Day 43: Feeling MUCH better

Last night, I stopped in the local drug store to pick up a few necessities. Like a knee brace and a fancy wrap around ice pack. I stopped over to the pharmacist to ask him about the stiffness/pain that I've been having in my knees (mostly my left knee). He said two things - first, my assumption was correct, I'm making things worse because I'm overweight and that's one of the things that sucks about getting active as an overweight person. More motivation to stay active and lose the weight, I say! Second, I had asked him about herbal supplements for joint health and the like. He said some help more than others, but to use Ibuprofen for a about a week and see if that helps first.

So last night I took some Advil, and again this morning. I was going to take a break from exercising today, but after the Advil, then the knee brace I was feeling better. And on top of that, around 10 am (I know, way late, but I said I was planning to take a break!) my body started telling me that it needed to get some exercise, so I figured I'd try it.

I did lots of extra stretching. When I say lots, I mean I stretched for about 20 minutes before (as opposed to Jillian's normal 2.5 minutes) and another 30 minutes afterward. I'm sure that helped. Also, I wore the knee stabilizer. Can I just say that the thing is awesome! It totally kept my knee from moving side-to-side. I may get one for the other knee, although since I stabilized the one that was giving me more trouble, my other knee seems better as well. We'll see on that one.

Then on top of that, I was extra careful in any of the higher impact moves, or those that typically give me more trouble. Side-jacks, lunges, plank-jumps and the like. I really took it easy on my knees during those. I still got a great workout. If you do this, make sure you keep moving even if you have to modify the exercises. Like Jillian says during this one, you can make them as hard or as easy as you want to, just keep going.

After the workout, I did my post-workout stretching and I iced both knees for 20 minutes each. I may follow up with another 20 minute icing session on the one bad knee for good measure.

Needless to say, I feel great. I am now to the point where I need the daily exercise, and that also makes me feel great. Hopefully, I'll lose another inch or so after 7 days of part 2, but that's another 4 days away.