Booty Camp: Round 2 Jannah Pwns The Knees
Going back to Booty Camp was a hobble.
Week 1 had left me searching for my knee braces just to walk across the living room. I was in pain, limping and taking the stairs two feet at a time, very, very, very slowly.
So Tuesday morning as I was packing up my gear for that night’s class, even the thought of squats and jogging and deep knee bends made kind of queasy.
But I went! Sports bra, clean sneakers and all. (Though I did forget my water bottle again!)
I took it slow, low and not bouncy. Jannah encouraged me to push it a little further and then I saw a her have a moment.
To quote Groo “light bulb”.
All of a sudden her suggestions for alternatives weren’t just low impact, they were … well.. creative alternatives that kept all strain off my knees. Can’t do frog jumps, try high knees. Try using a chair instead of the floor in the Burpees (yes there is something called a Burpee and no I’m not talking about you Matthew). That was Tuesday.
After class we had a serious talk about options. I was a little concerned Jannah was going to bounce me from class. We talked about my time at physio and the stretches they had prescribed… and why I haven’t been doing them (no good reason). and Jannah recommended I do them immediately before class. My knees have been pretty good for the last 6 months and I didn’t expect to be this restricted in my movements. I feel bad for Jannah having to deal with this, but her response was clear – she’s worried about making sure I don’t injure or damage my knees further.
But more importantly than that, after Tuesday’s class I had NO PAIN. Okay, not really no pain because there’s always some grinding and stuff, but no new pain. No aggravation and the problems from the previous Thursday started easing up. By this Thursday, I didn’t even wear my knee brace. Oh sure I wore it in class, I’m not stupid. But after class I took it off and cycled home.
Thursday she came to the class with even more creative options and they are all working.
Can’t skip the rope, do a couple of wall push ups and 2 jumping jacks. Woo hoo! Hurts to jump back and forth across the yoga mat, do a sumo kind of high knee thingie with arms… Right on!
Seriously, woo hoo! Heart rate up, muscles being worked all over my body, and I’m actually keeping up with the rest of the class. Today I even finished a set and wasn’t absolutely the last person. It’s not a competition, but it still feels bad to be the one who keeps everyone else waiting.
And I’m even starting to feel like I fit in. A couple of people are making jokes with me about “mat time” or is it “nap time”… but more telling is that tonight one of my fellow campers told me “you shouldn’t apologise, ever.” And like all my friends eventually do, they’ve started to tell me to sop apologising. Obviously they are getting to know the real me.