A Painful Lesson

Happy New Year, and I hope it is off to a great start.

I wanted to share a story with all of you that I believe shows how oftentimes we have to go through some difficult circumstances in pursuit of our goal.

A few days ago I was working out in the gym. When I started the workout I knew something was wrong, but I wasn't exactly sure what it was. Something just felt off. I chose to ignore the feeling and continue on with my workout.
I almost always finish my back workout with deadlifts, however I kept getting this feeling that I shouldn't do them.
Once again I ignored the feeling. This turned out to be a very painful mistake.

During my final set of deadlifts, I pulled the bar up to my knees when I suddenly felt and heard a pop from my lower back. I dropped the bar and fell back. Interestingly enough, I pulled my lower back muscle last December during my final set of deadlifts. This time it was also a pulled lower back muscle (and possibly a herniated disc).

As I was laying there wondering what went wrong a trainer came up to me. He asked me if I was okay, and after that proceeded to lecture me on why I shouldn't lift heavy, why I shouldn't work out too hard. Eventually I managed to get up, and go home, although I wore a weight belt for the rest of the day. The pain was fairly intense the first night and the next morning but, now I am feeling much better.

What are the lessons from this story?

1. Trust your intuition. I should have listened to my intuition, and not done the deadlifts. While in pursuit of any goal your intuition will guide you to what is right, and what is wrong.
2. Everyone has opinions. The trainer's lecture will not stop me from attaining my deadlifting goals. As you pursue your goals people will tell you that you can't do it or that you shouldn't do it. Only you can decide what you can and can not do.
3. Persistence. As I said last December I pulled my lower back muscle. I was chasing after a deadlift goal of 495lbs. About three months after that injury I hit my 495lb deadlift goal. I will come back from this injury stronger than ever. We all encounter obstacles and set backs on the way to achieving our goals. I look at them as tests, testing our desire. How bad do we really want whatever it is that we are going after? Do not let those obstacles and set backs stop you from achieving your dream.

Until next time....