{"id":1157,"date":"2026-06-12T03:23:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T03:23:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xrpfaucet.site\/?p=1157"},"modified":"2026-06-12T03:23:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T03:23:18","slug":"repeated-nerd-fitness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xrpfaucet.site\/?p=1157","title":{"rendered":"Repeated. | Nerd Fitness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div itemprop=\"text\">\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Repeated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I came home after coaching my son&#8217;s soccer, ran up the stairs and instantly felt it. My back seized up and locked up.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And immediately the feeling of immersion struck:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"quote-solid\">\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;Not again. I had it so good.&#8221;<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And I <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">was<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">    everything is fine. It&#8217;s been about 2 years without a major flare-up, about 4 times longer than the average for most of my 30 years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you&#8217;ve been following me for a while, you know I&#8217;ve been dealing <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nerdfitness.com\/blog\/when-your-body-wont-cooperate\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">lower back pain for over 20 years<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">    due to congenital spinal stenosis and previous injuries. So I&#8217;ve become pretty good at reading the warning signs, so I know when I&#8217;ve pushed too hard and need to back off.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This time I noticed. I was cautious. And it still happened.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But this is what I want to share with you today.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>When you&#8217;re in pain, or stuck, or feel like you&#8217;ve lost your way &#8211; especially if it&#8217;s happened before &#8211; it&#8217;s so easy to feel like that&#8217;s the way it&#8217;s going to be from now on. Forever.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I see this with my coaching clients all the time. People dealing with chronic pain or conditions such as POTS or RA. But so are people dealing with tendinitis, or a tough week at work that ruined their workout streak, or stress that threw them off track with their meals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The thought goes like this:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"quote-solid\">\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;Here we go again. I just can&#8217;t go on like this.&#8221;<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But this is not true. It&#8217;s simple <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">feels<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">    true at the moment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The evidence almost always says otherwise. And that&#8217;s why sometimes we need help in rebuilding our internal dialogue. Because, left to its own devices, your brain will happily ignore any evidence that doesn&#8217;t fit the story it&#8217;s telling: &#8220;I&#8217;m doomed.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here&#8217;s what I keep reminding myself (and what I wish I could tell you, too):<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2705 <\/span><b>You are more knowledgeable about your situation than you think.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By this point, you&#8217;ve found some things that help. Or, almost as valuable, you found things that <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">no need<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">    to help In any case, the pool of unknowns is shrinking. It&#8217;s progress, even if it&#8217;s not.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, I know that I need to do short, repetitive, light movements throughout the day to manage pain and restore function. But that there is no &#8220;magical&#8221; exercise that does this, and what my body needs each day will be different, so I need to be patient while I figure out what feels good <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">today<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. I used to feel lost and overwhelmed by the idea. Now I know I just have to go through the process.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2705 <\/span><b>Each flash taught me something.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sometimes it&#8217;s physical (movement to avoid, movement to help). Sometimes it&#8217;s mental (a story I keep telling myself, but it&#8217;s not really doing me any good). Sometimes it&#8217;s just more empathy for others dealing with chronic pain and issues. I try to walk away from each one with at least one new piece of the puzzle.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2705 <\/span><b>You can&#8217;t hurry. You can&#8217;t force it.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is the hardest for me. I want a schedule. I think it gives me a sense of certainty and control when I feel most vulnerable. But sometimes the most important step is to commit to the process and not pile guilt, fear or anxiety on top of what is already a difficult week.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>But &#8220;giving up&#8221; doesn&#8217;t mean &#8220;doing nothing.&#8221;<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can&#8217;t rush the process, but you do <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">it is possible<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">    always finds its own <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nerdfitness.com\/blog\/back-on-track\/\"><b>NAW is your next available win<\/b><\/a><b>.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not a giant comeback plan. Not the &#8220;I&#8217;ll be back to 100% by next Monday&#8221; pressure. Just the next little thing you can do <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">right now<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">    which breaks the spiral.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For me, this week&#8217;s NAWs looked like this:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Becomes on a heating pad<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sending a message to my doctor<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wasting <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nerdfitness.com\/blog\/5-minute-mobility\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">5 minutes on the floor<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">    making a few gentle movements<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I write down my thoughts so that they don&#8217;t go around in my head \ud83d\ude05<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That&#8217;s all. A few trifles. None of them &#8220;fixed&#8221; anything. But each rejected me <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">which act on<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">    on the situation to <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">performing one small action within it<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your NAW will look different depending on what you use:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stuck on food after a hard week? Your NAW can jot down an idea for the next meal or go back to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nerdfitness.com\/blog\/backup-plans\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">go to food<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">    when you are short on time and energy.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Missed a few workouts? Your NAW can be a 10-minute snack rather than a full-blown &#8220;I&#8217;ll do double tomorrow&#8221; comeback. (This <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">almost always backfires<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a mental spiral? Your NAW can write it down, talk to someone, or take something simple from yours <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nerdfitness.com\/blog\/nourishment-menu\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Food menu<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A flash is a flash. The story you tell yourself <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">about<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">    flash &#8211; and the next little thing you decide to do is where you actually have control.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So if you&#8217;re going through a tough time right now, whether it&#8217;s pain, injury, a disrupted routine, or just a season where things seem harder than they need to be, I know exactly how it feels.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It&#8217;s not forever. You&#8217;ve been back before. You will come back.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What is there <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">your<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">    next available win? \ud83d\udcaa<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You got it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211; Coach Matt<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PS If you are experiencing an aggravation or injury, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nerdfitness.com\/coaches\/damienallen\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Coach Damien<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">    someone on our team that I trust, who works with people on these things every day. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nerdfitness.com\/find-my-coach\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Take our little practice quiz<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">    to find out who is right for you.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Repeated. I came home after coaching my son&#8217;s soccer, ran up the stairs and instantly felt it. My back seized up and locked up. And immediately the feeling of immersion struck: &#8220;Not again. I had it so good.&#8221; And I was everything is fine. It&#8217;s been about 2 years without a major flare-up, about 4 &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[152],"class_list":["post-1157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-newsletter"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xrpfaucet.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xrpfaucet.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xrpfaucet.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xrpfaucet.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xrpfaucet.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xrpfaucet.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xrpfaucet.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xrpfaucet.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xrpfaucet.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xrpfaucet.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}