i took ibuprofen – i never do that

I’ve kind of been on a theme lately of listening to your body and being aware of what is going on with your body. I am preparing for my Kettlebell recertification in September. I don’t have a ton of time, but I feel I have enough time. Until yesterday. Now I feel like I don’t have enough time. This is just the being pissed off part of me talking. I know I have no control over what happens and I am okay with that. I am trying to stay positive and roll with the flow of how my body responds. Right now though, my muscles are extremely angry!

I don’t like when people constantly say they are getting old and so they have all kinds of aches and pains. I feel like we can stay healthy, provided we take care of our bodies and ourselves. Meaning, staying mobile, staying healthy, and listening to what our bodies are trying to tell us. Kind of like I should have!

The last few weeks, I can tell my body has been trying to tell me something, but I haven’t been able to pinpoint what it is. I had a headache for pretty much three days straight. For those of you who know me, you know I don’t take any medications. I let the headache ride. It finally went away, but I still was not sure what it was trying to tell me. Dehydrated maybe? Something else going on maybe? I just don’t know.

Last Friday I had a massage, which happened to be right in the middle of my massive headache. The massage was not the most enjoyable because of the headache. But, another clue my body was giving me was my lower back area. When my massage therapist got to my lower back, right above the glue area, it hurt to the touch. I didn’t know why. I couldn’t tell what was up. Again, I don’t know what my body was trying to tell me. She concentrated a little on that area. I can tell when she feels something in my body. If you’ve ever had a massage where someone actually knows what they are doing, they find all the shit that is going on in your body. All the little inflammation spots. All the little knots. All the little bubbles. All the little things that don’t feel the greatest. All the little clues.

I have been feeling off for the past couple weeks. Maybe run down. Maybe stressed. I’m just not sure. I just can’t pinpoint it. It is actually kind of annoying me, but I am trying to be patient.

On Tuesday, my workout consisted of Turkish Get Ups. Only Turkish Get Ups. A pyramid of them. They felt awesome while I was doing them. That next day though, my lower back hurt and I could tell I was out of place. I went and got adjusted and it felt pretty good, but then just kept getting worse and worse. When I woke up this morning, I could feel that I had obviously strained some muscles and they were mad as hell. I could barely move. It hurt to turn over. It hurt to do anything. I was pissed. This could not be happening now. What the hell did I do? How am I going to get out of bed? Well, that was interesting. I got over on my stomach, slid my legs off the bed and pushed myself to standing. The first step I could feel the pain. I almost fell over. FUCK!! Going downstairs was fun. It sure was not the usual way. It was one foot stepping down, then the other foot on the same stair, shuffling all the way down. All 16 of them. OUCH! I finally got downstairs and immediately got ice on my back. That helped a little bit, but I can still feel the pain.

I went over my training session in my head. I don’t remember ever twisting when I was loaded, but I can remember a few reps that weren’t quite “tight” enough. When you do kettlebells as long as I have, you hear things in your body. I actually remember thinking that I needed to slow down a little and get tighter. Today, I am paying for that. I am paying for not listening to my body. I am paying for not hearing my body. I didn’t listen to my muscles screaming at me. I’m pissed about it. I’m pissed that I am losing precious training days in preparation for my recertification.

I am looking for the lesson here. It’s really a pretty easy one. Moral of this story is I should have listened to my body. It’s been telling me something for weeks and I just haven’t slowed down long enough to listen. Now, I have no choice but to listen.

When your body is giving you warning signals, make sure you listen to them. Our bodies truly are amazing, if we only listen to them. I will be listening more closely to what my body is trying to tell me. I will slow down when I need to. I will take a rest day when my body is trying to tell me I need to take a rest day. Make sure you do the same.

I took ibuprofen. I never do that.