good most days. One of two days it ached a lot by the end of the day, but after another few weeks it was pretty much back to normal.
Every now and then though, if I rush too much moving heavy boxes it starts to ache, so I just keep aware of that all the time now and just take it a bit slower than I used to. Hopefully once I’m back exercise full on again it will get stronger and be ok long term.
For now though I don’t know as I’ve not go back into the routine again since this happened. Just as I thought about putting some heavy weights onto some movements again, I got moved back on to the heavy ass route and stayed on it during the mad as fuck Christmas peak. So I’ve just stuck to doing basic body weight stuff with some weighted movements here and there.
So far my back has been good, I still get the few days where it aches by the end of the day or when I first get up in the morning, but it’s getting better I feel. Only time will tell during the next few months now that I’ve redone my workout routine and will be starting it again this week.
I have left out the barbell overhead presses altogether and replaced them with dumbbells instead, which I won’t be going too heavy on until at least the end of the month, plus I can support my lower back anyway if needs be.
I’ve also taken out the barbell squats, just in case and replaced them with heavy lunges instead, again at least for a month anyway. Then I’ll try them again and see how it feels and then I’ll think about maybe reintroducing barbell overheads again if I’m getting no reaction at all.
But unfortunately knowing how my body feels when I am physically active, that doesn’t seem likely for the short term. I only need to do a few heavy lifts of boxes, carry one a distance or move in a twisting motion without realising and I can feel pressure in the same area where I hurt it. So it’s possible I might never do barbell overheads again, so for now I’ll hope that I can, and just take my time building my back up again with other movements.
Jeez, man that’s a lot of words after not writing any for months haha!
Anyway, despite the lack of proper weight lifting over the last few months, my body shape is actually pretty good, I’ve not gone overboard this Christmas like some years gone and I’ve been pretty good in at least doing some basic bodyweight movements regularly so I think I’ve only lost overall strength rather than much shape.
Ah well, the strength won’t take more than a month or two to come back/
Hmmm, I think it’s time for a bit of movement right now, a quick round of bodyweight exercises I think then out into the garden to tidy those damn tree leaves again.
Until next time…
WeeMike