S03E39 THE ATHLETE I ADMIRE MOST
Last week I talked to an athlete at the gym and I decided I admire this person the most, and I wanted to talk about it.
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S03E39 THE ATHLETE I ADMIRE MOST
[00:00:00] Sam Rhee: There are a couple of other topics that I want to talk about on this podcast, but last week at the gym I talked to an athlete and I realized that this athlete is the one that I most admire, and I just needed to talk about this person. Okay, so maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but the qualities that this athlete embodies are definitely the ones that I value the most as someone who cares about fitness,
I hadn't seen this athlete in a couple months, and so when I saw them back at the gym, I said hi and said it was awesome to see them and asked how they were doing. When, I don't know exactly why I haven't seen someone in a while at the gym, I try not to pry because there can be so many reasons, both good and bad, why they haven't been around.
The athlete said that they hadn't been at the gym and they just started back up after two months because they felt some pain and tightness in their lower back two months ago after a workout. Not enough to be excruciating, but they had experienced something similar in the past, so they said they took three weeks off, did light cardio at home and some biking, and got treatment from their care provider about one or two times a week. After three weeks when the pain and tightness in the lower back resolved, did they go right back to the gym like I would have? No, they actually did the gym workouts at home carefully and scaling the movements for another three weeks until they ramped back up to where they felt that they could work out safely at the gym. Now you could say, why didn't they just come to the gym to scale and ramp up there?
But some don't have the ability and equipment at home, or a lot of athletes like me get caught up and they don't listen to their bodies when they're in a group setting. We're like greyhounds when we see that rabbit and you just want to go.
So after doing another three weeks of modified gym workouts at home, the athlete came back and was moving just fine. No one actually even knew what was going on. The athlete didn't tell anyone, no drama, just knew what they had to do. Followed a process that got them back to FITNESSING again. And let me tell you, this athlete is one of the more fit, high level athletes at our gym.
They've been doing CrossFit for a very long time. What's even more interesting is that this athlete had a major sudden scary injury at the gym while working out maybe one and a half to two years ago, and that required surgery. Rehab took almost a year, and this athlete came back after that and was coming in four to five times a week, performing at one of the highest levels in workouts until about two months ago.
Now, after this episode, they're continuing to fitness and make CrossFit a part of their everyday life. Now, injuries happen all the time in CrossFit and in life. I've seen people develop heel bone spurs walking in the park, or chronic knee and back pain from riding a bike.
I've even had to take care of several patients who tripped and sustained significant facial trauma just from walking into a restaurant and falling onto a curb. Injuries are an unavoidable part of active life and fitness.
What I admire the most about this athlete is they never thought about quitting, never thought about stopping their fitness, and they never thought about quitting CrossFit. That never even entered their head. They did what they had to do to get back. Their injury and rehab was not broadcast to the world.
There was no drama, and there are several great athletes at my gym who have gone through the exact same thing. Major injuries requiring surgery. Long rehab, now back to working out and performing at a high level. The thought of stopping never entered their heads.
They were deliberate and smart about what they needed to do to rehabilitate and heal safely. They never tried to push beyond their limits or let ego dictate their health. These are the athletes that I admire.
I have seen other athletes go through the same process, quit CrossFit, sometimes quit exercising altogether and give up on that part of their life, or they found some other way to exercise because they felt CrossFit was not safe. Unfortunately, any exercise modality carries risk and in my opinion, CrossFit is as safe or unsafe as anything else out there. A lot of times it was these athletes egos, they were concerned they would not be as good of an athlete at the gym. They wouldn't be one of the best, or that they felt like they wouldn't be respected after coming back. So they found something else where they felt they could be good in it. So their egos weren't bruised and hurt along with their bodies.
Sometimes these athletes made it about their unfortunate circumstance, their suffering, and they focused on the fact that this was somehow unfair or a raw deal was handed to them, and the gym or the workout or CrossFit in general was the problem. It wasn't their fault, or more importantly, it wasn't their responsibility that this happened.
I sympathize with anyone who has sustained an injury and needs to go through that process of healing and rehabilitating, and fortunately, I've never needed to go through something major yet.
But if I do, or when I do, I know that I have role models that I want to follow in terms of how I will recover and come back. I will try to never blame others or the circumstances around me. I will try to take responsibility for whatever I can do with a minimum of drama and self-pity.
And I will try to shed my ego and be grateful for whatever I can do on my fitness journey. Do you know anyone you admire who's gone through a similar process? How have you dealt with your injuries in fitness? Do you struggle with finding the right process for recovery with an injury or chronic issue?
Let me know. DM me @BotoxAndBurpeesPodcast on Instagram. Thank you.
