Stuck

I woke up this morning with an incredibly stiff neck. I couldn't move my neck or shoulders at all. It was SO painful. I must have slept on it wrong ...

It was so annoying, because once again it felt like an obstacle/set back ... something that wouldn't make the day go as planned.

I took my time leaving the house, hoping that just moving around a little would warm up my body and loosen my neck muscle up. Over time it eased up a little, but it was still stiff.

I made it to the gym by 9 a.m., and I guess my stiff neck was really noticeable because everyone asked what was wrong. I have to say, my neck may have been stuck, but my posture was perfect all day!

I didn't want to attempt weights with my neck like that so I headed to the cross-trainer. I finished 1 hour (4.96 miles - wish I had made it to 5!!) and then did one set of squats. I know that placing the bar on the back of my neck seems strange, but I figured it was just a stiff neck, not an injury. Besides, it was only 3 sets of 15 (I completed it at 50 kg). I knew I could do the rest of the weights workout at home if my neck healed so I ended my workout at that point.

Luckily I had an acupuncture. I told my acupuncturist (who is also a physical therapist) about my neck - though I didn't need to say anything because she noticed something was wrong right away. She did some EMS (electrical muscle stimulation with needles) treatment and put some heat on my back/shoulder. It helped. She also gave me some neck stretching exercises to do to hopefully loosen it up. I really want the pain to be gone before I travel on Thursday!!

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So far the week has been good in terms of my workouts. It has felt great to get back into the gym.

Sunday:
1.5 hours of weights - it was a good lifting session
1 hour on the cross-trainer

Monday:
45 minutes on the treadmill, 25 of which was HIIT. I haven't done HIIT in a while and it felt awesome. I was happy to be able to pick up my speed quite a bit and work up a great sweat.
1 hour Body Balance class

Tuesday:
1 hour cross-trainer + 3 sets of squats (I didn't feel better so I didn't do anymore weights at night)