Pain and Training

     When it comes to training, one of the things that holds too many people back is pain. Whether it is the low-level, constant inflammation of arthritis, or the acute, sharp pain of an injury, this is a very common excuse for not training. One of the things you MUST ask yourself: "Would I rather be in pain and weak, or would I rather be in pain and strong?" 

    The clear answer is you would rather be strong. If you are suffering from a nerve condition or arthritis, it can be frustrating and make training uncomfortable, but regular strength training will ONLY make the conditions better if it is properly performed and prescribed (https://arthritis-research.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13075-018-1624-x). 

    If you have an acute injury in a small muscle that you can not train around, the goal of training would be to strengthen the surrounding tissues. If you have a knee that won't stop hurting, getting your quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calves strong as hell WILL offer more support and cushioning just by increasing the size and strength of the surrounding tissues. If your rotator cuff is acting up, strengthening all 3 major "sides"  of the shoulder (anterior - front, lateral - side, and posterior - back) will provide the support to still perform all the functions of the shoulders with noticeably less pain and weakness day to day (and your rotator cuffs will get stronger as well). 

    If your lower back just won't stop hurting, it is probably because it is weak, I hate to say it. Even spinal issues will slowly melt away as you strengthen the spinal erectors and get big ol' back muscles to help keep your spine safe. I often find that if someone comes to me with back pain, I can fix it almost 100% after 3 weeks of regular deadlifts. It might not be that you have a "slipped disk" (some 30% of people walk around every day with a disk issue that will never give them trouble), it might just be that you baby (never train) your lower back, so it has become weak and lazy for lack of a better term. 

    If you try to "fix" these issues by working these muscles in isolation, it will lead to frustration, lack of results, and even possibly further injury because you did not strengthen the body as a system. Who cares if you have JACKED rotator cuffs if your deltoids are small and weak? The next time you go to lift something even a little heavy over your head, you might injure another small shoulder or elbow muscle, and the therapy cycle continues. 

    You will almost never hurt yourself at the gym if you have half a clue about what you are doing. It will be simply getting up wrong from the couch, lifting a heavy box to a high shelf, or trying to put a lawnmower in a truck bed without help that will have you riding to the ER. But the gym will PREPARE you for these every day occurrences so that if you must perform them, you will remain safe, or if an injury is sustained, you will heal twice as fast than if you had never trained. 

    I understand that chronic, low level pain wears you out mentally and physically like nothing else can. I suffered from elbow tendonitis for 18 months and it was frustrating, distracting, and exhausting. The only thing that finally cleared it up was an extremely anti-inflammatory diet (it was actually a 5 day water fast), but the only thing that kept me sane for that year and a half was the fact that I had strong elbow joints that could train through the pain. If I had seen a doctor about it, he or she would have told me to stop training for 4-6 weeks, but this would have simply delayed the inevitable, the second I picked up a weight the tendonitis would have come back because rest will not fix it and that is not how you handle injuries. 

    I hate to sound like a broken record, but you are meant to move. You are designed to squat, jump, sprint, walk, throw, punch, and all without pain. If you don't even try to train because you think it will make your condition worse, your pain will NEVER improve. You must lubricate your joints and muscles through motion or they will seize up like an old, rusty Chevy. Start with a 2 minute walk, swing your arms, do a couple air squats, whatever, it's just that movement MUST be a part of your life. 

    If both of your femurs are broken, you can still do overhead presses and band rows. If both your arms are broken, you can still squat and walk and lunge. If something ALWAYS hurts, first I want you on an extremely anti-inflammatory diet to address the biological problems that are the root cause of pain. Then you MUST MOVE. Hop on YouTube (read the article and leave a comment first) and search for "5 minute yoga flow beginner (or easy)", follow along and feel better immediately. Do this every day one hour after you wake up and you will notice improvements in your pain and ease of movement you never thought possible. 

    Maybe after a week or two of easy yoga, you start the 2 minute walks, maybe a couple weeks after that you throw in a few air squats, maybe a couple weeks after that, you have a gym membership and access to 10's of thousands of pounds of strength rehabilitation. 

    My overarching point is, if you are not moving BECAUSE you are in pain, you are actually in pain BECAUSE you are not moving. Get up and lubricate those joints today, and document how much better you feel every single day afterwards.