Rack Up Advice - How to Tweak Your Life

I spend a lot of my spare time in the gym.  It’s not to compete in the “juicehead” competition at the Jersey Shore - it’s to keep structure in my life.

Life throws audibles at you by the second.  My gym routine, for the most part, is one of the only constants I have in it.  You could say the gym is my haven.  It’s where at times, I think the best. 

With any constant, one can develop a tendency to be stubborn.  For years, I have suffered from chronic shoulder pain, a result of a collarbone break when I played lacrosse in high school.  It affects my lifting, but I work through the pain.  Not once have I consulted a trainer about it - as i said, I’m stubborn and persistent and often feel like I can work through the pain myself.

Yesterday, upon watching me lift, one of the trainers at my gym approached me.  I usually shrug advice off from the trainers at my gym.  ”Hey guy - I’ve been doing this for years now - what can you teach me that I don’t know?!?”  He asked me if I have a shoulder injury.  I let him know that yes, there is pain from an athletic injury but I fight through it.  He then showed me a simple adjustment to my benching and showed me how I was favoring one shoulder because of the pain.  Reluctantly, I listened to his advice and proceeded with my workout.

Today is one of the first days in a long time where I feel no shoulder pain.

In life, it is easy to ignore advice and continue on your daily routines - that is what feels safe and comfortable after all.  But sometimes, all it takes it a slight tweak to make a huge difference.  You may be able to find that tweak yourself, but don’t be afraid to listen to others.  You aren’t always going to be right - it’s taken me almost 26 years for me to be able to admit that.  Others are there to help. After all, you can’t carry the weight of the world on your shoulders alone.  (See what I did there?)

A little change can make a huge impact!