My Journey to Building Muscle

Spoiler — It’s a marathon, not a race.

Photo by Scott Webb on Unsplash

Why I felt the need to build muscle

I have grown up more interested in books rather than sports. I did walk a lot though — at least 45 minutes everyday to go to school. Once I started working, I’ve always had a desk job. That, books, and mobile phones proved to be a toxic mix for my posture. Still, I’ve always felt that my body was invincible… until a few years ago, I hurt my lower back trying to lift a heavy suitcase off an airport baggage carousel after a twelve hour flight…

Back then, I was living alone, and the pain and inconvenience of it all kind of hit me by surprise. At one point, I could not lift myself from the bed, and it honestly felt scary. And then, it came to the point that sitting down to work at my office desk became too painful. I went to see a traumatologist, had an X-ray and an MRI, then went back to see him again with the results— the only exercise he told me I could do in the meantime was walking — not gym, not running, not yoga. Finally, he prescribed me some physiotherapy sessions with heat and electric pulse therapy in the painful areas. It took a lot of patience, but I managed to go back to my normal lifestyle eventually. Only, every time I strained myself physically, that one area in my lower back sent pain signals to my brain.

I talked to people, I did some research and the consensus seemed to be — build muscle to protect your back and avoid injuries.

My smart scale kept telling me that my muscle ratio was insufficient, standard body fat ratio though was always more than the prescribed range. I’m not 100% sure about these smart scale readings, but it seemed a good idea to work to replace body fat with muscle. Other than for purely aesthetic reasons, stronger muscles would potentially prevent future back pain!

Enter CrossFit

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Fast forward to after Covid-19, where my fitness level decreased visibly and something drastic needed to be done. It was also a time when I wanted to expand my comfort zone, challenge myself and do something by myself for myself. I have always shied away from the weights section of the gym, but I have also seen with my own eyes how some friends’ bodies (guys, mostly) had transformed after joining CrossFit. Plus, they seemed to love it! So I bought into the hype and joined the box closest to my place! I’ve been going more or less two times a week for about a year now, minus some breaks over summer and Christmas.

Brutally honest CrossFit Experience

• The classes are mostly composed of younger, fitter people, with a mix of more men than women.
• Yes, I think my body did get slightly more muscular. But the thing is, once you stop for some time, the fat settles back in. Consistency is key!
• Lifting weights is all about technique. The one great thing I learnt is how to use your legs to lift heavy weights — and believe me, this is a really useful life lesson, for example for lifting my carry-on suitcase by myself into the overhead rack in a plane!
• After one year, I am still more or less consistently last in class — at the end they record your times, so I know! My competitive self has grown immune to this, because I know this is the best I can humanly do, and also that this was better than me sitting at home on the couch. I’ve grown comfortable to being last in class, finally!
• I still cannot do some of the exercises — hand stand, wall climb, strict pull up, rope climbing. Apparently, it’s because I still need to build strength in my arms. God knows when this will happen. The trainers are thankfully super patient with me and give me easier alternatives which I happily accept.
• Lifting weight is a truly satisfying activity. My record is far from impressive — on my good days I can lift up to 40 kgs. A lot of it is also in your mind, you have to push yourself each time to increase your load, thus your strength. Some days, I cannot be bothered to do that.
• Peer pressure is real. Classmates cheer for you to end workouts, but you can also feel pressurized to lift more than you can to match your mates. It happened to me one time — and man, my lower back did NOT like it!
• Personally I prefer body weight exercises — the chances of injury are much less. The cardio and endurance exercises I’ve been able to complete — I love squats, abs, and planks but I hate push ups and burpees.
• Kettle bells and me are NOT friends. I have not been able to master the kettle bell swing and it’s easy to hurt your wrist if you don’t do it well.
• I have kept at it so far mostly for the endorphins and self satisfaction I feel after a workout. According to the Mi Fit app, muscle ratio has not changed much, but I do spend an average of 350–400 calories per CrossFit class and my heart rate goes to Vo2 max (the volume of oxygen your body uses while exercising as hard as you can) a decent amount of time, so overall, that must be good for my heart and body.

Another Back Pain Episode

I had another lower back pain episode early this year. This time, I think it was caused by a series of stressful events last year, which included planning a wedding and a house move. I went back to the traumatologist, and went through all the process again — MRI, X-ray, then going back to see him with the results. Each time I told him that I was doing CrossFit, he frowned. He told me that swimming and Pilates were better exercises for my back. I went back to physiotherapy sessions, which this time included heat and massage therapy. The first time, I settled down happily face down onto the massage table, but to my surprise this kind of massage treatment included the physiotherapist applying force to certain nodes in my lower back that had tension. I could not see, but I swear that at some point, he shoved his elbow into my lower back to the point where I had tears in my eyes! Fortunately, and surprisingly, afterwards I felt that this alleviated the back pain. Anyway, the physiotherapist also frowned when I told him I was still doing CrossFit, and he started listing the merits of Pilates, which is much safer for someone with back pain.

He said that the purpose of Pilates was not to lose weight, but to build internal muscles, and that helped to protect from injury.

Enter Pilates

Photo by Nature Zen on Unsplash

Thoroughly brainwashed by both the traumatologist and the physiotherapist, I found a Pilates class close to my home and registered for one class a week and have been going for a few months now. This class is Pilates with machines and it is nothing like I have ever done before.

Brutally Honest Pilates Experience

• Pilates is damn hard. I thought I was quite flexible, but the class made me realise I’m not! It’s made up of slow movements that help you to stretch parts of your body you never knew existed!
• The composition of this class is mostly older women, and most of them have had some sort of injury, and their doctors advised them to start Pilates.
• The class is small, so we get personal teacher attention. The teacher comes to correct each person’s posture, and that feels quite nice, especially for someone like me who almost always gets it wrong.
• This kind of Pilates class has machines that support your movements, so it is almost impossible to fall down or have an injury. That’s the most important advantage of Pilates with machines for me. Other props we use is a ball for support, and elastic bands.
• In this class as well, I cannot do all of the movements, but I try my best, and I have the hope of getting better with time. I am not sure if one class per week is enough for visible progress, but for the time being, I cannot afford more.
• For each movement, the teacher tells you to inhale and exhale. That makes me feel centred and relaxed.
• At the end of the class I feel like I have given my whole body a nice, good stretch, and that feels great.
• According to my smart watch, Pilates class use up about 180–200 calories, and heart rate level is between Relaxed, Light and Intensive. So Pilates’s function is definitely not to lose weight.

End note

So my current workout routine is a combination of CrossFit and Pilates. CrossFit is for an intense body workout and Pilates is for stretching, flexibility and posture. I could not decide between the two for now! I want it all — sculpted physique, flexibility, good posture and internal muscle strength!

If you are doing CrossFit like I am and have had back issues, be extremely careful when lifting weights — focus on the right technique, and do not give in to peer pressure and lift more than you should!

The progress from a year of CrossFit and a few months of Pilates is hard to assess, but I’m hoping it will protect me from any potential future injury!

It’s definitely a marathon though, not a race. Consistency is key for both!