Dumbbell Abuse

It began as a twinge in my left thigh, a slight ache. I ignored it. My workout consisted of chest presses and triceps’ extensions, all upper body buff stuff. My thigh wasn’t involved.

I was wrong.  I involved my thigh. The next day, the ache turned into excruciating pain when I bent forward in any way. Getting into the car yielded screams of pain and getting out of the car, nothing.

I could sit, stand, stretch my left leg out flat with no problems, but bending down caused shooting pain up and down my leg. To top it off, I had no idea how I pulled that muscle.  That muscle being the vastis intermedialis according to my personal trainer.  Yes, it vastly hurts intermittently for sure.

I’m a gym rat so considering how much time I spend there, I actually have few injuries. I mysteriously injured my knee on an elliptical trainer machine about 5 years ago. Then about 6 months ago, I strained another thigh muscle. No clue on the name of that one. My trainer fixed that in 5 days with special stretching exercises.

An article in the online edition of men’s fitness says injuries at the gym are up 35%. The most vulnerable bits for men and women are ankles, knees, back, and shoulder. No thighs. Well, I am the odd man out, aren’t I?

Flipping through more learned articles on injuries yielded a few differences between men and women. Men tend to attempt to lift too much weight. I give the men at the gym who resemble a mini-Hercules a wide berth. They lift huge weights testing their mettle and often suddenly drop them. Warning signs include a beet red face and clenched teeth.

Women wear ridiculous shoes, like high heels and then ballet flats. Those kill your knees and your feet. At my age, I just settle for unfashionable or I use my secret weapon, special inserts.

How did I injure my thigh? The only thing which comes to mind is carrying 40lbs of weight while getting up or laying down on the bench. I’ve dead lifted 150lbs yet simply picking up 40lb wrong is deadlier.

I still cannot bend over at the waist.  I squat or stick my left leg out behind me as I bend over. It’s a minor annoyance at this point. I wonder which bits of me I’ll manage to injure next. Given my record, it’s not likely to be the most vulnerable parts.

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