Is this my breaking point?
The world as I know it seems to be crashing down on me. I’ve have had nothing but bad luck for the past 8 weeks and it seems that my bad habits from the past have come to haunt me.
In literal sense, my body is breaking down and I don’t know what I can do to stop this from happening. I’m in physiotherapy, I’ve been stretching and taking supplements to assist in healing, I’ve taken a short break from lifting but this is still not enough.
Note: I have a bad habit of ranting and going off on wild tangents so let me recap what’s been going on with me.
Currently I’m dealing with a slew of injuries. At first I was ok with having one or two minor injuries but they have piled up and are starting to effect my quality of life. The cause of the majority of these injuries stem from early on when I first started to work out. I made a lot of mistakes before I learned to lift and now I’m paying for them.
Shall we run down my injuries?
- I have something called Sciatica. It’s a pain that runs along the large sciatic nerve from the lower back down the back of each leg. It’s due to the impingement of my sciatic nerve and some of the symptoms I’m experiencing are numbness in my left leg, parasthesia (aka the feeling of pins and needles all the time), sharp pain on the left side of my upper leg, and a lot of weakness.
- I have triceps tendinitis on my right arm
- I have a right shoulder impingement
- Right Rhomboid strain that has not healed in 6 weeks
- A couple of wonky knees (yea I said it)
I really don’t know what to do because these injuries are really starting to get to me. I can’t seem to do anything without pain anymore and my days at work and school are becoming more and more miserable.
Is it time for an extended break? I don’t know but I’m thinking I might take some time away from working out and I’ll turn my focus towards getting healthy, providing better content on this website for you guys.
My Hardgainer Transformation has been dealt a serious blow. Time to figure out what my next move is…
7 Responses to “Is this my breaking point?”
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OUCH!! Sorry to hear all this. That’s a crap load of injuries to have to deal with! Extended break from lifting might very well be what you need physically AND mentally- you can still work on rehab stuff. I can’t imagine having to deal with pain during workouts is a great motivator. Then again I’m a girl and I don’t like pain!
Just keep your long term goal in mind and do what is required to get there – aka (probably) healing so you can continue the transformation! Here, have my favorite Randy Pausch quote:
“The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough.”
I had sciatica when I was pregnant. There were days I needed help getting out of bed. That crap really hurts!!
DaleK,
Wow that was exactly what I needed. Thank for you for taking the time to write.
I’m still very conflicted over what I’m going to do but taking an extended break is probably going to be my number one option.
Thank you
Hi Brian,
You and I share a lot, and none of it good. I have been plagued with various injuries over the years and I, too, have wonky knees (since literally my early teen years).
But it’s the sciatica that is the most brutal. I have a herniated disc that really bugs me and the pain can be unbearable. In fact, when I first got it, I seriously wanted to die. It was that bad.
But I didn’t. Life goes on. The mental aspect of pain management is always neglected by the medical world. But it’s the ONLY thing that will get you out of it!
There are some physical things you can do to make it better. First off, find out why you’re feeling the pain. Then set upon a path to “fix it.”
Of course, for me, surgery was truly a last resort, and I have not resorted to it yet.
I don’t want to take up a lot of your comment space; if you’d like to chat about what I have done to overcome it, shoot me an email.
Best of luck!
Hey Bill,
Great to hear from you again. I think I will take you up on your offer and send you an email sometime in the near future
Hey Brian,
I’ve been in your position so I know where you’re coming from. From your log, looks like you are following the Bill Starr, Rippetoe, 5×5 type workouts based on squats, deadlift, and bench.
These are the best programs for putting on size, but in my experience, you need to take breaks from them every once in a while to let your body get some rest. I’m not just talking muscle rest, I’m talking joints, nervous system, endocrine system, etc. These programs are amazing, but they put alot of stress on the body so you need to take a break every once in a while to cool out.
I’d say after taking a few weeks off, try out a combination of kettlebell and bodyweight exercises for a while. Try something different. You wouldn’t be abandoning your core training, you’re just doing something different while still stimulating growth. Often, other programs will help you get stronger when you do come back to the big three lifts.
Don’t worry, the older you get, and the longer you lift, the more “sticky” your gains will become.
Good luck !
Derek,
It’s always great to hear from a new reader.
In the past I used the Rippetoe 5×5 training protocol and I enjoyed it but currently I’m actually using a simple training split (which mixes into what I do for physiotherapy). Due to the variety of injuries I have, 80% of what I do in the gym is modified to a certain extent.
I have to admit that its VERY frustrating because I know how strong I am, I know what I can do in the gym but I need to give my body rest (in every sense as you’ve mentioned). So I totally agree with you when it comes to taking rest. In the past I worked through it but this recent bout of injuries have really put things into perspective for me.
As for kettlebell training, I’ve been looking into that. I’m going to be personal training in the summer so that’s one of the extra certifications I’d like to attain first. I’ve always been intrigued by the raw strength gains people make after using them.
Thanks for the support and hopefully this isn’t the last time I hear from you
Brian
Ps. I fixed your error lol
Google Matrix Energetics read the book as well and try something out of the box for healing your body you wont regret it!