This year has been such a challenge for me. Although, I started lifting weights last year, I wasn't really putting a lot of effort as I was scared I will hurt myself. But this year I am so happy to share that I have made so much progress.
I started lifting weights to lose weight. A friend of mine created a program for me to use for my goal. I followed the program and as I finally took lifting seriously, I didn't care about losing weight anymore. I wanted to grow muscles and get stronger instead. And so I did.
I looked for videos to correct my form and started back with lighter weights instead of ego lifting. But there are so many influencers nowadays saying different things, I didn't know who to believe. Still I kept trying and practiced what I saw and learned from the videos. Eventually I learned the correct form and what worked for me.
June this year, in an unfortunate event, I hurt my back while doing deadlift. I was so impatient I wanted to try if I could lift a much heavier weight. I had it checked a few days later and had to go through an MRI examination. It was found out I have a mild slipped disc. Although I had my back checked due what happened, I've already been suffering from back pain since my early 20s. So I think it just made my back worse during the workout. Either way, I had to undergo a rehabilitation for my back. I had physical therapy every Saturday for 5months. My therapist also helped checked my deadlift and squat form. I had to work on my core and quads to correct my pelvic posture as well. It was tough but still my therapist encouraged me to still workout but with caution and stop if I feel like I will hurt myself. Thanks so that I was able to slowly increase the weights I lift.
After about a week or two when I hurt my back, I was not sure if it was completely broken but I think I popped a rib - the right lowest part. I was doing leg press and tried to bring the weights closer to me. I heard it pop but didn't think any of it and continued with all of my sets. But when I finally stood I felt the pain. I didn't know if I should laugh or cry about how unlucky I am. I told my therapist and we both laughed at myself. For 2 weeks, it made my back therapy difficult and painful but I'm glad my therapist did not push me when I say that it's painful. I didn't get it checked though, the rib healed by itself which I'm thankful. But I couldn't cough, sneeze, sit properly, and even sleeping was difficult. When I stand, lay, raise my hand, twist my body I could feel something poking inside me, and I think it was the broken rib 😆😭 Just about anything was really hard, I just felt like I need to stay still so that I wouldn't feel any pain.
Still even after my injuries, I persevered. Everyday I look at myself and I feel like there weren't any progress at all. But when I look back at my workout logs from January this year until December, I have gotten a lot stronger than I've ever been. I kept a record of my measurements as well for comparison and although I don't see any changes, my record says otherwise.
Here is what my workout log looked like January this year versus this December.
You can see how much progress I made this year and I am very proud of it. You may have noticed but, yes, I focused more on my lower body. I have a wider upper body so I really focused on growing my lower body. But still, I did not neglect my upper body and still pushed myself.
Here's what my measurements are.
Weight:
February - 64kg
December - 69kg
Upper arm:
Before - 31cm
After - 33cm
Waist - well thankfully this remained consistent 😆:
Before - 88cm
After - 88cm
Hips:
Before - 98cm
After - 102cm
Thighs - this is by far has the most growth:
Before - 45cm
After - 56cm
There may not be much progress on my muscle growth overall but my strength has really improved. Being consistent and disciplined with my workouts has really contributed greatly.
This year was challenging but next year I aim to challenge myself more. I will continue to focus on my lower body growth but for my upper body I will focus more on strength. There are still so many workouts I want to try and I promised myself that I will definitely push myself next year.
If you ever feel like you see no progress at all, please keep going. I hope this will help motivate and inspire you with your workout. Remain consistent and keep on pushing yourself, you will thank yourself later on in life for doing it for yourself.
Thank you for reading and see you on my next blog.
Eating-Apple,
Apple
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