Color Me Fit: weight loss, fitness, exercise

Two months ago, I hurt my knee. While exercising. On the elliptical machine, no less. Now, putting aside the stupidity of the whole event and the fact that I’m a real klutz who probably shouldn’t even touch a fitness machine with a 10-feet pole, I suffered a slight tendinitis on the left knee for more than six weeks, which didn’t prevent me from exercising at all, yet put a serious damp on some of my weight lifting abilities, namely squats and the legs press.

I’ve never been an exercise person. While I didn’t deeply disliked physical education classes when I was younger, I never really was at ease in them, and certain types of activities would make me try to find every possible excuse to skip them. Swimming teachers probably wondered how came that I was either having a cold or having my period all month long for three months in a row. Gym teachers probably also wondered why I always needed to go to the bathroom ten times in a one-hour session, and why I was the only one willing to watch and note down the progress of other pupils, while I never was climbing on anything myself. Oh, there were a few sports that I liked, such as volley-ball, yet I must admit it: if I had any opportunity at not attending the Ph.Ed. class, I was always seizing it.

Back to nowadays an to my knee injury… I discovered with a certain astonishment that I hated every minute of it. I hated sitting on the leg press and realizing that I still couldn’t lift a meager 10 kilograms of plates without my knee hurting again. I hated feeling it hurting even on the stational bike or ellipitical machine. I hated hurting in the morning, when I would walk down the stairs with my legs still wobbly from a night of sleep. And I hated not even being able to squat to give a belly rub to my dog! I was feeling diminished, impaired, useless. When ten years ago, I would have loved handling a parents-signed sheet to my teacher, stating that I couldn’t attend the Ph. Ed. class due to a tendinitis, now I was only feeling resentful toward… nothing in particular, just that it had happened, I guess.

My knee is better, now. Today, I was even able to lift 15 kgs on the leg press (I’m not forcing it too much yet, in case of), and this made me happy. Soon this will be completely over, and I’ll make appropriate progress in weight-lifting again, perhaps even attempt at using free weights instead of the machines.

I’m still astonished, though, to see that such an exercise-reluctant person could actually like and even miss it. This is a very positive evolution in my mindset, really. A very positive one.

- Kery