So yesterday after my workout I started to feel a sensation I've never felt before: Sciatic nerve pain. Actually it wasn't really a pain. More like an annoying tingle that went down the back of my left leg for the most part (and a little down my right). It doesn't feel like stretching a muscle. It's more like someone ran a string through my leg and started tugging on it from one end. There's a position you can get into to find out whether it's really sciatic pain or not. See what the woman below is doing? If it causes the sensation or pain, it's your sciatic nerve:
Anyway, it was more of an annoyance than anything else. Probably caused from stressing my lower back too much. I did some sciatic exercises and stretches I found online (including the one above) and it felt a bit better. I also took Advil for the first time during Insanity, but only to help as an anti-inflammatory. Later in the evening, I also applied some heat pad and did my usual back stretches. I felt fine when I went to bed.
When I woke up today, it was much better, but I took it a bit easy on the "hit the floor" and other back-intensive exercises today, doing some modifications instead (mostly cross-jacks and high knees) to keep my heart rate up. Today was my favorite workout: Max Interval Circuit. I burned 748 calories, maxed out at 164, and averaged 135. I'll admit I took it a bit easy because I didn't want to hurt myself, but I still got a great workout in and burned a lot of calories.
I'm starting to rethink whether I should just leap right into the next rotation of Insanity without taking a break. I am 42 years old and I've read a lot of good advice to "take a break and let your body heal", so I'll think about how I want to handle that. Perhaps I'll go running. Not sure yet. More to come.
If you're around my age, thinking about doing Insanity, and wondering if your body will take a beating, the answer is unequivocally YES. But that's no reason not to do it. The body will heal, even if it's a bit slower then when I was younger. The benefit of weight loss and muscle gain far outweighs the risks of injury in my opinion. I suppose that's a personal choice, and I made mine 2 months ago!
Still feel great overall and I'm looking forward to hitting day 60 tomorrow. Only 3 workouts and 1 Fit Test left to go. Woo hoo!
Anyway, it was more of an annoyance than anything else. Probably caused from stressing my lower back too much. I did some sciatic exercises and stretches I found online (including the one above) and it felt a bit better. I also took Advil for the first time during Insanity, but only to help as an anti-inflammatory. Later in the evening, I also applied some heat pad and did my usual back stretches. I felt fine when I went to bed.
When I woke up today, it was much better, but I took it a bit easy on the "hit the floor" and other back-intensive exercises today, doing some modifications instead (mostly cross-jacks and high knees) to keep my heart rate up. Today was my favorite workout: Max Interval Circuit. I burned 748 calories, maxed out at 164, and averaged 135. I'll admit I took it a bit easy because I didn't want to hurt myself, but I still got a great workout in and burned a lot of calories.
I'm starting to rethink whether I should just leap right into the next rotation of Insanity without taking a break. I am 42 years old and I've read a lot of good advice to "take a break and let your body heal", so I'll think about how I want to handle that. Perhaps I'll go running. Not sure yet. More to come.
If you're around my age, thinking about doing Insanity, and wondering if your body will take a beating, the answer is unequivocally YES. But that's no reason not to do it. The body will heal, even if it's a bit slower then when I was younger. The benefit of weight loss and muscle gain far outweighs the risks of injury in my opinion. I suppose that's a personal choice, and I made mine 2 months ago!
Still feel great overall and I'm looking forward to hitting day 60 tomorrow. Only 3 workouts and 1 Fit Test left to go. Woo hoo!
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