No pain, no gain, right? WRONG!

Greetings and salutations everyone! I know that all of us have experienced some sort of pain caused by injury at some point in our lives, right? So, what do you do? Does it require an immediate trip to the doctor, do you rest, or do you push through?

Many people, myself included in the past, would just push through the pain. We would grit our teeth, hope that we 'worked out of it,' and push on. No pain, no gain, right? Sadly, it really should say, "Pain, no gain," simply because if you ignore it long enough, the pain is going to get louder and louder until you finally are forced to listen.

The problem is this...if you're anything like me, I LIKE to workout. In fact, it's a major part of my day that leaves me feeling good about myself. I feel sort of lost without exercise every day, even if it's just a walk with my dogs. There's a part of me that NEEDS to exercise. So, if I'm injured and need to rest, I have some major issues with the fact that I can't walk the dogs, do P90X, or push play with Chalene and Turbo Fire. Injuries just honk me off!

Alas, here I am again, injured (insert frustrated sigh here). On Monday afternoon I did my scheduled P90X Legs and Back workout, bright and early Tuesday morning I did a 30 minute HIIT, and by Tuesday afternoon, the front of my left shin felt like it was on fire. Wednesday was a rest day, so I didn't workout, but I did walk my 3 dogs for an hour. Just walking, right? I figured it would be no big deal. Sadly, by the end of the third mile with the third dog, I had to grit my teeth against the pain in my left leg just to make it home. My poor little pupster, James, couldn't quite figure out why mom was walking so blasted slow!

It's been four days and I'm SO sick of this. But here's the deal. When you're in pain, your body is screaming at you to listen up. If you hurt enough to notice it, you had better listen to what your body is trying to tell you. If you choose not to, a week of inconvenience may very well turn into a month or longer.

I did manage to do some push-ups and core work today, things that won't aggravate my left shin, and I am icing and stretching the injury like a good girl. I am feeling better...almost good enough to walk some dogs! But, I am going to force myself to stay immobile for a few more days to make sure that I've given my body time to heal.

Pain doesn't necessarily mean you're doing something right...pain means you'd better listen and you had better listen NOW!