You have done your pre-test. You have done your shopping for healthy foods. You have prepared your meals. You actually have started. You are doing fine for a couple of weeks. There is soreness(expected), then
there is that pain.  That pain that started as a dull thud, but now has become a full all out assault on your body. Or you have been doing fine for a couple of weeks, but you moved a certain way that caused more than just a “tweak” in your back, it actually made you buckle.  Your mind is telling you that you can continue, just not as hard as before, but it seems as if any movement makes the pain worse. If this is happening to you, it may be time to take an extreme fitness break.

We know, we know you have the momentum, you have been waiting for this moment, you may even see results and you do not want to stop.  However, it must always be considered that we MUST take the LONG TERM approach to our fitness when it comes to our bodies. Whenever, we have a pull or a strain in our bodies there is a feelingof not just soreness, but a “tearing”. This “tearing” not only affects us when we are working out, but when we are at work, home with the kids. This is when we need to put down our extreme fitness program for a little while.

How long is a little while you say? well, depending on the pain, one day to one week may be necessary for recovery of the body.  It is always better to rest your body, than to continue while injured and make the pain worse, then we will have to take the last step.  The last step occurs when we have not just injured ourselves, but we have been debilitated by the pain.

This is when we need to go to the Dr’s office.  This is especially true when we have reinjured ourselves with an old “college” injury, or something that has plagued us for a long period of time.  We encourage you to go to the Dr’s office because it is better to take 4 weeks to recover, than to be UNABLE TO CONTINUE YOUR EXTREME FITNESS program forever.  This long term view of our bodies recovery should enable us to make the right decisions to stop and take care of the problem. 

We cannot tell you how many times, we have encountoured a client who started out with a dull “thud” in a part of their bodies, which they ignored. Then the thud became a pain, the person may have rested a day or two, but kept at the same pace and the pain became much worse. Instead of going to the Dr., they allowed it to become completelydebilitating and then they finally go to the Dr. to find out that they have completely ruined that part of their bodies and they can no longer do their favorite extreme fitness exercise.

The best advice with extreme fitness is to know when it is time to take a break. The break will be okay, you will be okay and most of all your body will thank-you later.

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