Building muscle tone & resting

Hi Gabrielle,

Thanks so very much for your reply and help!!! I did as you said and took a few days off (feeling pretty guilty, yes) and have been allowing myself some more in-between days. I must say, it really helped. My body did recover during those days off, although the next time I went I again was pretty sore the next day.

I’ve also been trying to figure what’s hurting me. I think partly, it’s just building muscle strength that I lacked in my arms, legs, shoulders. However, I also think I’ve got some issues with my lower back. My lower and middle back hurt like crazy during the first backbend (half moon pose), although my teacher’s do say I am doing the bend right. I wake up the next day with incredible stiffness in my back. I now also feel it when I’m in the wind-removing pose, when I have both of my legs up, and I wiggle around a bit I can feel sweet pain in the muscles in my back. My teacher here has been telling me to go get a massage, so I’ll try that, but I now wonder if the soreness in my back is also part of an alignment problem?

I realize it’s hard for you to shed light on this situation just by reading my vague descriptions 🙂 but thanks so much for your advice already. More listening to my body, less pushing. 🙂

Have a wonderful day!
Namaste!
Anna

Hi Gabrielle, everyone,

Thank you for your responses and sorry for my late reply. I was on holiday for a week, during which I did some sun salutations in the hotel room, but no bikram. Returning to class was pretty brutal (it felt like the first time again, even though I was only gone for little over a week), but I’ve noticed that taking one or two days off does help. Usually the 1st day after class, I’ll be really sore, but the next day it’s pretty much over (or def. not as bad). It’s never happened that I took a class and did NOT wake up with sore muscles. Is that just me or is that the same for everyone?

Thank you so much and have a beautiful day!
Namaste!
Anna Denise

Hey Gabrielle,

There’s a couple of things I’ve noticed during class

– There seems to be an imbalance in my hips. My hip on the left side is much less flexible than the one of the right. In wind removing pose I can get my right knee to touch my shoulder, but my left knee isn’t even close (it feels like there’s something ‘stuck’ in the hip joint). I feel it also in triangle pose and very much in half moon (I can stretch down a lot on the right side, not at all on the left).

– I’m naturally very flexible, also in the knees (fixed firm is a chilling posture for me), and it’s difficult for me not to sink too far into some of the poses (again, really struggling with triangle). My knee will not ‘lock’ in the traditional sense (I’m slightly double jointed in my arms and legs) and will keep shifting around, but am working hard to lock it in the bikram way.

– I seem to still lack some of the strength to protect my joints properly. Engaging my triceps and the muscles in my thights is still very tiring. Also, my back still hurts in the back bends and I’m working on not falling too far backwards, but on keeping myself ‘up’ by engaging my leg and hip muscles.

Could it be that I am working on fixing some alignment / core strength issues and a lack of strength and that this is why my muscles are always so sore?

I eat pretty healthily I’d say- lots of veggies and fruits, although in the past I’ve had to take protein supplements because of a deficiency. I haven’t had my levels checked out recently, but this could be something to think about.

Hmmm… I’m not sure if any of these things have anything to do with me always being sore, but these are some things I’ve noticed in class.
Thanks again Gabrielle and I apologize if any of these things I described are too vague for you to conclude anything about my situation. I’m saving up for a private class with one of our teachers here, cause there’s never any time to ask these things during or after class (or I’ll forget with being so tired and all).

Thank you so much for this forum and for all your hard work in giving everyone advice. I really, really appreciate it!
Anna Denise

Hey Gabrielle.

So, I wanted to give you a little update on the situation. Actually, most of the crazy muscle pains have gone away. I still have it sometimes when I do two or three days in a row, but I’m trying to listen to my body more and take one or two days off when I feel too strained. This helps a lot and I feel like I am getting stronger. Seems going from no exercise to a LOT of bikram all of a sudden was just a big shock to the system?

As for the backbending and the difference in the hips – that didn’t really change yet.
In the backbends, I’ve been trying to focus more on how I set up the backbends and really tighten up my legs, hips and belly before lifting the chest and then moving back, but I feel like I need to be very careful, still. It seems there’s one vertebra (is that what it’s called?) in my back that is giving me trouble. It’s always the exact same spot on the right side of my spine. The muscles around it cramp too much the day after I’ve sunk too deep into the back bend. I don’t think it’s an actual injury (yet), but I think perhaps I should go see my gp to have it checked out? Or could it simply be from doing the pose wrong?

As for locking the knee, I try to lock it by pushing the knee back as far as possible and then pulling up my knee cap by engaging the… quadriceps? (sorry, I don’t know all the English words for the muscles). I mean the big muscles on top of your upper leg. This works and makes the leg cramp quite a bit, so I think I’m doing it correctly now? It just never really ‘locks’ as I’ve heard other people describe it. I can still move my knee in this position, I just try not to.

Thanks again for all your help and advice. I really appreciate it and am very grateful for the existence of this forum!
Love, Anna Denise