A new player entered the game (maybe a bit too quickly..)

[Elerinna]

Hi there

 

I'm 26, I moved to England on my own a year and a half ago, starting a brand new life in a hippie town.
One of my main hobby is LARP (Live Action Roleplaying Game) and it is after a LARP last March that I decided to start exercising and live a healthier life.

I started by doing pushups and planks every morning during 3 months, increasing the reps and holding time progressively. Two months ago I started to eat better and joined my local gym for its fitness classes. I really liked the classes and I started with 3 a week but rapidly ended up doing 5 classes (Ketllecise, Bootcamp, HardCore, Boxercise, Circuit & Abs). I've been keeping this rhytm of 4 to 5 classes a week + morning workout since. I feel stronger, more energised, I'm thinner and fitter than ever before.

But now I'm wondering if I've been overdoing it...
Everything was perfectly fine until I went swimming a week ago. It was a relaxed and gentle swim but my shoulders are not insanely happy since. I can also sometimes "feel" my knee joints, no pain, but I just feel them.

 

I'm panicking at the idea to cut workouts but I really don't want to damage my body...
I don't know if it's the best place to ask this but I really need your advice.

[Sciread77]

welcome!

First off:  I'm not a doctor, and I'd scarcely say that we can definitely diagnose anything over the Internet.  I would pose a few more questions to you, because I'm not terribly familiar with your routine.  Do you do pulling exercises to balance those push ups?  What was your activity level before decided to get fit?  How fit were you?  Do you swim often?  Did you perform any unusual movements during that swimming period?  How much rest do you give muscle groups between intense training sessions?  Have you been losing interest or motivation in any of your activities, or going through the motions instead of giving it your all?

You may be overtraining, or perhaps you aren't used to a movement from the swimming session.  Perhaps you pulled, strained, or tore something.  You could have an overuse injury.  It's hard to know without really knowing more.  There are a lot of possibilities.  If you think you could be overtraining, it doesn't hurt to back off for a week or two and see if anything improves.

[Elerinna]

Thank you for your answer
Yes I do pulling exercises during Kettlercise and circuit classes. Before I started the only exercise I did was walking 40mn a day, I was quite fit for somebody that doesn't do a lot. No I very rarely swim. No unusual movement, just regular breaststroke. I don't rest a lot between sessions because my classes are Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday. I haven't been losing interest or motivation and I give my best every time, although I'm upset that in most classes the instructor doesn't correct our positions at all, and doing a lot is much more encouraged than doing it right (I'm trying to research as much as I can on internet to get positions right). 

[Tialoredron]

Welcome to the Rebellion Elerinna!

 

My advice as a non-doctor would be to go see an actual doctor.  Working out extra hard and/or back to back sessions every day could be putting undue stress on your body and we have no insights to help remedy that.  It'd be much better long term to get checked out, scale back the intensity/frequency of the workouts, and progress "slower" than it would to maintain the current pace, have a hard break/injury and lose the progress you had worked so hard to gain and start over if/when you recovered. Ideally, go see a doctor before the next workout.

 

For the instructor wanting more rather than good form, I would consider finding a different instructor as well unless they are literally the only ones on the block.  If they are the only one, hold yourself to a higher standard with proper form and reduced weight/reps until you feel ready to increase the weight/reps.  Assuming you are paying for the instructor, the contract should be between the instructor and you that you are at their class to improve yourself physically safely.  If you feel that your safety and/or well being is being compromised I would highly encourage stepping away from the contract; again it's better to progress slowly and consistently than to do too much and injure yourself as it usually takes longer to recover from injury.

[Sciread77]

I'll second all the above. Shoulder pain could be soreness from a new motion, especially if you've gone from breaststroke to freestyle, butterfly, or backstroke. BUT. I'd see a physician rather than content yourself with the brainstorming of some yahoos on the internet. And instead of web research, which tends to have little middle ground between "you're fine" and "cancer."  

 

Your intense workout schedule with little-to-no time off make me wonder if you're getting adequate recovery time as well. Too much exercise with too little recovery time can cause your muscles to continually break down, and will prevent you from achieving the proper intensity in any of your classes. What are your actual goals?

 

I'd pull back and figure out what's going on with your body, then ease back in. I was working out pretty intensely in 2012, and in pretty good shape. I started feeling a lot of pain and went to the doctor. I was diagnosed with autoimmune arthritis, and it's taken me years to get back on track. I'm glad I saw a doctor right away*, though, because it would take even longer I'd waited. 

 

*Not bragging on my part, my wife was the voice of reason there. She's a smart lady. 

[Elerinna]

Thank you for your advice. 

Seing a Doctor where I live is a pain, they will send you away most of the time unless you appear physically ill. So I'll think I might slow down to see if that makes a difference and if not fight my way to a doctor ^^
 

Unfortunately I don't have a lot of instructor choices. But I think I'll drop Bootcamp, because we have no options concerning weights. It's "here is a weight, here is an exercise, do that for 1mn" no matter our level of fitness. 
For the rest of the classes I'll do reduced weight/reps in proper form as you recommended Tialoredron. 
Hopefully my body will thank me and stop feeling weird 

Sciread my goal when I started was pretty vague "I want to get fitter". Now I want to be able to maintain a good level of fitness in the long term, I'd also like to become stronger, without loosing flexibility. (And I'm going to start a new adventure in September: Longsword fighting  )

[Sciread77]

As you focus your goals, you should be able to hone your activity to support progress in those areas. Certain goals are close to mutually exclusive or can only make progress in limited cases, like building muscle and losing fat at the same time.  I'd think gaining strength while maintaining flexibility or minimizing loss of flexibility is doable, though.

 

Longsword fighting sounds awesome!

[Nadoriel]

Hey! I'm 27 and I moved to UK 4 years ago. 

 

BTW I used to train a lot strength training and eventually I also started experiencing elbow to shoulder pain/burn. 

 

I went to see a GP which basically told me to drop strength training and then a chiropractor who basically told me I really needed to give a rest to my shoulders. Everything else I could do. 

 

After a year of resting, my shoulder is a lot better now. I don't feel that burning pain any more. The chiropractor also helped loads. 

[Elerinna]

Hi Nadoriel! Where in England?

I'm away on holidays for 5 days so no gym classes (but I'll probably hide in the bathroom to do some planks and pushups, the thought of no workouts at all for 5 days freaks me out). I''ll see how I feel afterwards.
But looking back at those past two months I probaly did many things with bad posture, so changing that might help. Also having real rest days (without workouts at home) is probably a thing I should force myself into.

[Nadoriel]

Yes!! rest days are important, proper rest days!!

 

Portsmouth, south of UK ^^

[Jon, Destroyer of Mice]

When you say your shoulders are unhappy, what does that mean? Are they stiff, do they hurt, where do they hurt, what's your ROM, etc?

Even real doctors would need that information

My advice would be (for the time being) cut back the push-ups a little and replace with some get ups or rotating planks to isolate the shoulders. Remember (even during push-ups) to keep your shoulders retracted (down and back). This keeps the force where it should be when pushing (and away from where it shouldn't) and helps activate more of your pectoralis major.

[Elerinna]

They hurt, not masively but more like a dull pain around the articulation (sorry it's vague, but it's difficult to locate), even when I don't move (it seems to be worse while sitting at my desk).
Yes I'm cutting back push ups a little. I haven't paid attention on keeping the shoulders retracted, from now on I will.

 

(I've been on holidays a few days and my shoulders felt a lot better. Hit the gym yesterday, today the pain is back but very lightly.)

[PayShi]

Hey Elerinna,

 

Sorry you are having pain. I am a Nurse but I can't offer medical advice obviously for many reasons. I would recommend however perhaps seeing a doctor and a Physical Therapist (or even at least talk to them.) Since it seems to be issues like when your joints, muscles, and such... they are experts on that stuff and may be able to point out more clues.

 

I did have a similar issue about a year ago when I started briskly walking on the treadmill. My knee began hurting like crrraazzy. I went and saw my doctor and she diagnosed me with Patella Tracking disorder (very common in women due to how our body is shaped, and because I am fat Haha) which essentially means the IT band pulls the knee cap to the side because the muscle on the other side is too weak. I would've never known had I not gone.

 

Also, try RICE. Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation where you can for temporary pain relief. So after workouts, apply ice to those sore spots... rest up, and maybe elevate your extremities.

 

Best of luck and look forwarding to hearing more. =)

 

Thanks,

PayShi

[Blethan]

Hey! I'm 25 and in England too! I'm not quite as active as you ,but that's something Im planning on changing.

Hope you're feeling better after some rest!


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[Elerinna]

Less planking, less pushups, my shoulders are way better now, no more pain. I'll carry on taking it easy for the moment and then increase slowly and see if it goes wrong again.

Whereabout in England Blethan?