Training Around Injuries with Christine Panella

Guest Christine Panella talks about  her experience training around injuries and how to keep a positive mindset. 

If your struggling with nagging injuries or have been battling through some aches and pains, then tune in to hear Christine share the following: 

A) Listen to her story of training around/through injuries
B) Learn from her experience when to rest and when to push it. 
C) Gain tips on how to lower intensity but still get a good workout in. 

Transcript

0:01

Welcome to the finish site podcast. We are back and I'm excited. I have an awesome guest with me today. I'm going to let her to introduce herself, but she is a client of mine. And we met before that she's been a member at Lakeland athletic club where I work and, awesome person. So I'm gonna allow Christine to share a little bit about herself and yeah, well, Hey, everyone happy to be here. I'm excited to be a part of this. And we had my first official podcast a little bit, a little bit about myself. I may come out here a little bit, but I am from Wisconsin. So you may hear my accent, but I grew up in the Midwest and what's interesting is I grew up kind of around fitness. I was always, my brother was not some athletes and he's listening to this again. A little show. Um, I've always appreciated watching sports, but never something I thought was really for me. Um, interesting enough. I come from the industry though of serving those clients. So it's, I know how important it is and I know how awesome it is, but it was more of a, Hey, I want to help people better themselves. And I never really made a priority for myself. So that was a big piece of moving to Florida coming here and really wanting to hone in on, you know, maybe I'm not going to be. Top athlete, but I really want to start taking care of my body in a way that allows me to move until I'm 80 years old and able to get out of that rocking chair when I'm hanging around my family or any of that. Yeah, let me, let me, uh, let's start real quick. So your, your, you know, right in which is awesome. Um, so you did move from Wisconsin down here. Tell us a little bit about what you do because you don't work. You don't work at the gym. Well, you do help out at the gym part-time but your main job that provides your means is what sure. I came from the collegiate recreation field. So I worked at both, some pretty big institutions. So I was at UWA, Madison and athletics, and I was at Purdue university and records. And from there, I've actually transitioned over into the training and education shot side of the software that we utilize. So I train new clients on a software that helps the recreation center. So very interesting, going from a, on the feet operations member services type role to more behind a computer, working a lot more with clients on zoom. So primarily work from home. And then I travel to clients usually about one week, every month. So super awesome job. Yeah. So, you, you've kind of made some travels. What is some of your fitness background? What got you started in fitness. Oh, and by the way, everybody we're recording this at the gym. So if you hear. Some thunder in the back that's people dropping barbells. So don't be alarmed. Um, what got you started in fitness? Like, was it like orange theory? Did you start doing the gyms at the, at the campuses that you worked at? Like, what was it that got you in? Sure. Oddly enough, while I loved all my previous roles, the more time you spent there working the less time you maybe wanted to spend there working out, but I did get into Les mills. Purdue. So if anyone's familiar with Les mills, that's a very, like, you kind of follow the same pattern of work every week. We're going to like the same class. So it was a lot of high volume, little barbells that were 10 pounds and you put little plates on it. And I thought that I. Super cool. Then oddly enough, what got me into CrossFit? My significant other Nick, he was big into CrossFit. I always talked about it and I was like, knowing, heck, is that ever going to be me? Like I am not athlete. I can't put a bar over my head. That sounds like a liability. Just having me in here. Everybody got started in, cross it with a friend who like evangelize them the CrossFit. But my favorite story to tell is I went by myself at a gym back home in a kind of mock Wisconsin. I went back and I went, yeah. And I didn't tell anyone. I said, I can't tell Nick I'm going. I just want to try crossing myself. I went a few times and I called him after a couple of days there. I said, you'll never believe what I've been doing this week or what I did today. And he goes, tripped over your own two feet. I said, just the opposite. I have been doing CrossFit this week and he couldn't believe it. And since that time I really got hooked into it. I really haven't looked back now. I put a barbell over my head. I don't feel as silly as I once thought I was. So that's awesome. Nick would be proud. Nick is also a coach here and it's just like a great, great dude. She's got a good boyfriend. So shout out to Nick, so you went into CrossFit, you moved down here. That's kind of where we met. Cause I coached some of the CrossFit classes here and. Tell me a little bit about your experience going in coming here. Getting started did that for how long? A couple months, maybe a year. And then just a little bit of transition, kind of starting to work with me. Why you did that. And then we'll go from there on, on some of the other cool stuff that we're going to talk about. Sure. For me, I did CrossFit classes, I would say about seven to nine months in total. I did a little bit back in Indiana and then a little bit here and I've always been very gracious to her. Knowledgeable coaches. Safety was always a top concern. And I know sometimes the CrossFit world can get that rap of people. Maybe aren't paying attention, but I've always been blessed. I had a lot of great guidance from coaches, but I think at some point you feel a little bit stuck. At least in my scenario, I didn't play college athletics. So I didn't have that background of being in a gym and knowing this is my squat, this, and am I lifting enough? And for me it was, becomes almost unfair for the coaches in the class where it's like, Hey. I need you to pay attention to me this entire time. And I want to focus like that's a lot to expect of a coach that's trying to manage maybe 10 to 12 of their athletes, for sure. So for me, why I started to look out like personal programming, the benefits. And I think safety is a concern of me. Again, I talk about wanting to move my body for a long time. We'll have to do that. We have to take care of it in a good manner. And then second was going to be, I had goals of, you know, still reaching it, but doing a polo, something where I want to be able to do a pull up. And I had some various specific goals that, yeah, you work on it a little bit in class and you can put in the time after. But for me, I felt a little lost because I didn't have. Knowledge or background really on what should I be working on? Or, you know, I know where my laps are, but how can I make sure I'm engaging them? And where is that and what movements support that. So I didn't want to get lost in the Googling transition world of trying to engage your labs. Like I wanted to work with someone that knew, like, has that knowledge knows what they're doing is going to make sure I'm, you know, I can come to them as a soundboard. Yeah, I don't like this movement. Can you help me? Yep. Here's another one. We'll try versus playing that game of looking at what everyone else's doing on the internet. Yeah. So you've, it was, you loved class, enjoyed people. I remember one of the things, when we met you were, you were a little hesitant and you're like, Hey, what is this thing you're doing with this personal programming? And I was explaining it to you. And like, one of your biggest fears was. If I do this, am I not going to have like, friends to work out with anymore? And I was trying to convince them like, no, like you're just, you're going to be doing your workout. And like in between you can still have community and friends. Was I right on that? Or was that we didn't lose, we didn't lose our friends. But I totally get that. But if you know, the truth is, is that you, I know you you're extremely motivated person. If you meet Christine and person, she's extremely talented and very, very motivated. Um, so that's like a perfect person for, you know, remote coaching and a lot of ways because it's lay out a plan, ask good questions, and then go hit it hard. But as we know, like we've been, I think training with me about five months now. Like there has been some up and downs. Would you want to share some of those? I was just going to say it talking about Christine's been great. I was like, oh little, do they know? What's interesting. So I started in December of 2021 and I remember thinking I'm going to give this. I turned 30 in April. So I said, I'm going to give us my 30th birthday. I'm scared of working out alone. And what I thought alone meant I was nervous, but I was like, I'm going to give it I'm dedicating to this amount of time. I'll tell you now, there's just, I'm not looking back at all. I'm moving forward, but then it was interesting where it's some health really started to play in for me of things just kind of popping up in my life. So it's, you know, I think I'm a year into my job working remotely at a computer and I'm getting what the doctors at chiropractors call technic. So I'm kind of my body's being challenged in different ways outside of the gym. And then I also am working out in the gym. So what I love about. While we talked about all of that. You always said the whole time. You're like, okay, if you have a lot of stress in your life, let's not come here and stress your body more. And I think that was really awesome. You helped me with that, but there was some things still, some answers we don't have to, and it's really hard when you're going through that and you know, inside, Hey, I know I don't feel right, but the doctors are like, well, I don't know what to tell you. Or, you know, you don't really get answers. So I think that was hard for me when I started to, I got excited. We're programming all these cool complexes and I'm working on stuff I'm getting towards that pull up and then you start to hit. Some of those roadblocks were really mentally challenged in that way of, Hey, this is really hard to get over. Maybe I should just give up or maybe this isn't for me. And I think that's really easy and I'll be honest. I had those days where I was like, you know what, maybe this isn't for me, maybe this wasn't in the plan for my life, but I think that's hard. And that's where your mindset really comes into play. We out inside or outside the gym, no matter what you're facing. It's been injury where I have this motivation, but now I have this roadblock where I kind of need to get, come back a little bit from, and yeah. Yeah. So like a little bit more context for the, for the listeners too. That was really well said. Uh, you know, I've kind of said this earlier, Christine's extremely motivated. And like once you get after it, and one of the big things in our console when we first started was like, I really wanted to master, like, pull-ups like, I can't get a pull off is huge. And so we're doing a lot of these progressions, to, to kind of get a pull ups. And you were noticing like, man, just tightness in my traps, tightness in my neck. And I just thought, man, that's weird. Like maybe she's extremely trapped, trapped, dominant. Yeah. We're trying to feel that in our lats, which if, you know, if you don't know where that is more on the side of your body, not on your neck. And, and so you were going to doctors and had some kind of these issues and we were having a long, there was like a long, was it three months maybe that we were, we were, you were going to doctors trying to figure out what's going on here. And we're having like dizzy spells and all kinds of things. And so there were multiple weeks where we were kind of revamping and pulling back and then had hotel because you travel. I'm telling you guys, this girl is busy. But like, tell me a little bit about that. Like some of the, like the traveling workouts and then some of the workouts we had to pull back a modify and just kind of like, what was that experience like? Did you feel like quitting? What kept you going? You know, what, what was beneficial and kind of pulling back and things that you look back and say, man, I did that really well, or I wish I had done. Sure. Wow. That's it. That's a loaded question. I love it. I think for me, your writer's about three months. And I remember first I felt like a huge pain of a client. I thought, oh, I'm sure Blake's I don't want me to get this client. I can just write this for far. It's going to be great. And every other week I was like, Hey, I had another migraine. I'm taking this medication and back. So, so bless him. I always say blessed. Hanging in with me, not even through my injury, but through the tough times of like we talked about with pull-ups, I wrote down tears and cheers. That's how I think of when I think of my pull up journey. Some days you're so frustrated and you know, my neck would hurt. I'm like, no, I just want to cry. And other days I'm cheering because I could hold over the bar for 10 seconds or whatever. But, for, guess the modifications we made, when I think about that, I think of how easy you made it for me when I could say, you know, Hey. My next really bothering me, my muscles are super tight. And for anyone that knows me know I'm more of a proactive, I like to be proactive. So I'm, you know, seeing a chiropractor, seeing a massage therapist, I'm not big on just taking medicine to band-aid over an injury or anything in that regard. So for me, it was more of, oh, don't do this again. I'm playing the long game in life is what I call it. So for me, I was doing. Everything I could. I mean, I think I gave blood out of each arm every week for six weeks. I have to look back at my, uh, medical bills for me. It was hard to go through that and still be motivated to train. But I think that part of it, when you have your personal programming is, you know, like Blake is making something for me, that is just that it's for me. So he understands, Hey, I'm going through this at the doctors right now. Hey, I'm really stressed about this. So it was. Just come in here and take your mind off things. And I remember that's when you started giving me some of those like longer workouts where it was that sustained game of just 40 minutes. I want you to come in here and row and just kind of move and do sweat move. Yup. No heavy lifting, you know, boxed up ups, things like that. And I needed that because I think too. When you put those really like quick workouts for me, you're like, Hey, why don't you give it my all, like, then I'm more in my head and I'm trying to push through it. So I think that really helped me. I remember this specific week after I got back from traveling, I was in Texas and I remember that week. It was really hard for me. It was six out. It was probably two months ago now, but you had given me three workouts really long, had some rowing, some biking. And I just remember coming in here and being like, this is what I needed to get through it. Because at that point I had my second emergency room visit with. 45 days. And I really felt defeated because I knew I wasn't. Okay. But nobody could figure out what was wrong. Yeah. I mean, we, we went from like thinking maybe it was blood clots to like, I don't know, maybe oh, like a seizure. They were like throwing everything out. I mean, the neurology. And I think it was scary. It was, it was very emotional, very scary. And, um, yeah, I, I remember like you coming in every other weekend, it was like a new diagnosis and then I'm like researching some of these things. Like I've never heard of that. Uh, you know, like, and, um, and I just remember also though, like to give you kudos, like it was, there were some times where it was like, so discouraged. Um, and so frustrating where we thought maybe we're making some headway here and then it felt like another week of just cash, this dizziness I'm lethargic. I have no energy, which is just not like her at all. Um, and, and, and just, yeah, just explain a little bit to. Well, what was your mental state to get through some of that? Like, what were some of the things that you leaned on that were really good? What were some of like the things that maybe you did that were not so good if you want, if you don't mind sharing, like maybe it was like, I've been Jane a lot because I was so mad. I don't know. Like, that's probably what I would have done, but yeah, go for it. And we want to know you, we get that chapter. For me, what got me through. I would say I was, I mean, I was really out of a routine. I'm typically very good with my sleep. I'm a grandma, I'm in bed by eight 30. I'm up by four 30. I, that totally went to whack when I was stressing out a lot. So for me, I kind of lost that. I stay very hydrated throughout time, so that's always a good thing, but I think the eating portion, it was like, okay, I can't go as hard in the gym. I need to. Pull back on that. So I think then it's like, okay, let's make sure we're cooking at home or eating. Right. Like that to me, like, I just think that opens up a different element where if I was limited physically, I needed to push something into my life then that I could focus on because I couldn't push myself physically. So when I travel for work, I have some ground rules for myself. Uh, no sugar, the least, I mean, I think fruit stuff, but I'm not like no donuts, no cookies, no ice cream. I have a sweet tooth. So when I travel, none of the. Um, I also don't allow myself to eat fried food. Typically don't even when I don't travel, but when I travel, it just stresses my body out enough, especially if I'm going to the west coast while I love visiting out there, three hours behind really throws off my circadian rhythm. So I have some of those. And then the last one is move every day. So I remember one week when I was you'd give me a hotel workouts, I wasn't feeling great. And for me it was just, I go on a walk, I get on a bike. I'm not lifting a weight or, you know, pushing myself to the max. If I could go back. Maybe change. One thing I think I would have allowed myself to have more rest days. I think for me, it was really hard. I typically take two a week. And then when I was kind of battling some of that sickness, I was just more of a, I'm just going to like come in here. And that was not, you know, I'm sure you looked at me like, what, why were you in math? But I just wanted to come in. And it was like, I went swimming at the pool. Like I wanted to do something to move my body. And really, I think I probably should have taken maybe two more days off a week or something to allow it to relax. No, that's great. I can resonate with that a lot as I think a competitor in people like you're extremely competitive and work and just, you're a motivated person and a go-getter like think people that are a little bit built, more like that tend to need to be pulled back versus like encouraged input. I'll have two different types of clients and it's okay. Because both, I love working with both. Right. But like, there are people who need to be pulled back and they're people who need to be pushed a little bit and you're definitely wanting to, needs to be pulled back. And I can resonate with that. Like when I hurt my back this last three months, like I, I did exactly what you do. Like, I'm like, no rest A's you got to keep moving. Like Mo motion is lotion. You know, movement is medicine. You know, I'm like quoting all this stuff to myself and I'm like stretching more than I ever stretch. And I'm doing all this stuff. And it was like the only thing that really healed it was taking a three, four day just rest and arrest them. And I kept walking. Um, but, I quit trying to move through the motions and like, say like, oh, we can move this into fixing it. Um, yes and no. Right? Like some things for sure. Other things you got to pull back and you got to listen to your body. And that's another great question I have for you. Like. In this process, what were some ways that you like could listen to your body? And we're like, this is a great sign that I need to pull back. And what were some of like, maybe like I could push it here and I was going to be okay. Like, did you feel like you got a good barometer on the, in the last five months because you had a lot of practice at this, as I say, I've lived the tested with it. I think hearing from. And, you know, doctors all said something different. So some people were like, don't work out at all. Don't move, don't do anything. And for me, bless my parents. I feel like growing up, he told me not to do something. I want to do it more or less them, but, and I think too, some doctors were like, well, move a little bit. I think it's still good to get that blood flowing. And especially they talked a little bit about it. Is it a clot? You should move, you can't be staying. So I think for them. I really got more cautious with them. And I started having migraines. So I never had a migraine till I was 29 and a half years old. And it was the vision goes, it was the whole nine yards and it scared me the first few times it happened. So I think for me, I really started to listen to my body cues more so. Is really rough to be instilled like I'm in a pretty dark season. Still have it. I think now I feel like when I'm working out, as soon as I start to feel like a little bit of lightheadedness or like my vision gets a little Dotty for me, it's like, I'm done, like, I'm putting the weight down, I'm going to walk, I'm going to do something to kind of bring my heart rate back if it was skyrocketed, but I don't mess with that anymore. And before I think I'd be like, well, whatever, that's fine. If I throw up whatever that wasn't. Much more cautious, just knowing and talking to, again, I've talked to a lot of different doctors, whether it's a specialist, whether it's a chiropractor, whether it's a massage therapist, a rehab, like I've talked to so many people, I, I trust and I've gotten the opinions of where it's, they know my goal is to move. So I can, you know, a couple of days ago for the podcast and get the update, but I. You know, I'm getting more restrictions of lifting weights and not gonna be touching a barbell for six to eight weeks. And I remember I told you that two days ago I had tears in my eyes and I was, it was hard. I had a really rough day on Wednesday with it, but I had tears in my eyes to be like, not again for everyone. We're in a really fun strength cycle right now. So it is very hard for me to have. Set that aside. It is, it is really, it's been really challenging because most of the things that you get you going, I know as your coach, like we're going to be restricted on for awhile. And so like, I think the cool part of people getting to listen to this is like, this is like raw right now. Like we're, we are just still in the process of kind of going through this together and trying to think about how do we do this? What are some of the things that you would say, You know, that are giving you some hope right now you talked about eight to six weeks from now, like in the tears and stuff, but what are you hoping to be at say July and, and kind of like hoping to see and feel and what are some, what are some of the things the doctors are saying and explain that stress. I think the hope is when you said this to me the other day, you probably didn't know it at the time. And it meant a lot to me, but I remember telling you, and I said, well, what are we going to do? I love lifting weights. Now they're telling me I can't do that for just a little bit amount of time until I heal. And I remember you saying you were like, don't worry. I can still make your fitness fun and we're still gonna make it hard, but we're going to do it in a safe way. And then when I saw you yesterday, you're like, well, I've already looked into it when I was looking at this machine and doing this motion and like, we can't load your spine. So it's almost like you were already taking care of me in that moment and you didn't know it so that while it sounds cheesy and corny, that it was the truth though. And I told my mom this, I said, look, if. We have a great community here at Lakeland athletic club. But I was worried that if I was doing class right now and I didn't maybe have that person to give me that inspiration of like, Hey, I'm going to write all your workouts for you. You don't have to think about it. You're gonna be able to do these and feel safe and not have to worry about the modifications. I would be worried that I may not be coming into the gym as much with this restriction being into play from my car, like from my chiropractor saying, Hey. Don't lift weights. I think it'd be harder for me if I didn't have somebody helping me though, personally, like Megan, I have goals. I want to reach, but now it's, I have criteria. I need to stay within to not get scolded. So for me, that gave a lot of hope. And then in July, let's say I'm for reference. I have a protrusion of a disc and a bulging was something going on in my neck, whatever the MRI stated. I would think I need to heal that because I mean, some days I roll over and my upper back is just stiff and I just, I want to be comfortable all the time and I still have a goal. I'm still getting my pull up in 20, 22 people. So I will be back. Yeah. We'll work on other ways to, to build that. But I think for July. Which we dig it like to pull up? I didn't, yes, I did. I was excited. I do. We even have videos. We have, so we got proof. We got proof, but we're getting, we're going to go for more when we get healed. So I think July, hopefully to look back at adding some strength back in is that's awesome. Thanks for sharing that. I think one thing that I'll share too, just like from a coach's perspective, like, so coaches are like, I think I S I think I can speak for all coaches when I said it's like, we tend to want to be more controlling and like, no, wait, we know we got the plan, right. We got this plan. And I think one of the things that, that you and a couple other clients that I've gotten to have the privilege of just being, becoming friends with and coaching. That coaching really is a back and forth relationship and that, like good programming. Does it mean that the coach figures it all out? It means that the good that the coaches interacting with the client to get feedback and like learning like, Hey, I think this is really great. Here's the principles why I put this year and explaining that. And then you giving feedback, actually this one really still bothers my neck. And like, I'm still feeling this here and, and not getting frustrated, but like looking at that and saying like, oh, this is. The feedback I'm learning here. This is what I want for my clients. I want a relationship. And that's what that's kind of what makes this different than class, but also like different than Peloton or like anything else, right? It's it is a, it's an ongoing relationship that's focused on trying to help the client get to where they want to go. So well, do you have any closing remarks for today or. Anything that you would encourage somebody who's maybe going through some, some tough times in their training, coming back from an injury I would say just have a good mindset with that. I mean, that's anything in life, but for me, I think it'd be really easy to just throw in the towel and say, you know what, maybe fitness isn't for me, maybe I need to focus on something else in life. But I think it's just more of being flexible with the approach to it. And for me getting personal programming for only five months, I've gained so much knowledge to. Different movements, how my body reacts. Why am I hindering? Why? Like, I love learning all of that. So two, if you've never stepped foot in the fitness world and maybe listening to this podcast is a good start for you. I would just encourage you. Like, don't be afraid because we all kind of start somewhere and we all get there at different lengths of time. Different routes we take there. So my journey is still continuing. We're taking a few, uh, uh, pills and curves and whatnot, but we'll get there. I'll let you know when we hit the finish line. Yeah. Maybe we'll do like a follow-up podcast in a couple months and let people know how it goes and then how the story ends. So, um, just to clarify. We are members at Lakeland athletic club. We love being here. It's an awesome community. we offer classes here, we offer personal training and we also do this, like this hybrid gym. We have remote coaching, which is what we're talking about here. So for some of you who are listening outside of our gym and don't know that that's, that's what we're talking. Um, and some people go in and out of those things, and we just want to be a gym, kind of like a Swiss army knife, gym, where we kind of have a little bit of all of it, right? Yeah. And so if you're interested in those things, you know, please, hit us up and let us know. All right, well, yeah, we'll do this again. Maybe in the near future peace.