What Led Up to Tearing my Achilles
Two weeks before tearing my achilles running from first to second base in a softball game, I worked the flexion of my tendon pretty hard during a group circuit workout session.
One of the stations was to do Goblet Squats. Goblet Squats are where you hold a kettle bell of weight, 20lbs in my case, up to your chest and squat down as far as you can with your feet shoulder width apart and keeping your heels on the ground. My trainer had me take off my shoes for this exercise to help work on the flexibility of my achilles as my Nike Air Shox had a lift in the heel kept my feet from being flat on the ground.
The weight held at the chest in this exercise helps you get much lower to the ground than if you weren’t holding weight. In my case, doing a Goblet Squat without weight and keeping my feet flat, I was only able to get low enough for my butt to be about 12 inches from the ground. With the weight, I can get as low as 5 inches off the ground.
I have done this exercise many times in the past and have not had any issues. After the workout I drank a protein shake, took a multi-vitamin and that night I took my normal does of ZMA (Zinc Magnesium Aspartate). The next day my achilles were quite sore as most of my other muscles are after workouts.
I iced them and took it easy the next day, but two days after the workout I had a playoff softball game with the company I work for. I warmed up and did a little stretching before the game but my achilles were still a little sore. I still played. We won.
The next day I was not able to flex my achilles without pain. I had trouble walking, especially with the soreness in my left achilles. The week after the Thursday softball game I took it easy, did not work out and iced my achilles regularly. I did this mostly because I wanted to be able to play in the championship softball game the following Thursday.
Prior to Thursday’s championship game, I had already made up my mind that I was going to play no matter what.
5:14 pm - 10-30-2013
The one thing that stands out is the part about doing the exercise barefoot. Lodinpdx and I think the low profile shoes may have contributed to the stress on the achilles–causing the rupture. I was in flat skateboard shoes and she was in a “barefoot” style running cleat. Sorry to hear about your injury and looking forward to following your blog.
8:41 pm - 10-30-2013
Thanks for the comment KellyGirl. Yes, I agree with you and LodinPDX. I have no doubt that a flat foot with no cushion definitely contributed to my injury. I believe that a shoe-free experience works with certain exercises but can be very dangerous for others.