this old knee

You may have noticed that my resting squat challenge went stale. Unfortunately my right knee became quite inflamed and irritated, I gather from overuse. Between the resting squats and doing plenty of squat WODs at CrossFit Stumptown, my knee finally had enough. My chiropractor had me take some time off, which worked out since Aaron and I were heading out of town for the weekend. While gone I had moments where it felt great and then moments where it didn't feel so great. We had access to an indoor heated pool where we went, so I took to swimming a couple of times. Hiking on the snow at Crater Lake without proper shoes proved challenging as well, I did fine and only had one moment of pain. I am currently still not doing the resting squat challenge and will probably not go back to it on a day to day basis. Giving myself another week or so before getting back to it on a limited basis. Today I did some burpees and box jumps, it was the most intense movement my knees had to deal with in over a week. So far I feel good but we will see how they feel tomorrow morning. Running hasn't been an issue either, thank goodness.

My schedule will be changing this coming Monday, as I will begin Spring term of the Fit Tech program. I will pretty much be at school or work Monday thru Friday while still fitting CrossFit into my schedule. And starting April 14th I will begin a 10k training program for the race I want to do this coming June. In other words, my postings may become far and few between, but I will NOT stop posting. I will make every effort to post, at least once a week to two weeks. It's a great stress release and allows me to share my thoughts!

Oh, and I achieved something today. Did my first WOD with Burpee Box Jumps and RX'd. Only had one mishap and managed not to hurt myself! :)

This photo was taken from Pinterest.

day 8 & 9/30: resting squats & measurements update

On day 8 of the resting squat challenge I was having some issues with my knees. I knew I wasn't 100% out of the pain zone, though I have been having many more good days. The act of squatting or doing lunges was too much and so I opted to refrain from the challenge on day 8. Today, day 9, I worked on my resting squat for a little bit. More to work on some stretching for my thighs and hips than anything else. Soreness has decreased some and I think I should be able to get back to working on my resting squats tomorrow. 

Today was my 5th appointment in getting my body fat percentage and measurements. With a couple of hiccups along the way I am still managing to shed some inches. Here is where I am after 10 weeks!

Body fat: 28.09% with a 0.97% loss

Neck: 13 inches with no change

Arm: 13.75 inches with a 0.25 inch loss

Forearm: 11 inches with a 0.25 inch gain

Chest: 40.25 inches with a 1.75 inch loss

Waist: 38 inches with a 1 inch loss

Hips: 45.75 inches with a 0.25 inch loss

Thigh: 24 inches with a 1 inch loss

Calf: 17 inches with no change

I am feeling pretty good. I think I will see even bigger losses in the coming weeks. I will keep you updated!

day 6 & 7/30: resting squat challenge & pr's

Last night my knees were pretty sore from all the pounding it's taken this past week. While at a sports bar checking out the Portland Timbers game, I finally had to stand up from my stool and just stand. I didn't get a lot of resting squat in yesterday but working on more of it today. The knees aren't as sore today either.

Yesterday while at the CF Open 14.2

At home after an Olympic Weightlifting class & Tabata Sit-ups

Every Sunday I attend an Olympic Weightlifting class at my box to fine tune the movements. We work on Snatches, Cleans, and Jerks. Today I managed to PR on my Clean & Jerk. My snatches are getting better too! And on Friday, while doing the CF Open 14.2, I PR on the OHS. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you put your mind to it!

day 4/30: resting squat challenge & the first step to my new road

I've made it to day 4 of the resting squat challenge, and even as I type this I am squatting. I am experiencing no pain in the knees and my ankles aren't feeling strained. However, I can only hold the resting squat for about 3 to 5 minutes at a time before my legs get tingly. This is still an enormous improvement from my first go around of the challenge. I'm still using a heel support as well but some moments I will squat without heel support and let my heels hang so that the ankles can get some stretch in them. I have been working on mobility in my ankles as I know they are pretty tight.

Took a minute at work to squat.

As for my first step to my new road is with the change of my work schedule. Today was my last day at Lula Health Center, a bittersweet day. I will miss the ladies I worked with tremendously as they are all very talented and have big hearts! I will now only be working at one job while attending school. I am very fortunate to continue to have an awesome boss that is willing to be flexible with my work schedule so that I can attend school at the maximum hours possible. I'm ready for my new adventure to begin!

day 3/30: resting squat challenge & understanding the snatch

Now I know I didn't do an accumulative 30 minutes of a resting squat today, I'm pretty sure it's more like 15, maybe 20 minutes. I have a great reason though, my legs are crazy sore! And it didn't help that in today's WOD we were working on a 1 heavy rep on power snatches and then snatches for 20-15-9. But here's the amazing thing, today I finally got a grip on the snatch. I haven't been able to get beyond a 55# power snatch and a 35# snatch. After attending an Olympic Weightlifting class at the gym on snatches and then tonights more in-depth breakdown, something in my head just clicked. The weight didn't feel as heavy as it normally does. My 1 heavy rep on the power snatch tonight was 75#, a PR! And after some practice on the snatches, I can comfortably do 35# (which is what I did within the WOD) but I know I can do 55#, it's just sloppy and I wanted to focus on technique tonight. I feel amazing! After the WOD tonight I had to complete my Tabata Squats for the the March challenge, so a few others who are in the challenge as well joined me for 4 minutes to get them done. I got 85, I am pleased with that number.

Anyway, after all that, I worked on my resting squat and I felt incredible. My hips are definitely opening up and my knees are feeling less strained/pained. They are exceptionally sore this evening but still functional! I am making progress!

Using 10# bumper plates under my heels.

day 2/30: resting squat challenge

So today I did not do a full 30 minutes of a resting squat. After yesterdays WOD and my constant knee issues, I was feeling far too sore and some slight knee pain to keep at it. Maybe I will make up for it tomorrow, we'll see how the knee feels. I do notice though that I am getting deeper in my squat and I don't instantly fall backwards when I don't use heel support. My ankles are regaining some mobility/flexibility. AWESOME!!

Squatting in jeans is a challenge!

day 1/30: resting squat challenge

So a while ago, not exactly sure how long ago, I joined a 30 day squat challenge. Every day you hold a resting squat for as long as you can for up to 30 minutes. I wasn't being very consistent with it so I decided to start the challenger over, today. In fact, I am finishing up my 30 minute squat as I type up this blog posting. It is kind of a weird position but it works. I highly recommend this challenge to anyone who has issues with squatting, because the truth is, there is NO reason why you can't squat. Check out the challenges Facebook page and give it a peak and a try. I promise you will be thankful you did!

Myself, working on my squat earlier today. 

a healing knee

I am going to play catch up today and get some posts done of thoughts that have been lingering in my head for some time now. If you recall I have been struggling with my knees for a while, especially the right one. It's been an off and on thing and only became worse when I began doing CrossFit. Now before you naysayers crack a smile and think I am blaming CrossFit for this, keep reading to see that I am not. If anything, CrossFit opened my issues to the underlying issues that I have either not noticed or ignored. When I picked up running in 2009 I had noticed some discomfort in my right knee almost immediately. I shrugged it off as the result of being overweight and that it will go away on its own after a while. And though my knee never experienced actual pain, it never really went away. And with most things that become constant, you become numb to it and forget that it is even bothering you. Fast forward to May of 2013, I start doing CrossFit. That nagging discomfort reared it's ugly head almost immediately. In the beginning everything I did was either modified or light, I wasn't pushing my body to it's limits yet. At first air squats were easy and manageable. I learned to do them wide legged so that I could actually do them. Then when I began doing thrusters, overhead squats, front squats, and especially heavy back squats, everything began to change. That discomfort turned into pain and there would be times I couldn't even do an air squat without my knee feeling like it would explode!

I feel very fortunate to have found the CrossFit box that I did. The coaches there are fantastic and have been very helpful with helping me figure out the causes of my pain and helping me come up with a mobility routine to help rectify the problem. It all came down to my squat. The question was, why wasn't I squatting correctly? Remember, it is not the squat that caused the pain, I had been dealing with knee issues long before I found CrossFit. It all came down to my mobility and flexibility. You'd be amazed how having tight hips and ankles can affect so many things in your life. So almost on a daily basis I go through a routine of stretching and mobility work on my ankles, calves, adductors, knees, hamstrings, quads, glutes, and hips. I don't ignore other areas of my body either, but I do spend a significant amount of time on my lower half. I've been at for 4 or so months now and let me tell you is hasn't been easy. If you've ever been injured at any capacity you know the healing roller coaster, where you begin to feel good for several days and then suddenly you feel like you took a million steps back. Too many people give up and not continue to push forward with their healing because they expect immediate results. Nothing heals over night.

I am happy to say that things have really begun to improve. My squat is looking AND feeling great. I have started to add some light weight on my squats and so far have been successful. I don't expect this to be the end of my knee issues but it is certainly gotten closer to the end. During this journey I have definitely learned some things and am continuously amazed with the human bodies capabilities. If you are having any issues with your squat, or just squatting in general, or maybe you know you have tight hips, check out the 30/30 Squat Challenge on Facebook. I'm not kidding, it will do wonders for you!

This photo was taken from Pinterest.