Prior to finding out I had arthritis and hip anatomy that looked like it belonged to a 74 year old, I was trying everything I could to improve the pain and mobility in my hips.
For the longest time I was avoiding lifting weights with the painful side, as there is a philosophy within the training industry that preaches that you shouldn't add strength to a faulty movement pattern.
After following Craig Liebenson (Kobe Bryant's Physiotherapist) for a long time, and what seemed like years of doing all of the corrective exercises in the book, I decided to reach out.
I hired him for two reasons.
First, I wanted to get out of pain and figure out what was going on with my mobility.
Second, I knew he did brilliant work that I could learn from and apply to what we do at our gym, and goodness did he over deliver.
To my surprise, within minutes of our first session (this was via zoom), he asked me to grab the heaviest weight I had at home. My trainer alarms were going off in my head and I was kind of confused, but I obviously went and got the 55lb kettlebell I had in the basement.
I've learned so much from him, but here are a few things that really have changed the way I approach movement and dealing with pain:
Not all pain = harm
It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the load you aren't prepared for
Within our first session I had felt better and was able to perform movements I hadn't been able to do in months. I kept working with him on my hip, and ended up doing a mentorship program with him for several months.
I want you to know that you do not have to buy into the ideologies that our culture has adopted.
Pain is not a pre-requisite to the aging process.
Becoming overweight is not a pre-requisite to the aging process.
There are things you can do to slow and ultimately reverse this trend.
