Day 11

JANE: I’ve been at this for almost two weeks now and it’s beginning to be fun! I can see little bite size pieces of progress which is very rewarding. The stretches are familiar for me because they are similar to yoga stretches – child’s pose with extended arms, cobra, child’s pose arms to either side, cobra etc; shoulder stretches lying on my tummy/side; kneeling lunges followed by hamstring stretches.

The strengthening exercises were interesting today, adding the weight was challenging and attempting to squat whilst holding the weight was tricky. I have always had tight hips and this last year or two have had trouble with my left hip causing me to drag my left foot and not really be able to bend my left knee or walk properly on that leg. That does seem to be slowly shifting as I reported in previous blogs, but there is still a long way to go.

It is that hip that makes doing the step-ups (known to proper CrossFitters as ‘box jumps’) really challenging as to do the movement of actually lifting my left leg high off the ground is no longer natural or instinctual. Instead I really have to work at telling my foot and leg to pick itself off the ground and consciously focus on making that happen, then watch and follow it to see if it is doing what I am asking it to do.

The other thing that makes doing step-ups/box jumps challenging is that when my body starts to heat-up it my legs get weaker and more numb. This isn’t too bad at the moment, and hopefully that will change over time. There are also cooling vests and bands I can experiment with which I will if/when the time comes.

That is a classic example of what it’s like living with Multiple Sclerosis for me where there is numbness or weakness. It is that there is no intuition anymore between my brain and body and instead it is up to me to make that happen. Sometimes it is possible, but usually it is only partially possible due to nerve damage and an actual disconnect between the two.

Stretch Routine

Warm up+ 3 sets of 10 Flutter kicks

Strength

Dumbell Squats 5-3-2

MS WOD DAY 11 (5 rounds +14)

7 Min AMRAP

5 Box Jumps

5 Pushups

6 Lunges

TAVIS: We are at the point where we are seeing progress everyday even if it’s just a little bit. With every work out Jane is gaining more confidence.

When I was in 2D Recon BN we did a ridiculous amount of flutter kicks and I remember them really strengthening your hip flexors as well as abs, so I added those to the menu today. Jane did them quite well so I think they will become a part of our regular warm up.

For the strength exercise today she did dumbbell squats for the first time using weight. We started out with just a 10lbs KB and we are still using the step stool for her bottom support position. We increased the weight from 10 to 20 and then finally 26lbs for just 2 reps and she did great!

When she started the actual WOD I could tell she didn’t think she would get through very many rounds and within 2 rounds I saw a complete shift in her mindset, she got into a rhythm and pushed through the WOD, it was awesome to watch!