Learn to Trust Your Body

A few years ago a friend of a friend approached me to help him with some administrative/marketing work for the gym he had opened up. I knew financially they weren't set yet so we decided to make a deal. He was going to give me a super low discount and train me personally for my administrative/marketing services. Since I was really wanting to get into shape I was on board with that deal. This wasn't your everyday treadmill, weights, classes type of gym; this was more of a boot camp style gym. Before we even started working out I warned him that I had a very weak lower back and sometimes my knees bothered me and wanted to make sure that wouldn't be a problem. He assured me it would not be a problem and he would modify moves to prevent injury. I worked out with him for about a week and was feeling sore, but knew I was working towards my goal.  During the second week I went in like usual for my workout, he decided to switch up the routine a little and we used medicine balls and dummies to drag around. Turns out I was the dummy that day and didn't listen to my body. I knew something didn't feel right during some of the moves, but thought, this guy is professionally trained and must know what he is doing.....

They know a lot, but you know your body.
Don't forget to tune in and listen to yourself
Pic: http://www.memecreator.org/

After waking up the next day and passing out from the pain I was in when I tried to move. I went to a chiropractor for a full workup. He discovered I had 2 bulging discs and 1 partially herniated. OUCH!  I continued to see him multiple times on a weekly basis to get myself back in action for a very long time. During each session, or every time my back would twinge, or when I see the shoes I can no longer wear due to the heel size, I repeated to myself...why didn't I just trust myself when I knew that workout was bad for me.

Moving was not an option
pic: https://lapsedpt.wordpress.com/page/2/

I learned a lot from that experience. The biggest being, trust your body and instincts. Sure he was professionally trained, but that doesn't mean he knows everything and he especially doesn't know my body. I should have stopped him and refused to do the workout, even though he told me to work through the pain. Big lesson learned. Through my chiropractor I  learned about the importance of stretching. My chiropractor gave me tons of stretches to do on my own to help loosen everything up and that made a tremendous difference. I found this really neat deck of cards that shows other stretches and techniques, they explain every move and even have pictures on them to help you visually see what the stretch should look like. The stretches are for all over the body, not just your back. I highly recommend them. I still do my stretches after every single workout or even on days when I feel my muscles tight. The last big lesson I learned was to always keep a good heating pad in your home!!

Stretch Cards
Really helpful information to get you started stretching

Front and back pictures of the cards
One side explains and the other side shows

I know my back will never be the same again, but I am learning more and more how to help myself and maybe this story will help prevent someone in the future from going through what I did and if you already suffer from aches and pains check out different stretches that you might benefit from.