Aches, Pains and Obstacles

We've all got 'em. At least after we reach thirty years of age. That's my line in the sand, the age that once we cross, we'll never go another day without some part of our body being a bit cranky. (I'll tell you about mine at the end of this article)

I'll address the three levels in order of severity, starting with aches.

During the warm up of each personal training session, I always ask a client, "Everything in place?" Invariably the answer is "Well..." It might be the knee, the shoulder, the elbow. Sometimes the neck. Often the lower back. These body parts can bark at you on some days and stay quiet on others. They are the commons aches we all must live with. So the choice is yours: Put off a workout or fight through the annoying grumbles that your body is giving off. Often times once the blood begins to flow and the oxygen floods the area, the ache goes away. We're movin' now! I'll ask a client thirty minutes into the workout, "How's the neck?" "Feels good actually, once we warmed it up." Another workout in the bank. The point is, sometimes we just have to suck it up and plow through a workout. Once you're done, no one can ever take that workout away from you and chances are your body will thank you.

There's a fine line between aches and pains and thankfully only you know the difference. If we had to rely on 'experts" including personal trainers like myself, more often than not a negative outcome would occur. Only you truly know your body and what it's saying to you. A doctor can prescribe, a trainer can advise, but only you know if what your feeling is enough to call a halt to a workout. Error well on the side of caution when you feel pain, give yourself a day, or a week if you must and get to the root of the problem. Avoid masking it with pain relievers or pain killers. Once the pain subsides, ease back into the program. In the meantime, if your shoulder is hurting enough to halt your upper body exercise, that doesn't mean you shouldn't forge ahead and train your core and your legs.

I have a 65 year old client only a couple of months removed from rotator cuff surgery and his core and leg workouts would make many men half his age run for cover. He knew the difference between an ache and a pain and after much consideration, he opted for the procedure. Now he's anxious to get back to his vigorous upper body workouts but we're letting his surgeon and his physical therapist call the shots there. I'm a personal trainer and I know my place in all this so if your trainer or someone else not qualified starts giving you post-surgery exercise advice, proceed with extreme caution. Once I get the green-light, we'll work back into an upper body routine and soon his entire body will again be in synch. Pains need to be noticed and not ignored like many aches can be. Remember, only you truly know the difference.

Obstacles. When I begin the process of signing up a new client for personal training or a wellness assessment, I have them fill out a detailed questionnaire. Then I ask them a battery of questions that exposes to me the assorted physical issues they've encountered in their lives. I also ask pointed questions about prescription drugs. The responses I receive continue to fascinate me, not for the novelty, but for the incredible obstacles that so many of us must manage every day. Recently I helped wean a client off anti-depressants that continued to be mindlessly prescribed by his doctor. (It is widely accepted that it can be extremely difficult to lose weight while on these meds and the ironic part is that over the years I've learned that often times the depressing issue that led to medication is excess weight!) Once my client said NO THANKS to the monthly call from the doctor's nurse suggesting a refill, my client began to lose weight in a steady, consistent manner. Gone was his knee pain and his bad attitude and at the risk of being a bit melodramatic, he now sees the sun when he used to see clouds.

Several years ago I worked with a woman who was just completing a cycle of chemotherapy. She was determined to regain her strength and her fitness level. She suffered through the first series of workouts but soon she began to show a spark as if a switch had been turned on inside her. Her workouts were more up-tempo, she broke a sweat and a smile at the end of each session. She refused to be beaten down by the debilitating effects of her treatment.

At the same time I was also working with a 68 year old woman who had suffered through a horrific accident. She had tumbled backwards down an escalator, several times going heels over head. After intensive therapy with a chiropractor, she came to me, slowly pushing her walker to our first meeting. Her attitude was weakened yet defiant and she willed herself to exercise. Only weeks later she pushed aside the walker for good. She refused to be defeated despite overwhelming odds against her.

Two of my clients, both females in their late thirties, have recently been diagnosed with MS. This devastating news would be enough to stop a bull in its tracks, but not these girls. Each in their own way, they have forged ahead. Not every workout is leaving a mark, but the effort is always there. Again, they could've curled up and literally withered away, and of course who knows what the future holds, but these warriors refuse to quit.

Several months ago I did a Wellness Assessment on a 72 year old man only a few months after hip replacement surgery. I kept coming back to his condition in my questions and finally he could take no more.

"Forget the damn hip. I'll worry about that." I was stunned and inspired and once I caught my breath, I went on to design a program for him to regain his strength and vitality. I spoke to him as I prepared to write this and I inquired about his hip.

"What hip?" Enough said.

Arthritis is a sinister condition that doesn't discriminate when it attacks. One of my clients has painful movements in his shoulder/neck area and hip. He asked his doctor if exercise could worsen the condition. After of course being offered an enticing series of pain killers, the doctor finally relented and said no. Now I watch my client grit his teeth when the condition acts up. But he's yet to beg off an exercise.

Two years ago I started working with a hugely successful entrepreneur who despite his obvious intelligence and ambition, had allowed himself to gain sixty pounds while choking down more than two packs of cigarettes a day. His self-inflicted asthma made it impossible to do a more than a minute of cardio work at a time. Wind sprints were a year away, but each day he pushed himself, rescue inhaler in hand and soon his breathing improved and he used that motivation to finally quit smoking. Soon his inhaler joined his cigarettes in the trash pail. He could've sat his tail down on his cushy office chair and continued to wheeze away, but he instead looked very deep inside himself and found the necessary weapons to fight off his condition. Now he punches out a 20 push-up, 20- mountain climber and wind sprint rotation with plenty of air to spare.

Now it's my turn.

I was born with a 1-100,000 rare condition called Poland's Syndrome. It has varying degrees of severity, most much more severe than mine. But the fact remains that I was born without a major section of my pectoral muscles. Aside from the aesthetic surgery I did undergo, nothing could be done to functionally and physiologically improve the situation. I was weaker than all the other kids. In 1987, on enlistment day in the US Army, I was denied entry by a robotic, inside-the-box doctor too terrified to ask me any questions or to see if I could snap out sixty push-ups. Thankfully, his superior did ask questions and did watch me exercise and he signed off on a special dispensation. I won my unit Physical Fitness Award twice and for over the past twenty years (more than 7,450 days), I have done at least 100 pushups a day.

Aches, pains and obstacles. We've all got 'em. Learn the difference and plow ahead when you can. If you have an inspiring story, I'd love to hear about it. It gets me fired up!!