Bringing Stupid Back!

Yep, I'm bringing stupid back.  I know, I know - it never left, right?  Well, this morning I was working out at the gym, and I was using fairly heavy weights, because I do not believe that nonsense about women and light weights and toning.  Utter BS. However, let me add the caveat that if you are a woman in her mid-40's who has allowed her fitness to lapse and then tried to regain it, perhaps you should not be squatting with 120% of your body weight just a few weeks into resuming weight training. There's heavy and then there's stupid.

You already know this isn't going to end well, and sure enough, it didn't. I completed a repetition, thought, "Hmm. I'm feeling that rather more in my back than in my legs..." and then completed another rep. Why?  Because I had two more reps to go, and heaven forbid I don't finish the prescribed number of repetitions. The sky might fall in, and chaos would ensue, or something.  And on the last repetition, my lower back seized up.  So, I stood up as best I could, and cussed and whined a bit.

And then, of course I went immediately to the showers floor exercise area, where I proceeded to do walking lunges and box jumps.  Yes, my friends, I am afraid I did that.  Because I was just certain that it was just a severe twinge and it would go away if I kept moving.  Then I tried to go get on Jacob's Ladder and my back protested so loudly that I finally got the message and went to the showers.

Now I'm sitting at my desk with a heat wrap on my back, lamenting my own stupidity.  I was just getting to the point where I could do half-mile repeats at an 8:30 pace!! I have a half marathon in two weeks that I was hoping to PR.  Instead, I will have to slow down and go back through the rehab sequence again. Yay. Anybody know any good lower-back strengthening exercises?  Looks like I'm going to need 'em!