Return Of The Mack

Well that was  a hell of a hiatus. It was long enough that some people even texted me to ask if I was ever going to update my blog again.

Why do these hiatuses (hiati?) occur? Well I get busy sometimes. Several things have occurred over the past several weeks that have prevented me from really sitting down and writing. I was training and playing volleyball at the same time, resulting in the over-arching need for naps. My dear mother was briefly ill. I started training full-time at my gym, school started and Kelsi moved back to Ohio a few weeks ago. I have always been quite the creature of habit and all of these things independently and combined caused a multitude of ripples in my comfortable little pond that threw me way off track.

It wasn't just in my writing, either. My diet has been shit for the last few weeks and my training has been null and void. School and work are diabolically joining forces like Lex Luthor and Magneto to effectively kill the time I have to lift, which is really bugging the shit out of me. I like lifting, a lot. It makes me feel better. It allows me to blow off steam. I enjoy the process of going from point A to point B and reaching a goal. Not having the time to do it is annoying. That's just one of the things that is annoying me lately though, allow me to expound on some of them.

One of my least favorite things on the planet is when I take out a weight for a client and they say "oh that's too heavy". I'll respond by asking if they even know what exercise we are doing, and they will say "well, no, I don't."

....THEN HOW DO YOU KNOW IT'S TOO DAMNED HEAVY????

That is simply a negative attitude towards training and won't help the cause in any way shape or form. You're here and paying me for a reason: my "expertise". Please allow me to exert said expertise and choose a correct weight for you.

In the same vein, I've been experiencing more and more new clients who see someone else performing a particular movement or exercise and say "oh well I'll never do that". Uhhhh....why not? Most commonly I've had this happen when viewing someone perform a loaded carry or a sled drag. Me: "Well these are basic human movements that are actually very scalable and important for your body." Client "Well it looks hard. When am I going to need to drag something behind me?" Truthfully, I don't know. But I know it's really good for you and your shitty knees. And I know that when you DO have to drag something behind you you're going to be happy that we did these.

Lastly, I get really annoyed when people say that they are coming to see me instead of their Physical Therapist. Now, let me say that I think a lot of PT's suck and are just collecting a check. Too often I see someone come in with some standard sheet of people that was printed out by their PT that they give to everybody with knee pain, regardless of symptoms. Despite that fact, they are still Doctors of Physical Therapy and I'm just The Mike. PT's have a certain scope of practice that I just can't (and wouldn't feel comfortable) delving into. If you need to see a PT, please go see a PT. Don't come to me and put that on my shoulders, because it's not fair. As good as I am, I'm not a replacement for a physical therapist.

I'm moderately apologetic that my first post back is a rant post. Shit happens, deal with it. I'll start to get back into the swing of things and write about all the good stuff that you folks love.

Have a great day and go lift some heavy shit!