Overcoming Adversity 2017 Part 2

I ended the last blog by saying that I am optimistic about my future. Why? My purpose comes from faith in God. My purpose does not change with how my body changes. I will not pretend I didn’t have moments where I was frustrated or upset with my regression, but ultimately, the state of my body matters little in the grand scheme of things. I can still fulfill my purpose as a believer, a husband, a father, a friend and trainer regardless of the state of my body.

Do not misinterpret that, I still believe it is important to do what you can to maintain good health. However, it is futile to get overly upset about things which are outside of your control. The diarrhea, stomach acid, tick bite/lyme disease, bronchitis were all outside of my control. I did what I could to get better from each of them, but there is no point crying over spilt milk. The shoulder pain was partially under my control and I definitely made it worse by stubbornly pushing through pain. But ultimately, that is past and now I am doing everything I can to make it better.

And I did end 2017 with some good news. The second orthopedic doctor I saw was convinced it was tendinitis, perhaps made worse by some other factors mentioned previously. He was also convinced that a second cortisone shot, this time directly in the shoulder capsule (the previous being outside the capsule), combined with daily anti-inflammatory medication would do the trick. He was right. At the time of visiting the second doctor on November 28th, trying to bench press the 45 pound barbell one time was painful. Within two weeks, I was bench pressing 100 pounds for 10 repetitions. Far from what I am capable of, but also a huge improvement!

Learning From The Experience

I am also optimistic because I have learned from this year. I was never a fan of going to the doctor. I typically battled through every condition I had on my own whether illness or injury. However, I learned sometimes there is nothing you can do on your own. Sometimes, you need the help of other people. Had I stubbornly refused to go the doctor for lyme disease and not taken a two week course of antibiotics, I would not have recovered. The lyme disease eventually attacks your nervous system and heart. Had I not gone to the doctor for bronchitis, I would have beaten it on my own, but instead of a few days it would have taken me several weeks of misery. I was even hesitant to take the generic Prilosec at first, but now I am convinced of its efficacy. Who knows how long I would deal with the stomach pain if I had not taken medication?

I am not saying go to doctor for every sniffle and take medication at the first sign of any illness, but I am saying doctors and medication certainly have their place. My experience with the first orthopedic was a confirmation of why I do not like going to doctors. Many appointments, many tests, and much money spent which lead to zero answers and no improvement. However, the second ortho was a great experience for me. Confident, direct and friendly, the second doctor was able to begin the path to recovery.

I have also relearned the importance of prehab. I say relearned because this is not my first rodeo. I have been injured before and recovered without the assistance of medication or doctors. During recovery, I was really focused on making sure my training was set up in a way to address imbalances and keep me healthy. I incorporated specific exercises to address issues I felt I had. That is prehab; managing your training in an intelligent way so as to avoid injury and rehab.

Hopefully, this time the lesson will stick and I will keep my training arranged sensibly. By the way, I always train my clients much more thoughtfully than I train myself. Ask any trainer, we all make mistakes with ourselves that we would NEVER make with our clients. We are a stubborn bunch. Basically, we need to practice what we preach!

I have learned to pay close attention to side effects. The diarrhea led to the stomach acid issue. Knowing how annoying that was, I paid attention when I was prescribed antibiotics for the lyme disease and bronchitis. Antibiotics can destroy good gut bacteria so it is important to take a probiotic to help ensure you keep your gut functioning well. After all, a key part to any recovery involves nutrition, and if your stomach is messed up and you cannot eat properly, it becomes much harder to recover.

I have been reminded to pay close attention to how I feel in the gym. Doing prehab is great, but I also need to be assessing how I feel day to day. Any tightness, pain or discomfort? Addressing issues as they come up instead of sweeping them under the rug.

And why do I sweep things under the rug? Because I just wanted to get huge! And acknowledging issues may mean time off and I can’t get huge if I cannot train. Not smart. Failing to properly address an issue, often leads to MORE time off than if you had properly addressed it to begin with.

I also learned that if you want it bad enough, you will get it. I could have let myself get fat or lose even more muscle than I did. I had every excuse to give up and not train. My shoulder hurt for half of the year and I was sick often. I could have consumed comfort food and just watched YouTube instead of hitting the gym. But I didn’t.

If you saw me now as compared to January, you could tell I lost some weight. However, you would not be able to tell the type of year I had. I am still lean, I still carry muscle and I still have a smile on my face. I have searched relentlessly and found the exercises I could do to stimulate my muscle without jeopardizing my recovery. I have eaten less than normal because working out less isn’t an excuse to get fat. I have taken some of the time I would have been in the gym and wrote content for this website. And I have prayed about what I am going through and I have perspective.

I know I am blessed.