From nerd to Ninja Nerd!

[mizvalentine]

Hi everybody, thanks for this awesome forum. I came here looking for bodyweight exercises and advice on training to do pullups, but this community is really supportive and helpful. Sorry if this is long...

I've got a lot of injuries working against me, but I try not to let them stand in my way. I had two spinal fusions (neck to L3) in the early 90s due to scoliosis, then snapped both my ACLs (in the mosh pit...sigh!) in 1999 and 2000 (never had them repaired). I've always been a big girl (5'10", can palm a basketball, need a 7 5/8 hat!) and my weight has ranged from 165 to 240.

I've always loved weightlifting, yoga, and martial arts... I've been solidly weight training for 5 years or so, with some long breaks for aggravated injuries, mostly my knees and lower back (referred pain from my L4 and L5 discs below my fusion).

I've tried really hard to understand my own metabolism over the years. My body REALLY loves hovering around 210, and hangs on to weight for dear life. I've done everything from Atkins to diabetic-type diets to vegan to very low calorie diets...Atkins worked for a while, the rest made me fat. When I'm in the 165-175 range, its not only nearly impossible to get there (have to drop to 800 cals a day or so, which is impossible to maintain), I don't feel like I look or feel very good (even though that's the high end of the ideal range for my height). No doctor has ever taken this feeling seriously. I personally feel good around 180-190...I'm at 213-215ish right now and I'd like to get back down to 180. My bloodwork is perfect though.

On the plus side of diet...I started Paleo recently and it feels GREAT. I've never had a good relationship with bread/grains/beer/sugar and cut them mostly out years ago, so it hasn't been hard. Haven't lost a lick of weight but its only been a couple weeks. However I noticed immediately that I don't 'bonk' in the weight room like I used to... I've always felt like my blood sugar was all over the place and the only time I lose any weight is when I aggressively cut carbs. Paleo has been a great framework to stick with this.

On the plus side of fitness...my L4 and L5 discs got messed up this year after a 2500 mile solo camping adventure, so I've been in Physical Therapy since June and its been AWESOME. My PT has gotten me into bodyweight and stability exercises and isometrics which were totally new to me (I'd been more of a "I pick things up and put them down!" type before that). I'd dropped down to zero in the weight room after my injury but now I'm adding weight to my deads, squats and benches at an amazing pace. Still contending with pain and sciatica but I feel great overall.

I've made some awesome lifestyle changes in the past few months. I'm a web programmer by day but I'm a working musician by night, and limiting the beer, booze, crappy food, drama, STRESS and late nights that come with my 'night job' have been challenging. But its been worth it, because I feel more focused and happy than I've been in years. In addition, having to see pics of myself on stage is another great incentive--vanity works!

My next goals, then, are to keep with it and keep moving up. I couldn't do a plank before June, now I can do that and some pushups too. Pull ups are a huge goal. I'm fascinated by boxing and jiu-jitsu and want to try both. I'm driven to work on my stability problems, which are huge but improving (hard to be stable with no ACLs!) since they're the key to my pain management and avoiding surgery. I want to lose more fat and gain more muscle (latter's always been freakishly easy for me... the former is harder!). I'm down 25lbs since January but I'm stalled out, I want to figure out a way to keep it going.

Basically I want to be a well-trained, strong, focused ninja! Can't wait to try the next 6 week Challenge.