What’s the Alternative?
People know I’m into fitness, lifting, and healthy eating, and that means I have a lot of conversations about these topics. Well, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that I listen to a lot of people explain to me why they can’t workout, lift weights, eat right, or really do anything that’s positive for their health. A common theme in most of these conversations is the person explaining to me that their knees prevent them from performing exercise of any kind.
“I used to run three our four miles but since I turned 35 my knees just hurt too much.”
“Squatting is bad for you knees, and my knees are already bad so I can’t squat.”
“You should feel lucky you still have young knees.”
“Doesn’t that hurt your knees?”
“Once you turn 30 you won’t be squatting anymore. Too hard on the knees.”
“My hips and knees ain’t what they used to be.” (This was said to me by a guy who is 28 years old and works a desk job).
The theme among many of these excuses is that seemingly everyone in the world apparently has bad knees, but you could substitute hips, back, shoulder, or any other body part in place of knees and it would still hold true for many people. Everyone has their ailments, aches, and pains. I understand that some people are born with genetic defects or terrible diseases that cause constant and/or excruciating pain, but the question remains the same though.
What’s the alternative?
So your knee/hip/back/whatever hurts. Are you just done? That’s it. Call it a life. Your physical ability to feel strong and healthy is just gone forever. It cannot be recovered. Better spend most of your day sitting in a chair and never lift anything greater than 10 pounds. Maybe pick up an opioid addiction to really numb out the pain. Let your body deteriorate and muscles atrophy to the point where you are not physically prepared to do anything other than sleep, get ready for work, sit in the car on the way to work, sit at work for eight hours straight, sit in the car on the way home from work, and then sit in front of the television before going back to sleep.
No way. Forget all that. Your body wants to move. Your body wants to be strong. The best way to fight pain is with physical strength. Donnie Thompson is a world record powerlifter and the first man to ever total 3,000 pounds in a powerlifting meet. He’s also very much into prehab, rehab, mobility, and recovery. One time I saw an interview of Donnie where he was talking about someone at his gym who had a bad back as a result of a car accident. Donnie told the guy, “Look, you can be weak and in pain, or you can be strong and in less pain.” I know which one I would choose. That’s a no-brainer.
When most people are in pain, they don’t want to do anything but lay around on their ass not moving. I realize there may be a time and place for this behavior, like shortly after a surgery or other catastrophic event, but those times are rare.
I realize that it’s scary and counterintuitive to have someone say that if you’re in pain, you need to be training, but it’s also true. And I’m not talking about training through pain at all costs or trying to prove how tough you are by ego lifting. I’m talking about just getting moving and being willing to endure a little bit of pain and discomfort for long term results and quality of life.
If your knees hurt, you might just find that squatting and getting stronger fixes them.
If your back hurts, you might just find that deadlifting and getting stronger fixes it.
If your shoulders hurt, you might just find that overhead pressing and getting stronger fixes them.
Now I’m not telling you that if you have a serious injury or are completely untrained, you should load a barbell up and go crazy. Squatting for you might start with getting in and out of a chair. Your deadlifts might be picking up a light kettlebell or dumbbell off the floor. As my high school football coach Brad Grayvold used to say, “It’s not where you start. It’s where you finish.”
The point of starting is that, well, you’re starting. Just get moving. Make some progress. Begin to load exercises a little bit at a time. If one specific exercise hurts, find something else that works the same muscles but doesn’t hurt. All of it will improve your physical, mental, and emotional strength. Your confidence and quality of life will be enhanced in ways you cannot imagine.
After all…What’s the alternative?