Chronic pain and exercise

When dealing with chronic pain, it might be tempting to stop physical activity, especially when exercise increases the pain. But on the scale of best to worst ideas, stopping physical activity altogether is somewhere just below communism. As in, not excellent. Being physically active contributes to both physical and psychological […]

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The pain stories we tell

In 2012 I did, what I’d now call, a stupid, ego-fueled workout. In the middle of it, I felt a twinge in my low back, freaked the shit out and went home. The following day I woke up with nagging back pain. That morning I had this heavy sinking feeling […]

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Diet and chronic pain

How you eat plays a big part in your immune system. When you have an injury (or illness, for that matter), your immune system doses you up with some good ol’ inflammation to help the healing process. Once the injury’s healed, the immune system takes its foot off the inflammation […]

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Stress and chronic pain

This week’s all about reducing chronic pain by desensitising the nervous system. See yesterday’s email for context. — In 2015, we spent a month in Europe. We visited friends and family in Finland, got lost (and drunk) in Berlin, ate dumplings in Krakow, and felt incredible sadness in Auschwitz. Yet, […]

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Chronic pain is like an animal

Chronic pain is about as enjoyable as listening to Justin Bieber’s latest hit single on repeat while piecing together a 6-shelf cupboard from IKEA without instructions. In the dark. On a carpet made out of awkwardly pointed Legos. While being surrounded by active volcanoes. All pain sensations are produced in the […]

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That’s not about motivation

Somewhere along the way, we started thinking that motivation means we always feel like showing up. Yes, we need the motivation to start. To find our ‘why’ behind taking action. But that doesn’t mean we’ll always want to show up. A true problem with motivation arises when the ‘why’ is […]

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Friction

For eight months, I had a new, Costco-size bag of creatine sitting in the cupboard. Staring at me daily with its piercing orange label. For eight months, I had all the best intentions to open it tomorrow. Then tomorrow would come, and I’d think, I can’t even. I’ll do it […]

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You already have a jackhammer

If mental barriers hold you from where you want your health and fitness to be. Stopping you from becoming who you want to become. It’s easy to get lost in the oblivion of searching for the book, idea, guru, or cult that gives you the jackhammer to break through. But […]

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Qua Vadis?

When life gets busy, it’s easy to get caught up in the immediacy of existence. With our heads down, we focus on the task at hand. Life turns into survival-themed whack-a-mole. And sometimes this savage task-whacking is exactly what we need to get through. But when we’re stuck with our […]

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Seven or eight will do

There are many balls we keep in the air on any given day. Being a partner, parent, friend, daughter, son, our work, possible hobbies, causes we care about… They all demand and deserve some of our time and focus. And somehow we have to add health and fitness to our […]

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