Starting Again From Scratch.

[Stonie]

Hello again, wonderful rebellion. Gosh, it's been a while since I was here!

 

My name is Stoney and I need help. Mostly, a kick up the pants so I don't fall into a mental abyss of doing-nothingness.

 

I left the rebellion last year after I finally felt comfortable in the real world, keeping up a healthy lifestyle and balancing being on the local Roller Derby team, going to the gym a few days a week, and working 40 hours a week on my feet in one of the local cafes. I was meal prepping, being awesome at my job, finally getting better as a derby player, getting enough sleep and generally kicking butt. 

 

So why am I back?

 

Well, I broke my ankle. 11 days into January this year I stacked it at the skate park rolling backwards up a slight incline and snapped it in two places. Talk about ticking things off the bucket list! First skate park visit, first bone break, first hospital visit, first surgery... It was a fun week in hospital. Being forced to keep weight off one of my legs for 6 weeks basically took away all of the things that made me, well, me. No more working, no more derby, no more gym. Can't even drive a car (right ankle broken) so unless someone takes pity on me I am housebound. 

 

Going from that amount of activity to doing sweet FA has really thrown me for a loop. Coupled with the inability to sleep properly thanks to a moonboot strapped to my leg and I have completely lost my carefully crafted routine. I was really starting to enjoy my routine! For the first week at home I moped. To be fair I was also in a bit of pain and on some hard drugs for the pain of having 8 screws and a metal plate inserted into my leg so there's that... Plenty of napping and not a lot else.

 

Week 2 and I gained a knee scooter so I am now a bit more mobile, but it doesn't help my wanting to go do things, like food shopping or drive my car or go to the gym. And I still can't weight bear so most exercises are out of the question. Doing basic household tasks are 12x harder then they should be. I ended up with a gym membership originally because being at the gym motivated me to do exercise more then being at home, knowing I could do stuff but choosing not to.

 

But now I have no choice. After my 2-week post-op appointment and I got to see my leg for the first time since the break I knew I had to do something. My calf was deflated, bruised, and swollen all at once. I've already lost an inch off my immobile right calf and as a roller derby player who loves her legs it scares the crap out of me. I can't let the rest of my body deflate like that so it's exercise at home or turn into custard. 

 

This is where you guys come in.

 

Because I have a bad track record of motivating myself and keeping up new habits like this I'm back on the forums to set some goals and hopefully stop the rest of my mind and body turning to jelly while I'm stuck at home twiddling my thumbs, waiting for my ankle to heal. 

 

My plan for now is to start right back at the beginning and work up. I've picked 5 basic bodyweight exercises I can do without the use of my right leg, and I'm going to do them every day. I started yesterday, on the 1st of February, with 1 rep of 1-leg pushups, tricep dips, and clamshells. I'm also throwing in a few core holds in 5 second increments - supermans and v-ups. Every day I'm gonna add a rep / time. It won't take very long for the first week or so, and it will get me back into the habit. I hope. If I fail a number of reps I'll take a rest day the next day and continue after that. 

 

My other plan is to generally look after myself while I'm here at home doing nothing. Might as well enjoy the break (haha) from everything while it lasts. I'm not doing much else but play video games and be on the computer, so I need to do so responsibly. 10 minutes break for every hour of technologising. And stretching / warming up before every exercise routine. 

 

My long-term goals right now are to walk like a normal person again, get back on skates and skate a full training session, get back into the gym, get back on my derby team and play a full bout. If I can do those things then I'll be as close to back-to-normal as I can possibly be. My surgeon said I might never get 100% movement back in my ankle so it's going to be a long road back to the derby track, but I reckon I can do it. I just need a kick up the pants occasionally. 

 

 

TL;DR;

 

Roller Derby player, broke ankle, went from very physically active to non-weight-bearing and housebound. Hate it. Gonna do exercise. Help me. 

[Guzzi]

Aw man, you have no idea how much I feel for you right now. I have been there, done that, and got the t-shirt.  I also managed to fall off the healthy eating wagon, I t was around Christmas too so there was tons of opportunities to eat crap.  I put back on over half of what I'd worked so ward to lose too. 

 

Im glad you've got this place to help keep you sane, lol!  It's a long, slow process getting back to full fitness but you can do it! It's all about keeping yourself mentally fit right now because it really messes with your head when you can't do things for yourself, let alone do the thing you love. Good luck and I will see you around the forum.  

[Stonie]

Thanks Guzzi ^.^ The first few weeks were hard. Unsurprisingly, as soon as I started doing exercise again my outlook improved considerably. I completely underestimated how big a part fitness played in my life. 

[Guzzi]

It's like dominos, huh?  You start exercising so you really start to think twice about this empty calories, then you start to see improvements and you start feeling good about yourself, you start thinking about you diet and how you could improve it... it all adds up.