If you followed my blog post of a few weeks ago, you read about how a life full of contact sports, aggressive hobbies and fitness training has left me in pain much of the time. I wondered, out loud, if it were better to Burn Out… or Fade Away! …as if these were the only two options!
Over the last few months, I have been coping with back pain that brings on intermittent sciatica as well as a pulled hamstring and a torn rotator cuff. The more I seemed to do, the worse things got. I made plans, worked hard, did “active” recovery, got accupuncture, physio, trained in the water, took anti- inflammatories etc….. etc…. etc…..
….and then I got a really bad cold! It hurt to breathe and I was dizzy and…. and…. and…..
My first thought was, “How could I get a cold NOW when the rest of my body hurts so much?… What did I do to deserve THIS?…. Why Me?“…. basically I asked myself a bunch of questions like a loser would! If you read the last blog on this page, you’ll know what I mean by “loser”.
I felt so shitty that I couldn’t do ANYTHING. Except lie around. And sleep. And lie around. And sleep. …and then nap!
And then a funny thing happened.
I noticed that my back didn’t hurt so much. I tested my hamstring (a tiny bit). It didn’t hurt either. And my shoulder felt a bit better.
…and then I noticed that my back didn’t really hurt at all any more. …or my hamstring! …my shoulder is still a bit sore from all of the sleeping and lying around, but, it IS torn after all (I’ll get to it later).
Wow. Could it be that I really just needed to let my body rest and heal itself? Maybe. I don’t think that I have gone as much as 12 straight days without a workout since I was 13 years old, and I am 45. That’s a lot of working out. And pounding.
So… I am starting to come out of this nasty chest cold and just starting to feel better. I’ve decided to give myself another 2 or 3 days before getting back on the training track. (With the All Canadian Fitness Train the Trainer event coming up in less than a month, I need to get some conditioning back).
I am hopeful that with a plan, I’ll be able to move forward with renewed energy and enthusiasm and that I’ll be able to get back to feeling like myself in no time.
I guess that sometimes you have to listen to your body and realize that… “Less is actually MORE!”.
-Ernie Schramayr- Owner All Canadian Fitness
All Canadian Fitness 