DDPYoga Update - When you get injured

First off, apologies, I see that I missed a week on the blog.

Didn't miss my workouts baby! Here's a quick summary of April's DDPYoga workouts:

4/1/2013	rest
4/2/2014	DC
4/3/2014	RHC
4/4/2014	rest
4/5/2014	Energy
4/6/2014	skype with Mark
4/7/2014	DC
4/9/2014	energy
4/10/2014	Standup
4/11/2014	rest
4/12/2014	Energy
4/13/2014	BTB

BUT! That's not all! I'm working with my accountability partner, Mark Furniss, and this month's challenge is to get my pushups pushing up and down. :)  So in addition to the above, for the first week, I was doing 30 second planks every day, plus 5 3 second wall pushups.  This week, I've been doing 40 second planks (and I've done a couple of 45-50 second planks) and 3-5 counter pushups, until Friday, when Mark changed it to 3 exploding pushups. I still need to do today's exploding pushup, but my plank came in at 46 seconds. Bang!

Now that the basics are out of the way, I have a topic that I really want to talk about here. Injuries. 

I have been an athlete for most of my life. When I was a kid I had 13 years of dance lessons, tap, ballet, jazz, even some acrobatics. I also figure skated- like 6 days a week. In addition, in junior high and high school I swam competitively. In high school, it extended to distance swimming, the 500 yard free was my race. The 100x4 free relay was a sprint for me. I gave up swimming in college, I have no idea why, but I still water skiied, snow skiied, figure skated. Later, after I had my son, I was less active but still walking 2-4 miles 3 or 4 times a week and roller blading with Josh, or biking with him. Our family has biked a LOT of miles together. 

I've summed this up for a reason. Up until the last few years, believe it or not, I never really had an injury! Never. I don't know *how* to deal with an injury. My first compulsion is to just stop, ice, and wait for it to heal, but you know what? I think that's wrong, based on research I've done and now, based on experience. I won't say that you should "push through the pain" because, honestly, I think that's stupid. What I am learning is exactly what DDP Yoga is all about. DO your workouts, but ADAPT and MODIFY positions to fit what you can do. If you can't do something, like a lunge (which I SO cannot do right now!), then kneel. If you can't lift your arms over your head, put them on your hip. If you can't do standing split because the floor is too far away, get a yoga block. In fact, get 2, so you have one for each hand. If your knees hurt when you are in a table position, get a gardening kneel pad and keep it nearby. Put it under your knees just when you need it, then toss it to the side for next time. If your feet hurt from plantar fasciitis, then invest in some minimalist tennis shoes and wear them when you work out. As DDP is very fond of saying "There's always someplace to go." Don't give up. It gets better.

Right now, I'm wrestling with plantar fasciitis and achilles tendinitis in my left foot. My right foot is about 95%. My left? Compared to normal? I'd say its at 60-65%. It hurts. I have K-tape on it, and I'm wearing my minimalist shoes for my workouts- at least the workouts where I am standing. I'm not giving up on the workouts, but I am listening to my body and modifying what I need to modify. Eventually, things will heal up and I'll be back at 100%, but for right now, rather than lose all the ground I've gained over the past months (Thank you Mark, you are the best accountability partner I could ever ask for), I'm making modifications and owning my life and my workouts. 

If you are doing DDP Yoga, and you need to modify things, you should visit TeamDDPYoga and look at the scads of videos. Arthur Boorman, who is a disabled veteran has a ton of videos on modifying just about everything. Really, there is NO reason to give up. Stick with it, do the work, and get healthy and strong.

Bang!