Half score and one year ago, I was afflicted with:
The worst injury I had ever suffered
I actually hurt myself about 18 months before in the January of 2012. However, due to a treacherous combination of pigheadedness and a desire to be “hardcore” what was a bad, albeit relatively simple injury had morphed into the Seven-Headed Beast of the apocalypse.
The pain and stiffness in my lower back were so severe at times it would wake me at night. And the mornings? Eurgh. The less said about them the better.
Indeed, it got so bad that at one point I convinced myself I was developing ankylosing spondylitis. (A type of inflammatory arthritis affecting the spine that, insofar as we know, is not caused by injury. Yes, Yours Baldly was quite the hypochondriac in his youth.)
The truth?
Trying to “push through the pain” was stupid
And only making things worse.
Which raises an important question:
Why?
If you recall, I’ve already said that I was pigheaded and wanted to be “hardcore”.
But that’s not the full story.
You see, my attitude was a product of deep-seated insecurities about my masculinity. Physique, popularity, success – the works.
Consequently, I saw not just training, but going “all out” to get as strong and muscular as possible as fundamental to my very identity.
It wasn’t enough for me to be simply “strong and in shape”, I had to be the strongest and most in shape around. An impossible task, given that I’d already made a lifelong commitment to drug-free training but I wasn’t going to let something like biology hold me back from doing the impossible.
And so, I pushed and I pushed and I pushed and I pushed at exercises that caused me unimaginable agony using the exact same methods that got me injured in the first place.
I could not, would not, accept that I needed to back off to allow my body time to heal.
Because backing off meant doing workouts consisting of namby-pamby exercises like cable crossovers instead of heavy bench presses and *vomit* bodyweight squats instead of manly barbell back squats.
Utterly unacceptable for someone whose self-worth was inextricably linked to training in a way that would make mere mortals’ blood run cold.
The worst part?
I wasn’t making any progress at all and, in fact, was going backwards
Not only was I getting weaker by the day, but I was also getting fatter and losing muscle mass.
Ever the doo doo brain, my response to this decline was to train even harder – perpetuating a vicious cycle of increasing pain and decreasing performance.
Soon, it started to affect my work. Not terribly, but if I moved in a certain way or sat for too long, I certainly knew about it.
This continued for a good few years and while I never regressed to my disgusting “pre-training” obeast state, I wound up looking pretty awful and being very weak in all but the overhead press (which I somehow managed to continue training without any issues whatsoever).
Alas, I cannot recall when things changed exactly. But change they did.
I suppose I grew out of my “hardcore” phase naturally as I came to understand there’s more to being a man than how much weight you can throw around and how big your quads are.
Sensible, sustainable training followed and, lo and behold:
My strength, muscularity, and fitness returned!
You want to know the most hilarious thing?
It took about eight weeks of effeminate training consisting of mostly machine and bodyweight work to cure my hamstring and back problems.
I say “cure” but perhaps that’s a bit of an exaggeration. They still troubled me for a little while (the price to pay for my idiocy) but I was perfectly able to squat, press, and pull without issue after that short stint of leaving my gargantuan ego at the door.
Not as heavy as before, of course.
Part of my mental and physical rehabilitation involved starting almost from scratch, using weights I could confidently handle, with meticulous attention paid to technique. A fundamentally different attitude to the pants-on-head stupid one I had adopted previously.
You will not be at all surprised to learn that as a result of this…
I surpassed all of my lifetime personal bests while looking the best I had ever looked within a year
On the face of it, a year sounds like a long time. Especially as we live in a world where every other personal trainer seems to be offering dramatic 12-week transformation programmes.
However, I am convinced that my cautious approach is the only reason I am still training with discipline and intent – and, catastrophic illness or non-training-related injury aside – will continue to do so until I stand before the Great White Throne.
The immoral of the story?
Indulging in hardcore training is usually a symptom of some underlying “you” problem
Full disclaimer: I am not a psychologist, nor do I profess to be one.
However, I don’t need to be a psychologist to notice that people who smash themselves to oblivion and beyond in the gym despite it causing or exacerbating harm aren’t doing it for the jollies.
There’s invariably something else going on in my bountiful experience which includes being one of those aforementioned people, being around them, and having them as personal training clients from time to time.
Sometimes the services of a psychologist (of the clinical variety) are required to unpick what is going on.
But, often, an attitude adjustment is all that is required to get them training correctly.
Specifically, coming to terms with the fact (and it is a fact) that going balls to the wall in the gym and/or out on the road is stupid.
The argument that it results in “better gains” doesn’t hold water because those gains are inevitably short-lived (‘cuz you can’t train properly when you’re injured – and you will get injured, probably badly).
Hence, the man (and possibly woman) who trains in a safe, sustainable manner will always win the long game.
One last thing:
What I have just written is of special importance to trainees who are north of 30 years old
I was lucky in that I got injured badly at the tender age of 21.
The vitality of youth meant I was able to persist in my idiocy and still recover – and swiftly at that.
This is almost never the case for those who are of a more mature vintage.
I am aware that 30 “isn’t that old” but it is in training terms (this is why many professional athletes retire around this age).
That’s not to say you don’t have years, potentially decades, of quality training and spectacular progress in you.
You almost certainly do.
Provided you don’t train like a numpty.
So.
If you would like to learn my safe, sustainable methods for getting strong and in shape slowly but surely, please email me to discuss your situation.
My address is phil@philtyreman.co.uk
If you’re not sure what to write, simply send the word “Responsibility” and I shall take the lead.
Thank you,
Phil Tyreman