Permission to do nothing: Embracing the “unfixable”

What do you do when it feels like life and your body are cheating on your if-then rules? When it feels like life and your body are breaking their pinky-swear-promise that if you “do the right stuff” and be a good girl or boy, then they will deliver all your rewards?

Keep Your Head In the Game: Dealing With the Mind-fuck of Injury & Illness

Unless it’s a truly horrific, traumatizing event (for instance, being run over by a steam roller driven by all those girls that made fun of you in high school), the worst part of an injury/illness isn’t the physical pain. Sure, physical pain can be epic. It can nag and nag and nag. You can get to a point where you’d truly consider eating a rat poison smoothie if you thought it’d bring pain relief. But usually, once you get past the immediate event and the first few days of acute pain, the worst part of any injury/illness is psychological.

You look ridiculous and everyone’s staring at you: Cheap tricks for crip fitness

One of the best ways to shake self-consciousness is to confront it head-on by doing something that looks bizarre and letting the normals stare. Here are a few of my favorite ridiculous exercises for crips, gimps, and other weirdos.

Back pain 3: Exercises for low back pain

Here are just a few tips and ideas for low back pain rehab and prevention exercises. If you are prone to LBP then I recommend including these as part of your regular workout program.

Troubleshooting

So, you’ve gotten the ball rolling and have tried your best to follow my advice, but dangnabit, you’re just not seeing the results you want. Or perhaps you feel like you’re doing something all wrong. Don’t be embarrassed about it! Most beginners, by virtue of being beginners, have trouble with one thing or another. I’ve screwed up in just about every way there is.

Patellofemoral syndrome

One of the most common problems for female trainers, particularly younger female trainers, is a loosely named constellation of symptoms known as patellofemoral pain syndrome or PF. It’s a term that refers somewhat nonspecifically to pain experienced in the knee around the area where the patella contacts the end of the femur. Here are some suggestions for self-rehab of this type of knee pain.

Back pain 1: Introduction to managing back pain

Sedentary living and working, excess bodyfat, especially concentrated around the midsection (which exerts a downward and forward pull on the low back), and a lack of regular physical activity.. a lot of us spend a lot of our jobs wearing an ass groove into a desk chair or car seat. It’s a recipe for DJS, or Desk Jockey Syndrome. The #1 symptom is low back pain.

Crac! Boum! Aiee! How not to bust yourself up

I’ve always loved the above quaint Quebecois notation for disaster, the onomatopoeic yet distinctively Gallic words that make catastrophes fun to discuss. To me, it’s become an all-purpose expression for any kind of unpleasant event involving personal injury, and a way to make light of an otherwise nasty occurrence.