I started 'formally' working out again. My fitness chica, Casey, went with me to my physical therapy appointment to learn what I could and couldn't do. She customized my workout to fit my situation. My situation being... no chest/pec workout with added exercises to stretch my 'node damaged' zone. Casey made me cheat sheets- so when everyone is doing push ups, I'm doing 'xyz' to work my back muscles. Other than that I'm good to go.
But I'm not good to go. I can't keep up in class. I don't really expect to. But I wish I could. I wish I could pickup where I left off.
I didn't keep up 'before' B.C. either. Casey runs a hard-ass workout. She has t-shirts that read "my warm up is harder than your workout" and... that's true. But 'before' I was getting strong. Strong for a 43 year old totally out-of-shape chubby mama. I had mastered jumping onto the tall box. I could actually run up the dreaded hill. I EVEN liked going to workout which was HUGE for me. I also say that working out so hard helped me discover my lump. [more on that and even more here].
Today I went to my kickboxing class. I couldn't pin point why I felt so frustrated. Over my cappuccino at my favorite cafe... it hit me. I expected to pick up where I left off. Where I left off during chemo. But I am no where near that.
So I adjusted my thinking... back a couple of months... then some more. Even then I had to go further back, back to my first workouts with Casey. Back to square one. I'm not sure I can even claim that level of fitness.
I need to accept that I'm back at the "43 year old out-of-shape chubby mama" level with cancer treatment taking it's toll.
It's one step forward...five steps back.