From Fat to Fit: Old Injuries, New Challenges

Many of my clients seek out personal training because they’re overweight. Christine is one of those clients, and over the next few months she’ll be sharing her progress with us. This post was originally published  in April 2013.

A few months ago I started experiencing a sharp pain in my lower back. An MRI revealed that I have three herniated discs in my lumbar spine, most likely from sitting at a computer for ten to twelve hours per day with bad posture. Fortunately, the pain dissipated and I hardly gave my injuries a second thought.

Naturally, I told Andrea about the herniated discs when I started personal training. She was extremely sensitive to it during our training sessions, and she frequently checked in with me to make sure the exercises weren’t triggering any pain.

Unfortunately, my back started hurting again this past week after yet another day spent glued to my computer. My first reaction was to assume that my personal training days were over. How could I do leg presses and planks and all the rest with my back failing me? The incredible thing is that this setback didn’t deter Andrea at all.

Personal Trainers Do That?!

Last Friday, we focused our session on the muscles in my core and back. Apparently, building a strong core—and engaging it while you’re sitting at a desk—is one of the best things you can to do to prevent and relieve back pain. Of course, you have to be careful that you don’t make things worse in the process. Andrea knew how to push me just enough to challenge me but not so much that it exacerbated the injury.

Andrea taught me a few stretches to do at home with an exercise ball and sent me links to dozens of stretches via email. I’ve been doing the exercises every few hours throughout my work day, and they’ve provided a great deal of relief. Andrea has also been really awesome about checking in with me via text to see how I’m feeling and to remind to keep my “belly button to spine.”

Where To From Here?

I’m not sure what my long-term plan is yet. I have an appointment with a specialist next week to get some more information. However, I do know that Andrea’s help has been invaluable so far, and I’m in awe of how much she knows about the human body and my injury in particular.

If you have a herniated disc or struggle with other conditions that require physical therapy, I highly recommend you schedule a consultation with Andrea. Even if you don’t, I emphatically recommend Andrea’s personal training services as a preventative measure. My poor physical shape made me more vulnerable to injury, and it’s quite likely that I could have prevented this (and naturally improved my posture) if I had been doing personal training before.

For more information about Andrea’s personal training services, please contact her here or at (888) 347-6852.