From Really Smart To Really Dumb

Workout date: 8/19/15

I've been dreading writing this blog post.  And maybe it will be nothing.  But tonight I experienced my first injury scare since I've been doing Crossfit.  I've had plenty of bumps and bruises, spilled lots of blood, even had a sore shoulder and a sore knee from time to time.  Those have caused me to take the occasional day off.  I've been extremely lucky over the course of the past two and a half years to have had nothing worse than that.  We'll see how today's scare plays out.

Tonight I went to open strength to do my 6x6 back squat routine with 235 pounds and things seemed to be going well.  At least things went well once I got to the gym.  Traffic on 202 was a nightmare and as a result it took about a half-hour to get to the gym.  I had planned on doing clean pulls and back squats before taking on today's WOD, but the delay forced me to push off the clean pulls until another day.

Open strength was in the annex and it was a nice change going into a cooler, less-packed space to work out.  The regular strength crew tends to leave the lights off in the annex, working with the sunlight that pours through the windows and the door.  It makes the room considerably cooler than the main gym, something a sweaty guy like me can appreciate.

While Leslie, Christine, Jim and Jess C went about their business, I set up my rack for back squats.  I did my usual warmup with 135 and 185 pounds, but since each of my sets were going to be 6 reps today, I did 6 reps for my warmup sets as well.  I had no trouble with either of those sets.  Once I got to 235, I became more deliberate with my reps, but I was still moving fluidly.  In fact, after my third set, I turned to Leslie and asked if she saw anything wrong with my form.  She couldn't come up with anything.  I wasn't rocking in my feet at all.  Things were good.

Until my 4th set.  The first three reps were fine and I thought this set was going to be similar to the first three.  However, when I reached the bottom of my 4th rep, I felt some tightness in my lower back.  I stood up with the barbell and even finished my last two reps.  But I could tell something was wrong.  I decided to take a few extra minutes before attempting my 5th set.  In the meantime, I did some light stretching.  When I felt ready to test my back, I walked over to the barbell and pulled it off the rack.  It didn't feel wonderful.  I began to lower in my squat and felt a twinge.  It wasn't extremely painful, but I knew to bail the weight at that moment.

I was pretty certain my day was over at that point, but I decided to take another few minutes stretching out before throwing in the towel.  My next set of squats would be of the air variety.  As I did a couple, the twinge was still there.  If it hurt with 0 pounds on my back, adding 235 pounds was pure folly.  So for once, I tried to do the smart thing and went no further.  I also went online and canceled my sign-in for the 6:30 class.  I'd rather sit out a day or two than be stubborn and miss several weeks at the gym.

I went over to the main gym to let Doctor Coach Sommelier Giulz know that I wouldn't be able to do the 6:30 class with her.  It was a bummer because it had wall balls, toes-to-bar, hand release push-ups, and bar muscle-ups.  It was one of those workouts that I thought I might be good at, but had I attempted it, I probably would have found out that I sucked at it.  Oh well.  Giulz asked me about how I was feeling and recommended that I get a box to help me relieve the pressure off my lower back.  She explained how I should lay to alleviate the pain.  I went over, grabbed a box, and laid on top of it with my knees up in the air like a dog waiting for someone to rub his belly.  It didn't seem like the pain in my back was being relieved laying in this position.  Quite the opposite really.  After a minute or so of laying like this, Giulz asked me what the hell I was doing while trying not to laugh.  Apparently I was supposed to be laying on the ground with my legs up on top of the box.  No wonder people skeptically ask about my alma mater.

My biggest concern tonight has been that I will wake up with a very stiff back tomorrow morning and not be able to move around.  That would be awful.  I've been doing a variety of things to try and keep that from happening.  How I feel in the morning will help me decide if I want to work out over the next few days.  Hopefully the recent onslaught of blog posts will keep my loyal readers satisfied in case I need to recover for a while.

Keep your fingers crossed that I feel better tomorrow!  If I'm up to it, perhaps there will be rope climbs, farmer carries, and rowing in store for me.