Updates On Sciatica

 It has been a rocky road to recovery from my sciatica injury that started nearly a month ago and although the pain comes and goes, it still pretty damn shitty that I can't do what I love to do at my best. Got no one to blame but myself for having it happen and it hasn't been easy trying to do even basic things like walking and standing. There were times where it took me longer to put my clothes on than I normally would. What injury is ever easy? 

Trying different things at a lower pace and even doing beginning stages of certain exercises to help heal. Some things do ok, others not so much and the pain levels sometimes reach excruciating heights that it hurts to put on my socks and shoes. With all the things that I've tried, the two things that seem to bring any comfort training wise is Isometrics and Joint Loosening exercises. Even the most basic animal moves hurt except maybe the Bear Crawl which I only do a minute each day. While we were at the Hot Springs in Montana earlier this month, I did mainly go in the hot and cold pools which temporally helped ease the pain and do Isometrics in the room. 

The Chiropractor is helping to an extent but it's so damn hard to not want to push myself. When I go a little further, that's when it really acts up. I have pushed myself to the point where even climbing stairs feels like an eternity and I really need to listen to my body and stop being so damn stubborn and full of pride. I really don't like it when people have to help me even for the easiest things and sleeping has been a nightmare. 

My sciatica is about as inflamed as you can get and the pain in my nerves shoot all the way down my right leg that ranges from a 3-9 on the pain scale. I haven't felt pain this bad since my leg injuries back in '05. I'm not giving up on myself, I'm still training just in a much smaller capacity and I'm just so damn ready for this thing to be over with. Sometimes I want to see what I can still do but get in my own head and push myself beyond what my own ability is right now and end up suffering for it which maybe is a lesson I need to learn in order to understand how I can find a way to keep doing things but not at full capacity or even half. By my own observation, pain tolerance and the way I can move, my best capacity level of what I know I can do is right now at best 20-25% of what I normally can do and that's stretching it. For me that's just downright horrible but I need to just let my body do its thing and give it time. 

When injuries happen, the biggest fight is with ourselves and at times we'll just barely do anything because we either give up or don't know how to deal with it, other times we fight so damn hard to come back that we overestimate our abilities and can make things worse. We do need to find that balance but the one thing that should always be there is the ability to keep going but work on the progression and doing our best to know our limits but go above them little by little even if it's microscopic. I know damn well that there are people out there who have it far worse than me and they hold their pain in better than I ever could but that's why I also fight to come back because I know this is not going to last forever and it'll give me a better appreciation that I can beat this and that it's important to be thankful I'm still able to do things even in a smaller setting. It's hard but it's not forever. I will be back hitting hammers on a tire again, I will have my agility and strength back doing crazy animal stuff and I will dominate the step ups again because that's one of the exercises that has kept my legs in great condition in the first place. 

If you're injured, don't give up on yourself, fight back and make it your mission to be better again. Strengthen yourself but also listen to your body even when that part of you wants to push beyond, we can only push so much but it doesn't mean we have heart. Keep being amazingly awesome and keep on keeping on. 

A Setback Can Be A Blessing In Disguise

Injuries happen and we can't always be in control of when they happen but we can choose to either work with it (depending on the significance) or give up on ourselves and let the injury completely defeat us. Although pain tells us we're not dead, it's not a great thing to deal with either (unless you got some twisted fetish when it comes to pain LOL). 

Back on Friday April 28th, I was going for my Hill Sprint Workout when by the 2nd or 3rd sprint, the lower right side of my body just about collapsed on me and there was an excruciating amount of pain that nearly resembled the pain I felt when I had my leg injuries. If I would've kept going despite the pain, I would be rolling in a ditch next to the road and wouldn't have been able to get up and go home and I didn't have my cell on me to call anybody. My instincts kicked in to immediately stop and truly assess the pain I was in. It was so bad that to me it was a miracle I was able to walk back home. 

I knew exactly why this happened and I only have myself to blame. A few days earlier, I was going for a workout with the 70 lb. kettlebell doing deadlifts and do shoulder carries with my 50 lb. sandbell. In the first round of the wotkout, something tweaked in my lower back on the right side. I knew I had to stop and just do something else. I went out the next day doing Sprints and I felt a little something but still managed the 6 sprints I was going for. Took it slightly easy on that Thursday but on Friday it just took me out. It was literally hitting me around 3/4 of the way into my 3rd sprint when the pain was too much to go on. 

I got an appointment with the chiropractor and the pain went down slightly and my posture was better but it didn't 100% fix the problem. It's most likely a sciatica injury and it has shifted from my lower back to my right hip. The pain comes and goes and my flexibility is limited to not even sit in a lotus position without being in pain. Heat and Ice was barely doing anything. Me & my wife went on our anniversary trip to Quinn's Hot Springs the following Monday the 1st until we came home Friday on the 5th. It was difficult being comfortable and the pain would shoot up to about an 8 every couple hours or so. Although it was a fun trip, it could've been better if I had not been in agony the majority of the time and I feel bad that I put her through that. In the pools, it helped lessen the inflammation and pain especially in the cold plunge they had there that was between 55-60 degrees Fahrenheit. It wasn't a bad trip by any means, we had a blast and met new people and ate awesome food and chilled out by the pools as much as possible, just sucked that I wasn't at my best. 

Throughout the trip, my training mainly consisted of Joint Loosening, Deep Breathing, Isometrics and walking to the pools. Stretching little by little to not feel pain as much as I could but I wish I could say it wasn't hurting when I stretched. It's a big lesson to learn when you sustain an injury and do whatever you can to heal up. I won't be doing almost anything hardcore including Sprints until I feel 100% which can take a couple weeks. I'm not giving up on my training, just need to let things die down, reduce inflammation and rejuvenate. Focus on flexibility, Isometric Training, some Suspension work and do Step Ups for my legs. The Step Ups are a godsend in this manner since I don't feel as much pain on a scale 1-10 which for the Step Ups is no more than a 3. 15 minutes is my max time and no more than 12-15 reps per leg. 

Pain and Injury is a teacher and it gives you an opportunity to learn what you're capable of mentally and understanding the value of instincts, being aware of what can be done in the moment in time along with making the choices to give yourself time to heal. I'm not the type of person that scarfs down pain pills, muscle relaxers to make myself better. The only things I've taken pill wise to help reduce the inflammation is nothing more than something similar to aspirin and so far since this happened I've only taken them twice. I hate meds with a passion and unless I'm in a hospital bed, you won't see me take anything more than an Advil.

I will get back to full strength soon enough and kick ass the way I was meant to. Take care of your body as much as you can without going overboard. Be smart in your training and keep the injuries to a minimum. I've said it before that we can't 100% prevent an injury but we can reduce the chances significantly if we keep ourselves in check. Stay strong, take care of yourselves and keep being amazingly awesome. 

How To Deal With Minor Injuries

Anything can happen in a workout especially when it comes to injuries. You can break a bone, sprain an ankle or you can pull muscles. One little minor injury however happens often in the strongman world and at times its common in gymnastics and that’s tearing of the skin. You get a cut or a bruise and you automatically think your training is done. Well hate to burst your bubble but you can still train while you heal but might need to cut back (no pun intended) a bit.

 I went for a personal record this past St Patrick’s Day weekend and ended up having my skin being torn in two different places in my right hand. Now I’ve dealt with this before and have had big time bruises from bending and tearing stuff and I can assure you it’s no picnic but that doesn’t give me an excuse to stop training all together. Taking a little time off from certain training can do you some good but you should also focus on another realm of training.

 When you get a cut or a bruise from a workout its not a laughing matter if you just left it alone. If you want to heal faster you have to treat the wound and if it’s at a point if it’s too severe then you need to see a doctor. Other than that is sure to treat your injuries with ointments and stop training at a hardcore pace and let yourself heal. Healing is just as important as building muscle and from recovery. I stopped some training because my hand is not in the shape to be in but I don’t stop training. I can train my legs more, do qi gong, practice muscle control without gripping my hand as a fist, all sorts of varieties I can do till my hand is back in the shape I want it to be.

 Switching things around for healing purposes can be a great and rewarding experience. Practicing Internal Training is a healing method of training just as it can be used to train the mind and your whole body. As you begin to heal, you’ll notice that as you get stronger, your mind becomes stronger because you’re learning how to handle different things for different situations. We’re all different and do our best not to get injured but it does happen in the most unexpected ways and no matter what the injury is, we should treat it well so when we get back, we can learn certain lessons on how to prevent that ever happening again.

 Some people take it too far and get injured more often then they should be healing. Now a scratch or a bruise is one thing but certain severe problems can arise and it can haunt you and bite you in the ass. Believe me from personal experience, you don’t want that and never push hard when you’re making a recovery. When you’re healing, take some time out of your training and think into your body, learn to electrify your body and practice building strength from inside the body like the organs and tendons. When I got hurt from bending steel and cut my hands, it was not pretty and it looked like it will be a long time before I get back to doing what I love, but in a two day span of using some ointment and very bandaging along with internal training, I’ve seen major improvements in my hands and now it just feels bruised more then a cut but less painful and the healing process is incredible. Now that may not sound true but let’s face it, I’m a terrible liar. Some people don’t heal as quickly as others which is understandable and it takes longer to get back from certain things but if you learned to harness the power of your mind and practice building your body from the inside, that’s where real strength and healing come from and you’ll be surprised how quickly you can heal from doing these kind of practices.

 Some say that the little things can make a huge difference. I believe that with just about anything. Doing big things all the time can lead to a downfall and you won’t know how to develop little goals of challenges. When I learned about the injury Paul Levesque (WWE Legend Triple H) had with his quad tear back in ’01, he said during an interview that if you want to get back into something, you set little goals for yourself. Small goals can create a monster positive outcome not just as a recovery and getting back to something but it’s the journey that makes all the difference to make one big explosion and you’re back stronger, hungrier and more determined then ever.

 Never believe the training is ever over. It’s just taking a break while you learn and experience the type of training you can take on and conquer so when you get back to regular training, you’ll have a new found respect and appreciation of what you can accomplish. It’s not always about pride or ego; it’s about becoming a stronger individual no matter what the obstacle is. I never want to see any one of you guys out there getting hurt but if it does happen to you, do what you can to get back and learn the best and safest ways to do it.

Taking Natural Pain Killers

No not the pills you take when you have a minor/major injury. These pain killers will revitilize your body and recharge your system. Like your car the oil needs to be changed otherwise it will die without notice and thats because if you don't take care of your joints and ligiments your body will die out prematurely.

When you learn to take care of your joints, tendons and ligiments, your body will be more resiliant to injury and your workouts will be much more efficiant.With the right exercises you will find your joints more mobile and flexibile but with the wrong exercises they can make you prone to injury and if you're in pain you are really doing something wrong. Don't waste your time with training that can cause you limitations to your daily life and put the effort into turning your joints into solid steel but fluid in movement.

If you stimulate the body the right way you will heal much quicker and you will start to live much better and pain free. In my case I have to work my joints, tendons and ligiments on a daily basis because of my legs and the way I need to keep them flexible and agile and keep my body charged and powerful. I have had days in my weight training years where I would be so stiff I couldn't get out of bed in the morning and my joints would ache like hell. Once I learned how to keep my body supple and flexible the pain would be gone and I can handle anything I wanted.

The real benefits of supple joints is that as you age and keep a consistant watch on your exercise you can feel like you can take on the world even after your prime or better yet never know if you reached your peak yet. For Strongman Bud Jeffries, keeping your body supple is one of if not his biggest priority for the weights he lifts or the bending and breaking he performs. At 270 pounds he needs to have a strong body all around.

In this course you will find the following ways on how to keep your body recharged and supple......

Cables that are used to help your joints in the ultimate manner.

Can high reps wear out your bones?

15+ Exercises for the low back.

Find around 10 exercises to keep you lower arms in great shape.

Neck Pain????? There are 10 exercises to fix it.

And any more. Take charge of your body and revive the system with Pain Killers.

Pain Killers