So a topic not many would want to openly discuss but since I've been jumping on and off this fitness bus I thought why don't I be a man and talk about it. It has some embarrassing accounts of my health problems so please read at your own risk
In November 2013 I did this HIIT program called Insanity for about a month or 40 days. I lost about 8 kgs in a month and from weighing a not so bad ~69 kgs I was down to ~61. I didn't even weigh myself until my juniors started asking whether I was ok or not.
When I realized that the reason everybody kept checking up on me was because I was getting leaner by the day. I weighed myself and realized that I lost 8 freaking kgs of weight. I'm 5'8" so 70 kgs wasn't that bad to begin with but just wanted to get better.
Then I tore some fibres in my shoulder and stopped doing it. I waited for it to heal completely but after having enough physiotherapy sessions, ultrasonic and inferrential current therapy I accepted the truth that it might never heal that quick. In fact the shoulder still bothers me till date.
So having realized that Insanity is probably not the program I should continue with I started looking for some high intensity cardio alternates. Swimming turned out to be an excellent alternate and I started with it in Aug'14. After just one month into swimming I cut back on everything but protein intake to such an extent that I got constipation that lasted about 5 days.
On the 5th day I tore my insides and had an anal fissure. The pain was unbearable that lasted about a week but I recovered and realized the importance of water and a balanced diet!
I had a recurrence twice again (thanks to alcohol & spicy food) but it healed within 2 days both times. I got wiser and decided to skip on the momo chutney next time onwards. Importance of drinking enough water in the day was registered well this time.
Everything was fine for a while until I took up Insanity again, Jan'15, and tore my meniscus in both knees. I was doing weights (dumbbells only) + Insanity when this happened. The reason for it was because after one of the cardio sessions I thought I didn't sweat enough and decided to do extremely quick high jumps, about 15-20 jumps. Next day onwards I couldn't straighten my leg for 4 days and an MRI told me that I had something that was going to bother me for the rest of my life.
Jun'15 and I decided to start swimming again (probably the safest & most enjoyable workout for me). I took up weight training at home using dumbbells and just 3 days ago I had a not so bad case of hemorrhoids.
Initially I thought the fissure started acting up again but I was surprised because this time I drank water like a fish and my diet was absolutely normal and balanced!
Then I realized that it definitely wasn't the fissure because the pain when going to the loo during a fissure is such that you may at times contemplate suicide, so it wasn't that bad but bothersome for sure.
I read up on the net and realized that weight lifting is one of the reasons for getting hemorrhoids. Eureka moment for me, well not exactly! :P
My case wasn't bad enough as I recovered within 2 days but I did do squatting & lunges until failure 2 times a week since the last 2 weeks. Since it could be one of the reasons and I saw enough videos of professional bodybuilders facing this issue, much severe cases rather, I thought why don't I raise this not so comfy topic and see if other bhpians dealt with similar issues and what all precautions they take on their respective fitness journeys.
Key learning for me have been that its extremely important (for me) to follow a balanced diet, drink lots of water and enjoy working out with slow and gradual increments rather than try to be hulk in the first week or month of working out.
I did follow the breathing techniques to the T when squatting using dumbbells or even if I was doing a shoulder press. The weight I had was 7 kgs in both hands at all times but this hemorrhoid problem made me want to discuss it further before I ruin something else in my body.