It’s been 3 weeks since I last took a day off from training at the gym.

It’s been 4 weeks since I had a “cheat meal”.

It’s been 6 months since I consumed the standard 6 small meals in one day.

It’s been 1 year since I didn’t eat past 6pm at night.

It’s been 5 years since I had a “Protein Shake”

It’s been 10 years since I took more then two days off in a row from working.

It’s been 30 years since I got more then 6 hours of sleep in one night.

I don’t count calories when I’m dieting.

I won’t try to fit junk food into my daily “macros” because I can.

I’ve never consumed an organic piece of food in my life.

And you know why? Because my body doesn’t need me to.

Bogus Bro Science

Okay, so taking into consideration all of the above I should feel overtrained, mentally exhausted, burnt out, depleted, irritable, restless and perhaps a bit sleep deprived. And considering that I don’t count my calories or calculate my macronutrients on a daily basis, I should be overweight or at least lacking any form of muscular density. Oh, and because I don’t eat organic food, there’s no chance that I should be considered to be a “healthy person”, right?

Wrong!

I actually feel fantastic! I have lots of energy and I’m motivated to lift heavier and work harder then ever before. In fact, my body tends to feel worse when I take a day off from the gym and my digestive system tends to punish me for days when I have a so-called “cheat meal”.

Building a Better Body By LISTENING to Your Body

I’ve always been a firm believer that no one knows our own bodies better then we do. This is something that I always tell every single client that comes to work with us. I don’t care how many years of experience I have working on the floor and online with the general public or how many fancy degrees your physiotherapist has hanging on his or her wall, or how well versed your Chiropractor or RMT is with acute and chronic back pain. NO ONE will ever know your own body as much as you do.

With that said, then why would you ever second guess yourself as to how to treat your body properly? Sure there are many health care professionals in the fitness industry that can assist you with accomplishing your fitness goals, teach you how to rehabilitate your injuries properly, and design a structured training program and well balance nutritional plan specifically for you. However unless you do your own due diligence and learn to listen to your body during the entire process, you will never succeed.

Be Proactive

Injuries suck. There’s no getting around it. Whether you’ve strained your back, fractured a disc, tore your quad or have had a concussion, working through an injury can be difficult. But the one thing that irritates me the most when a person is injured is that they rarely if ever do anything about it themselves. What I mean by this is that most people who injure themselves tend to rely too much on having someone else fix their injury for them. Now obviously if you’ve tore your quad you’re going to need to have surgery done to put it back together by a surgeon. And it’s a good idea to go see your Doctor if you are experiencing concussion like symptoms. And by all means if you’ve fractured a disc or strained your back, then it might be wise to book a session with a chiropractor or RMT. However if you’re under the impression that a couple of visits to your local health care professional will correct the issue while you do nothing on your own to rehabilitate the injury yourself, then you are in for a LONG recovery process.

Although I’ve never been seriously injured (knock on wood), I have dealt with my fair share of aches and pains along the years. And I’ve always found that the quickest and most effective way to correct and treat these injuries is by listening to my body and giving it what it needs. And regardless of what the injury is, I ensure that I’m proactive by working on the injury on a daily basis. I do this through a combination of stretches, exercises, ice and heat compressions, and natural medication if needed. I don’t rely on drugs and doctors to fix my problems, I rely on my common sense and research that I gather to help heal myself faster.

One Man’s Thoughts

I want to be clear and state that I don’t think that Chiropractors, Physiotherapists, RMTS and Doctors are useless. On the contrary, I believe that many of these people can play a significant role and be of the utmost of assistance when it comes to helping someone work through an injury. But the key word here is “ASSISTANCE”. These people cannot single handedly fix your problems for you, they can only assist you. You need to be the person that is willing to do your back stretches when you’re not at the Chiropractor’s office. You need to be the person that is willing to do your active release mobility work at home when you don’t have an appointment booked with your Physiotherapist. And You need to be the person who pays attention to your health, gets plenty of exercise and practices proper nutrition when your Doctor is not around to remind you to do it.

I’ve been working in the fitness industry for almost twenty years. I help people build muscle, lose body fat, improve their overall health and wellbeing. I help people transform their physiques for the better. I help people with their diets by teaching them how to eat properly for their body type, age, gender and possible health issues that they deal with on a daily basis. But I can’t make my clients lift heavier weights. I can’t make my clients clean up their diets. And I can’t make my clients  exercise on their own and pay attention to their diets for the remaining 23 hours in a day when they are not with me. Only they can do this. I can only assist them.

“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”
Stephen Convey