It keeps happening

[Leego]

God. At this point, I am literally asking both the NFR community and God, am I doing something wrong? Because it seems like every time I try to do something to prepare my body and help it, it just hurts me more, instead.

 

I do warm-up sets with squats. I get to the actual set, and I end up finding myself not having enough strength and balance to push up from the bottom of the squat, and I go tumbling back.

 

I do warm-up sets with squats the next time, and I hurt my left knee on the warm-up set with nothing but the bar.

 

I try to do calf and leg stretches to help my sore left knee and shin, and my shin ends up feeling stiff and sore for the remainder of the night, AND my left knee still hurts a little.

 

Now it's been about two weeks since I've been to the gym, and I'm still feeling soreness in the left side in the center of my left shin, and the left side of my left knee.

 

I would put ice on it, but then that means I would have to empty out all of the ice trays and hold a bag of ice to my leg and knee all day, which I can't do. I would take medication to help whatever's going on get fixed, but I can't do that, either. I would lay down all day and just rest my legs, but I can't do that at home because of all the chores and housework I find myself doing for two hours, and when I'm back in school, I've got to carry a backpack full of books to and across campus all day. Also, I feel like shit when I do nothing physical all day.

 

I did try elevating my feet or knees last night, though. I think it helped some.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

I'm sorry you're having such a rough time, it's disheartening to face so many obstacles so close together. Keep at it, you may need a different strategy but that doesn't mean there is something wrong with you or what you've tried, it just means you have extra challenges to find out what is effective for you.

Maybe you're trying to do too much too soon. Maybe you should start with the beginner body weight work out.

[Leego]

Well, actually, that's what I was thinking of doing, is bodyweight workouts. And since I don't really like the idea of doing anything that I can't effectively do in certain living conditions, and never really liked the idea of putting a bunch of weight on my back and then squatting with it, I might just stick with bodyweight training. I don't even care about being the strongest, as long as I lose weight, and have enough strength to handle myself and take care of others. I don't even care about having big muscles anymore.

 

I've finally decided to stop being stubborn and just prop my left knee up and put ice on it...even though I may have to refill ice trays a LOT to keep the supply coming. I still try to do stretches, in hopes that it will help whatever's in my knee recover, but I'm worried about whether or not if it's doing some good, or more harm.

 

For what it's worth, I'm now able to do bodyweight squats without knee pain, but I haven't tried to go past 10 yet.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Start small. It's better to go slow at first than get really hurt and go nowhere.

[Leego]

Well, with bodyweight training, I kind of have to start small, and with weightlifting, I thought I was starting small.

 

I may have overdone it on the treadmill, though. I didn't hurt myself on the treadmill, but I wouldn't be surprised if running treadmill intervals for 1 hour and 1/2 and reaching speeds up to 7.0 mph when I weigh 280 lbs didn't help any soreness or injuries I may have.

 

Got just a liiiiitle too zealous about running fast and burning calories...now I'm not running anywhere for a bit. D:

[EmbracingChaos]

When I have to ice something I use frozen vegetable bags from the freezer. They mold to cover the area, don't need refilled, can be thrown back in the freezer when done, and hey, you should already have them around. If not, get some vegetables and eat them, you know you should

[redpuma]

Whoa. That's some pretty intense interval work you did on the treadmill - you must really enjoy running! I like running, but discovered the hard way that it isn't for me. I mean, my knees gave me trouble that I tried to ignore, and then it took me a couple of months to repair enough to do barbell squats again.

I hope that you pay attention to your pain and ice that thing. You'll be up and running* soon enough.

 

*or squatting

[Leego]

Well, thank you! I really don't know if I like running or not. I know it's a form of stress release, when I usually do it. I do want to get better at it for freedom's sake.

 

I can't sprint as easily in my backyard because the terrain's so uneven, plus it feels oddly silly running around the yard, sometimes. Other times, I don't care.

 

As for the treadmill, it's just an easy, passive way for me to rack up interval times while keeping track of calorie burn, and being able to easily use my blue tooth to listen to music while I run. I hardly ever get bored on the treadmill, although I never liked how unnatural it felt.

 

So, I'm gonna try what EmbracingChaos suggested, because it sounds like an ingenious alternative to using ice.