Be humble, but don’t feel the need to downplay your achievements or lower your standards for your own personal development because of the people around you. Your success will only motivate, inspire and push them to work harder.
I use to get shin splints all the time when I run, skip or hike downhill for long periods of time. If you’ve had them, you know how agonizing they can be or annoying when it disrupts your workouts. I use to keep on pushing myself trying to work off the pain so it never got better but luckily, I’m not as stupid anymore. After getting it checked professionally and consistency in a recovery routine, I rarely get them anymore.
First off, what are shin splints?
Shin splits are basically when there is too much pressure being place on the inside of your shin bone (tibia) so that muscle (tibialis posterior) is literally being torn away from your bone. Sounds disgusting, huh? That’s why you should take it seriously.
Sudden shock is one of the culprits —running, hiking downhill and workouts with repeated landings and changes of directions. It fatigues your leg muscles, decreasing their ability to absorb the shock. Some other common causes are:
- Over-training and increasing intensity + duration too quickly
- Over-pronation or flat feet
- Muscle imbalances
- Bad form when running
- Worn out shoes with bad shock-absorption
This is a pain I use to try to brush off but it may also be a symptom for more serious issues and could get worse if left untreated. Mine peaked last summer as I was trying to perfect my double-unders. I went to a registered masseuse therapist because I was feeling knots all over and I also told him about my problem and he suggested exercises to strengthen my shins which I did religiously. I went to see the chiropractor a couple of weeks later and found out I over-pronate so I got custom orthotics and with the combination of both, I haven’t had shin splints since (along with other problems like knee pain and random body aches which all magically disappeared) …and my workouts are even more intense. I don’t believe Orthotics are a permanent fix, but they do help.
The secret is to strengthen your tibialis posterior, which is the muscle in the middle of your legs. This is often overlooked but you should train it like you would any muscle in your body. Exercises like toe raises and walking on your toes/heels will help strengthen it overtime and allow more intense exercises for longer periods of time.
Note that this is more than calf raise but more of a heel/toe lift. Start with a calf raise and when you get to the top, you should go raise up on your toes even more to really work that inner muscle.
Other remedies are taking it slow, cross-training (trying cycling or swimming instead), wearing better shock-absorbing shoes, icing and most importantly resting. You can’t expect shin splints to always disappear right away so pace the intensity and duration of your workouts with your recovery.
Why you should look forward to Mondays:
- Did you fail at something last week? Look at Monday as a chance to forget, start fresh and apply the lessons you learned from the last week.
- Hopefully you’ve hit all your deadlines by Friday and on Monday, you get a fresh start and the awesome feeling of starting a task with a new deadline.
- Aren’t you excited about all the possibilities this week may hold?
- Monday’s only last 24 hours. Then you have an entire 144 hours of un-Mondays.
- There are only 4 more days until Friday.
Do you have the “Thank God It’s Monday” attitude?
If you don’t, it’s time to start thinking about making changes to your life. A “Thank God It’s Friday” attitude is fine because it may mean that you’ve just had a really stressful week and is ready to relax, but it may also mean you hate your job… and it’s up to YOU to do something about it. It may also mean that you are looking at life with the wrong perspective and you need to change that right away because those who hate Mondays will be set for failure.
Imagine dreading Mondays for the rest of your life. Now that’s scary.
Learn how to love Mondays:
- Change your attitude. Tell yourself today is a new start with new goals and opportunities.
- Plan your up-coming week on Sunday night; your meals, workouts, to-do lists, goals… with a little planning, you can choose your own outcomes.
- Stop complaining and find a new job if that is what’s making you hate Mondays. Teach yourself new skills if you have to, sign up for courses…take your own initiative and commit to changing your current situation.
- Remind yourself why you love your job and the people you work with.
- Remind yourself how grateful you should be to even be able to pay the bills.
- Relax and get adequate rest on the weekends.
- Don’t have all your fun on weekends! Plan dinner dates and fun things during the week too so you have something to look forward to.
- Read or watch something inspiring on Sunday night to get you pumped up for the week— this is my favorite tip… for everyday of the week.
- Make everyday feel like Friday. Make a list of how you feel and what you do on a Friday. Try it on a Monday.
If you don’t look forward to Mondays, it’s time to start making changes.
You are the only one who can make positive changes so empower yourself to do something about it.
Vancouverite, designer, gym-rat, shopaholic & bookworm, obsessed with my Blackberry, K-Pop, snowboarding, fitness and food. More?
