Pain

Get rid of it!

It seems we depend a lot on other practitioners to fix our aches and pains. Back pain - get an adjustment at the chiropractor, sore neck - go to the massage therapist, shoulder pain - go get acupuncture, knee pain - replace it! Although I believe those modalities are beneficial for some, I also know that oftentimes people ignore where the problem actually stems from.

For the last 3 years, I have studied Posture Alignment with The Egoscue Method and Yoga as Therapy with Doug Keller. Both believe that if you fix your posture, you will not have pain. From personal experience, I understand the importance of proper alignment. I suffered from SI joint pain for weeks before realizing that the pain was stemming from rotation in my torso and hips, not where my symptom was. After realigning my upper body there was an immediate effect on how my lower body felt and functioned.

I’ve been fortunate as a former athlete to have competed and trained with some of the best athletes in the world and what I’ve found through my experiences is that these athletes never shied away from pain. That is a part of what made these athletes so great. I come from an athletic and training background where it was instilled in my head that with no pain there is no gain. I absolutely believe that this concept is very true.

Too many people (and I am talking about both men and women) stop their set right when they start to feel the burn in the muscle they are exercising. Your workout doesn’t start at rep 1, it starts once you feel that burn. I had a coach that used to tell me when I was fatigued and in pain in practice, “this is when the workout starts”. I’ve never forgotten those words and I take those words with me every time I train. Remember pain is just a temporary thing and it is not going to kill you. In fact, you will experience greater muscle growth and burn more calories throughout the day if you can work through that burn and pain and execute that set properly.