“Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.” -- Dr. Spock

Dr. Spock, not Mr. Spock, though I do hope you live long and prosper.

Do you know your own body, do you trust what you know about your own body?

Back when I was training at a gym with a trainer, I was feeling rather confident that it would be the last time I'd ever be fat in my life.  I trusted that the trainer (a marathon runner) could get me to like running, get me to like lifting weights, etc.  I liked the fact that when something was hard for me that he'd get on the floor and do it along side me, or get on the elliptical next to me and go a mile with me.

But the thing is this -- when we were doing plank exercises, I couldn't hold the position for more than 30 seconds without feeling pain.  Not just weak "I can't do this" but actual, physical pain.  I tried to convey this to him and his response was that my core wasn't strong and that this would help.  Well... my core wasn't strong, and it wasn't helping.  I actually had 3 bulging discs in my lower back as well as degenerative disc disease (my spine was aging faster than I was).

By listening to him and doing these exercises (such as the cable machine reverse wood chopper, trunk twist, vertical knee raise with twist,  etc.) I was further injuring myself.

When it finally got to the point where I couldn't lie down without it hurting, I went to a chiropractor (orthopedists told me nothing was wrong, I was just overweight) and he said "I'm not touching you until you get an MRI."  I brought the images back to him and he pointed to one area of my back and said "this is where you hurt, right?"

Lemme tell you, I lost it.  I was crying my little eyeballs out.  Finally, someone knew that there was something actually wrong.  I wasn't just overweight or weak, I was broken.  To this day I'm thankful to that chiropractor for taking the time to listen.

And then he told me that he was amazed that I was actually walking around. I'll never forget that.  The trainer lead me to think I was so weak, and then the chiro (and the neurologist he works with) basically told me how badass I was to just walk.