Trusting the process

[Harihead]

I had a success story/miracle at Camp Nerd Fitness. After working all last challenge to do a proper lunge, at the Basic Bodyweight workshop, Steve's buddy Taylor (who was assisting us) showed me how to do a "backwards" lunge-- that is, step back instead of forward. It helps to keep your bodyweight centered and take strain off the knee, which I injured weeks ago and still hasn't come all the way back. So I did the backwards lunge-- and I could do an advanced lunge with my hands over my head right away! It's a MIRACLE. So thanks so much, Taylor! I've passed your secret on to others with knee issues. I really appreciate it!

 

The next success story/miracle is equally spooky. I've been doing 5 simple exercises from yoga camp every day for the last 6 weeks as part of a "healing yoga" routine, designed to actually help my body get over some of its deep-seated issues. One of the exercises is "balance beam", where you kneel down and line up your front foot with your knee (like you're on a balance beam) and you try to balance. That's it. I could not do this exercise at all. I knelt next to the chair, and basically held onto the chair the entire time to keep from tipping over. (This is indicative of weak core muscles, I'm told.)

 

So, despite the fact that I saw no progress, I kept doing this exercise because it was my 30-day new habit challenge. By the end of the month, I could sorta kinda let go of the chair for a few seconds before grabbing it again to steady myself. Then, a couple of days ago-- the miracle. I tried to balance on my right knee, and I could. It was shaky, I could go maybe 5 seconds, rebalance, try again. My left knee, the injured one, is less stable. But from this point, improvement was rapid. Today, I was able to balance on both knees for about 1 minute-- that is to say, until I got bored, and voluntarily decided to end the exercise. 

 

I think it was somebody at Camp Nerd Fitness who said, your body hates not being able to do something. It finds it really annoying. So trying to balance on that knee was super irritating to my body. And I kept doing it! Finally, my body said, "OKAY! If you're going to be like that, I'm going to reroute some nerves and make it possible, because you are driving me crazy." And it did that. I doubled my time from 30 seconds yesterday to 1 minute today. After weeks of seeing nothing. 

 

It's a lesson in patience, and trusting the process. It's also a reminder that our bodies are absolutely amazing, and will take us beyond our expectations if we let them. 

 

So thank you, everyone at Camp Nerd Fitness and here on the forums, for sharing your wisdom and support. I wouldn't have been able to make these gains nearly so efficiently without you-- and you make it fun. Cheers. 

[kirstenanke]

Great story, thank you!! Constant stubborn perseverance is definitely the key which I have to remind myself often as I'm prone to being impatient and wanting 

instant result.

 

Well done you!!