One of my knees gave me problems during my early days as a runner due to a mild fall ten years prior.  There was not any structural damage nor was surgery required.  Occasionally I’d feel mild pain in that knee, but nothing concerning.  Discomfort would set in at a higher level when my running level approached 10 miles a week.  This would have likely been the end of my running routine if it occurred a few years prior.  I was too soft back then and used it as an excuse.  In fact, I did use it as an excuse in the past to avoid working out.  Not this time around.

I went to the shoe store to have a professional sell me a shoe that would better support my joints.  I also learned about rebuilding knee cartilage by taking glucosamine.  I kept running.  After taking the supplement for 6 months and losing 70 pounds, the pain went away.  I’ve not experienced pain in that knee since that time while running over 11,000 miles.  I had to get past that limitation.  My knee felt better through exercise and it wasn’t supporting as much weight.  Fatty Matty’s weight reduction had so many benefits; losing a slight pain in my knee was one of them.

I stumbled on to the above left picture taken last June.  I’ve made it into a side by side with a picture taken just a few days ago.  Two observations:  1.  I look thinner even though I am the exact same weight.  2.  I look more physically fit.  Appearances were not goals for me, as they cannot be seen by the human eye.  I was in constant, daily pain last June.  I was much better shape than immediately after the accident, yet I started and finished each day with varying levels of pain.  I began noticing slight body composition changes while experiencing less pain.  This motivated me to work harder.  I saw it working concurrently and my efforts were paying off.  I wrote down all of my fitness and rehab goals, including small details such as how frequency of cryotherapy sessions and the number of squats I’d do.  I grinded every, single day.

I had an aha moment this morning.  I woke up without pain.  I stood up without any pain.  Mornings are usually the worst time, there is always some degree of pain.  Not today.  In fact, I started thinking to myself “when was the last time”?  I honestly have no idea—it was such a daily, gradual reduction.  I can recall having morning back pain in April, so we’ll just say since then.  Morning pain levels were pretty high in October, when I wrote about 631 mornings of waking up in pain.  I’m thankful for finally reaching this point.

What is holding you back from your goals?  Do you have some limitations?  Some pain?  I’m not telling you to start a fitness plan without a doctor, but perhaps your biggest limitation is in your head.   Maybe your limitation is an excuse.  And maybe you can actually overcome this limitation.  Do you think you’re going to feel better with age?  Have you given up and resigned yourself to living with it the rest of your life?  Have you accepted being overweight as normal even though you are not happy with it?  I challenge you to think about those things. I challenge you to go find a program.  What works for me won’t work for everyone.  Some people will have a starting line in their fitness journey miles behind my starting point.  But go do something…

For me, it’s consistently been three things:  Routine cryotherapy sessions, DDP Yoga and rehab/core workouts (assigned by my PT).  I feel so much better.  Go find yours.

Go get it.