Another plus, it puts you more in tune with your body. I woke up last week feeling unbelievably fatigued and unmotivated. My squats at 135 last week felt heavy. Hell, my deadlifts at 95lbs felt like 200. I lifted Monday and Tuesday, and then rested pretty much all week other than my rehab exercises. I've been working my ass off on regaining a lot of lost strength, and my body simply needed a rest. And that's ok. You can't PR every week. I also inflamed my bursa which felt awful, but nothing some ice and rest couldn't help.
It's also a mental game and at times, a complete mental mindf$ck. Sometimes my shoulder will pop so hard I have to sit down. It doesn't hurt per se, but it's startling. It makes a "da-dunk-dunk" sound akin to driving over railroad tracks. In everything I do, I wonder what affect it has on my shoulder. With the Glenoid Dysplasia being degenerative in its nature, and adding in all the things I do, I often wonder what exactly am I doing to my shoulder? Am I tearing the cartilage again? Am I creating more bone spurs? What about the bone on bone wear I already have? How long do I have before I need this one replaced? It's hard not to think about it. More often than not, I acknowledge it, make sure what I'm currently doing isn't causing any pain or discomfort, if it is I fix it or stop doing whatever it is, and then go about my business.
I still have a hard time coming to terms with certain things. Like not doing push-ups. EVER. Yeah, I can sorta do one to get off of the ground, and maybe demo one once in a great while. Burpees. Yeah, burpees. The things I would do to be able to do a burpee. Pretty much any "press" or "push" type movement is out of the picture, forever. Oh, me hitting the bag the other week? Terrible idea. It didn't hurt doing it, but the next day I felt like I'd been hit in the back and shoulder blade region with a baseball bat. Those sprawls I did last Friday? That was incredibly dumb. Felt the shoulder bones clang together. Really, I did, and it was gross. But, I have come to terms that my shoulder, lats and pec will be tight forever. That I will need to do soft tissue work before and after every workout, and I will need to ice everything several times a week forever. I will say, any soreness I have now is mostly muscle related, not in the actual joint anymore.
The downside, if you call it that, is I am incredibly apathetic to excuses or lack of not wanting to do certain exercises. (For those of you who I know are truly injured, this doesn't pertain to you.) Until you literally cannot do something for the rest of your life, you'll never know how much you'll miss it. It makes me angry when people don't try and jump straight to the word "CAN'T". "CAN'T" shouldn't in your vocabulary unless there is something terribly wrong. In that case, physical therapy or getting a doctor's opinion may be a wiser choice than pushing through a workout. For perspective, I completed a biathlon set last August on a torn, bone on bone shoulder. Was it smart? Decidedly not. Did I know the severity of my injury? No. Was I too damn stubborn to quit? Yes. I set out to prove only that I could do it for MYSELF, no one else. I knew going into the competition that my shoulder was jacked up and I likely wouldn't be lifting for a long time, so I made damn sure it couldn't and that I wouldn't set the bell down - the only way that thing would leave my hands early is if I dropped or lost it. Of course not realizing that I still wouldn't be able to do a serious kettlebell sport set a year later. Maybe I'm tougher than most, maybe that's from fighting or not being babied growing up. I'm not saying work through terrible injuries - you need to know your limits - but if possible, TRY. Giving up without TRYING or because you are unable to complete an exercise in it's proper form YET is only cheating yourself. And remember, YET is far different than CAN'T.
There are a ton of exercises I hate, but I do them, or I did some them when I was able. You'll never know how much you'll miss doing a certain movement until you really cannot do them ever again.
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