You probably all know by now that I’ve been signed off rowing for a few weeks because of a shoulder injury. No need for sympathy: it was entirely self-inflicted. I could feel it crunching during a weights session but still carried on (fool).
Anyway, I’ve been learning a few lessons in humility as a result. I made it back to boot camp yesterday, but had to do a legs-only, adapted version along with all the others who had upper body issues… and suddenly I was pulled up short. I realised that I’d always looked on the people doing injury-induced variations on the class with a faint mixture of pity and superiority. No half-baked exercises for me – oh no – I was a 100% kinda girl. The biggest hand weights. The last to finish. The whole shebang.
Except that now I’m reduced to a mere 50%er. I had to stand there with my fun-sized, girl’s handweights and watch the others do endless press-ups as I lamely did a few more squats.
I wanted to tell everyone that the only reason I couldn’t do what they were doing was because I’d hurt myself doing HEAVY WEIGHTS. That I was just as hard as them. That I … ouch! In the end I was too busy watching my shoulder that I didn’t have breath or energy left over to proclaim my battle-scarred status.
So I’ve learned a bit of a lesson. From now on I shall try hard not to judge anyone for adapting their work-out, or doing fewer reps, or stopping when it starts to crunch. Maybe this injury is doing me good.
