Crossfit-Anyone doing it currently?

twistedsteel

Crossfit-Anyone doing it currently?

twistedsteel

I just started going to a crossfit "gym"/box. I enjoy it. I scale workouts a great deal as I am starting again from scratch with my fitness. 15 mo's of treatment and I am soft and have NO ENDURANCE whatsoever.

I am concerned about lymphedema. ALND 3/12 positive with an outcropping from one node. I wear a lymphedivas compression sleeve to the gym/box. I put in on afterwards, but I cannot tolerate the heat on my arm during the WOD. Any experience out there with that?

Scaling pushup's, pullup's, hanging ab stuff like toe to bar or knee to bar. I do the kettleball stuff and the med ball against the wall stuff. Haven't done any real Oly lifting yet with a bar or weights.

I know the exercise makes my arm better during. I know during the night my arm and hand get swollen but if I move them, the fluid drains quickly. Also when I wake up I do the same.

Anyway, any experience or comment etc would be great.

NatsFan

Twisted - I'd post your question on the Lymphedema section of BCO.  However, a few things concern me about your post. 

First, are you wearing a gauntlet along with your sleeve?  Compressions sleeves should NEVER be worn by themselves - you always need to wear them with a gauntlet or glove, or it will trap fluid in your hand, and hand LE is extremely difficult to manage.  Also, was this sleeve professionally fitted by a LE therapist or trained LE fitter?  A poorly fitting sleeve can sometimes do more damage than no sleeve at all. 

Secondly, you're doing things like pushups and pullups, and kettlebells this soon?  The trick to avoiding LE is to start very slowly and work up gradually - with push ups and pull ups, you are essentially pressing weights equivalent to your body weight - waaay too much to do at the start. 

Finally, the fact that you're already experiencing swelling in your arm and hand after exercise tells me you may already have Stage 0 or Stage I LE.  

I hate to tell you, but you sound like me.  My surgeons gave me no precautions about LE, so once I started feeling better and was giving the "all clear" I started up doing stuff like you're doing.  And now I have arm and truncal LE and will have it for the rest of my life. Fortunately due to the wonderful women on the LE section of BCO, I self-diagnosed early and got treated by a certified LE therapist right away, so I was able stop my LE from progressing beyond Stage I LE.  Please check out the LE section of BCO, and also this website put together by women who have LE:  http://stepup-speakout.org/

I would absolutely advise you to get a referral to a LE therapist who can give you a baseline exams and give you an exercise program to build up strength safely.   If you can prevent LE, do so.  If you already have it, you can take precautions to keep it from progressing.

I understand the desire to get fit again after treatment - it feels good to workout and start feeling strong again.  But you need to do it safely.