Footless Workout!

Don't let an injury stop you, figure out how to keep going safely.

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Even though I was on crutches for almost 3 months, in a boot for 2, and limped for another 2-3 months, I didn't stop. I was extremely careful in how I exercised based on my level of recovery but I stress the word, extremely. The last thing I wanted to do was inflict more pain and injury to myself.

For the first few weeks after my injury, which I got competing in the 2013 season competing on the TV show, American Ninja Warrior (yes, that is correct), I rested. I was in a lot of pain and just moving hurt. I had a lisfranc injury which is a severe injury to the bones and ligaments in to the middle of the foot. Two weeks after my "crash" into one of the platforms, I had surgery, and went home with some brand new shiny metals!.. in my foot. It was hard to wrap my brain around it at first. The last time I was injured I was 10.

How WAS I going to get cardio?
How WAS I going to work my whole body?
Would I ever be normal? (at least physically)
Would I be able to maintain all that I worked so hard on for all these years?
 
The only thing that made this all emotionally manageable was getting to tell people how I did it, and I'm not going to lie, it was fun telling the story. I became the "broken Ninja".  But as time went on, I began to see the whole recovery process as a brand new challenge! Crutching and hopping was my new cardio! And I figured out other ways to workout SAFELY and effectively. By the time I felt in the "normal zone" again, I had actually gotten smaller and leaner, something I never would have expected. I had been trying to do that for so long but it's hard to access yourself sometimes and it's always hard to break habits.

So it's March 2014 and other than some stiffness in the morning and when I run, I'm feeling great. It was both a challenge and experiment to see what my body and my mind were capable of and I'm proud to say, this experience actually moved me forward, not back.

So if you're injured, don't give up! Move the best and safest way you can, until you're back to "you" again.

-Heather

 

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