Today, I share a client’s story with you because you need to know that you can listen to your body and trust yourself without fear that you aren’t doing enough to achieve the body you desire.

Not only is it doable, but it is also the only way if you want to be in the game long term.

I hope this story gives you insight and permission to follow your body’s intelligence in a way that feels good and keeps you moving well for the rest of your life.

Tracy was in her early 30’s when she found me. She was a mom of three and she looked fit, described herself as so, and made it very clear that she was not willing to lose her fitness level. She only wanted to improve her posture while she continued doing what she was doing.

She had been working with a trainer for a few years. She told me that he provided accountability for workouts that kicked her ass in a way that she would never do on her own. He had been telling her that her posture would get better as they worked together, but, she felt it was declining.

She never missed her workouts, but, she didn’t do any exercise on her own.

Tracy filled out her health history form checking all no’s for any pain, injury or health concerns of any kind. She felt like she was in the best shape of her life.

The initial evaluation with Tracy uncovered multiple insidious pains that she wasn’t even calling pain because she had had them for so long, they were just part of her life. She couldn’t hold a normal posture without pain.

This is often the case. People don’t report all pain as pain. Pain is pain, no matter how long you have had it or how insignificant you think it is. Pain is your body’s way of getting your attention. If you ignore the feather, it will hit you with a boulder eventually.

What she was doing with her trainer was not the right exercise choice for her. Her body was loud and clear.

I don’t want you to mistakenly think I am saying a particular exercise is bad. Whether something is bad or good needs a lot more context and depends on the individual following the program, not the program itself. What was happening in her workouts was obviously hurting her body.

She was not proficient in the fundamental human movements that, in an ideal world, we should all be able to perform well, but most of us could improve. The moves in her program were complex and the intensity too high. Without owning the basic human moves, complexity and intensity can be disastrous. Her nervous system was maxed and she wasn’t recovering between workouts.

Her workouts were reinforcing her postural complaints and making for some really strong dysfunctional movement patterns.

She was afraid to change anything about her workouts because they had changed her body from a look she felt bad about to a look she felt good about.

Or did they? She was very unhappy with her posture. So much so that she was seeking someone to work on only posture with her. The workouts decreased her body fat but were actually working against not only how she looked but were detrimental to her well-being.

She felt like a warrior to be able to make it through workouts that were intense. I get it. I am a fan of the feeling that nothing can stop you. But, pain will you eventually.

To my surprise, she hired me.

She did not give up her training with the sarge guy at first. She heard me, but she wasn’t convinced yet.

I got her to cut back with him. I worked on improving her fundamental moves. I showed her how good she could feel at the end of a workout and how moving well at a lower intensity than she was used to could “kick her ass” in a way she had never experienced.

There was one big difference in our workouts together versus the workouts with sarge.

With me, she showed up in pain and the pain would be gone at the end of the workout.

With Sarge, she would go to sessions feeling good and come out feeling like shit.

Sarge is under the bus and I didn’t throw him there. I showed her what is possible. It required a lot of patience on my part.

We have been together now for about 12 years. It was a conversation we had last week that inspired me to write this.

We laugh about some of the things she would fight me on back then. I said “humor me” a lot and she said “holy shit” a lot. The exercises would kick her butt in a whole new way and it would surprise her.

She said the biggest thing she has learned from me is that the only way to truly progress is to accept where you are. Pain and all. Sometimes what looks like regression is actually moving you forward.

I felt like the heavens opened up.

This, my friends, is what I want for everyone. Including myself.

I spread this message all the time. I used to talk about it ad nauseum. It’s not an easy sell in this noisy ass industry.

Ego has no place in health, but it gets involved a lot. It’s a sneaky little bugger.

I remind myself of this regularly, albeit, sometimes after I have ignored what my body was actually telling me because my head was too busy telling me what I should be doing.

1. If you hire help, make sure it’s the right fit.

2. Insidious pain is pain and you should not ignore it.

3. Moving well should always be the number one priority.

I am starting a free members-only group because I want to help people move better so that they enjoy moving more. It’s in the embarrassingly small beginning stages which means I will have more time to give members personal attention and your participation will help me build something that is based around you!

Join me. You won’t regret it. Sign up below.