One of the Main Reasons You Can’t Overcome Your Chronic Pain & Improve the Quality of Your Life

From 15 to 25, I suffered from chronic pains & injuries.

I was the kid who would play every sport under the sun. Great at some, good at others, and average at the rest…..but I LOVED IT.

Most of my evenings were spent training either soccer or gaelic. Sometimes hurling, handball, swimming and others.

If there was no training, I would be outside kicking a ball against the wall, practicing skills. I have OCD tendencies that help me delve deep into things I am interested in (good and bad sides to this).

I remember one day not letting myself come back inside until I cycled my bike without falling over …and I GOT IT…but then ended up losing control and cycling straight into the wall and cutting my neck on the corner of the pier hahaha. Crying into mammy, get some comfort and a plaster probably, and out we go again!

Also memories of not letting myself come inside for waffles and beans until I caught the ball on my neck, a skill I was close to achieving. Hours later, with a rumbling belly and the ball on my neck, I went in and feasted on those waffles! (man when’s the last time I had waffles and beans?! Throwback).

You get the point. I’ve always loved GETTING AFTER IT. And I’m the same today. Same drive, different avenues.

But once I hit 15/16, I got my first ‘injury’. I hyperextended my left knee. Went to the physio and was given a blue band to wear around my knee for support (like tapping a wheel back onto a car as a solution), and off I go! Not addressing this over time led me to not being able to bend my knee for about 8 years - I got it back to 95%, but still have small issues with it to this day.

As the years went on, and my training load increased…….the chronic pains and injuries started racking up. I was playing so much sport (at the height I remember 3 games in one day I think some Saturday? 2 definitely). Coming from a gaelic match and off to a soccer match after, or vice versa.

Again, I LOVED IT……but my body didn’t. It was trying to tell me but of course I didn’t know anything about the body or how much this would impact my life in the future.

So what did I do? I did what we all do:

• Went to the physio for a rub and a sheet of exercises

• Went to the chiropractor for cracky backy

• Went to the osteopath for slippy hippy

• Foam rolled & stretched until the cows came home

• Got on with it

And none of it did anything but give some temporary relief. The chronic pains weren’t going away, I wasn’t becoming more mobile. Unknown to myself, I was slowly small gaining my way to tin man status.

I couldn’t help wonder at times why this was happening to my body? Other kids seem fine mostly? I remember my sister sitting on the floor with both her legs in internal rotation so EASILY. Not a second thought. Effortless. Then I tried to sit like that and didn’t get anywhere near the floor, felt like both hips were going to dislocate, with instant pain and severe tightness……….what is happening?!

I had no idea…..and for a kid as curious as me, it got incredibly frustrating over time. I kept going to the ‘experts’ but yet no better? That’s the way I am I guess? I just kept playing sport, and did what I needed to do to stay on the pitch.

But looking back now, it makes complete sense to me. With all the knowledge I have accumulated over the past 5 years on the body, and the results I have got with myself and clients…….it pains me to see others on this road towards the tin man and giving up things they love to do, thinking its just ‘the way it is’.

There are so many things that got me from tin man status, giving up sports I love for a year and being wrote off by the ‘experts’ and told to settle…….to coming back! But I’ll share one of them with you now.

If you follow me on Instagram for a while you’ll know I’m a big advocate of chasing the SMALL GAINS…..and that they will add up to the big gains OVER TIME, just like a pension. Well you do the same with knowledge.

You won’t learn everything about the body in one day, but you can learn this one thing now, and build on it over time. Instead of building a house of cards on fragile hearsay and outdated expert advice, build a solid steel framework based on the principles of the human body and work towards a SKYSCRAPER of knowledge over time. That’s what I have done. Nobody can fool me now. Nobody can lead me astray. And you can do the same

The only way to not be at the mercy of healthcare professionals is to take OWNERSHIP OF YOUR OWN BODY…..and start understanding how it actually works. Same for the body, same for anything in life. You wouldn’t be able to drive your car if you didn’t know what the pedals and gearstick do would you? It all starts with the right education.

To quote the beast Dan Koe:

"If you are confused, you need education If you are educated, you need action If you are taking action, you need consistency"

If you are like the younger me, you were taking action and being consistent……..but you didn't have the right education. And as I found out - doing the wrong shit consistently doesn’t get you very far!!! And if anything it’s even more frustrating as you actually WERE consistent with it. It was nothing to do with a lack of motivation or commitment.

Your Body Isn’t A Priority

Your body isn’t a priority, just admit it.

How do I know this?

I know this because you brush your teeth twice a day without fail. EVERY DAY

But yet what about your body???? Hmmmm

I’ve asked many people the following questions who are struggling with chronic pain like I was:

”If you had the following options at 60 years of age, which one would you pick?

A: Have your physical freedom taken away from you, you can’t do the sports/activities you love and you can’t play with your kids/grankids. Chair bound………but you have PERFECT pearly white teeth

B: Have your PHYSICAL FREEDOM, you can still do sports/activities that you love and play with your kids/grankids……..but you are gummy Joe. No teeth. They fell out and you have dentures

Everyone I have asked says “option B! I want my physical freedom”.

Ok cool….

Then I get them to realise that this is what they are saying with WORDS…….but words don’t show me your priorities, it's an illusion, a facade. And I see through it

Whats shows me your priorities? your ACTIONS. Your ACTIONS show me your priorities

"It's not who you are underneath, it's what you do that defines you."

Some batman wisdom for you there. Bruce Wayne knows WHAT’S UP. Batman knew it’s not what he THINKS or SAYS that defines him…..it’s what he DOES. HIS ACTIONS. And it’s the same for all of us in life. Including prioritising our own body and improving our mobility and quality of life.

So let’s look at your actions. My guess is that you brush your teeth twice a day without fail since you were a kid, but you have done fuck all for your body your entire life in terms of mobility. You wait until you are injured or in chronic pain before you even do anything for your body. Am I right? Or close at least?

Lets dive deeper to send this one home. Follow me along the thought experiment here to etch this one into your brain

Let’s treat our teeth the way we treat our body in this hypothetical example:

• You don’t brush your teeth at all

• You eat shite food as we do

• Over 5 to 10 years your teeth start to rot and go black

• You are so CONFUSED…….why is this happening?!

• You go to the dentist asking CAN YOU FIX MY TEETH??

• You think ‘this is just how it is’, ‘what can you do’

Imagine what the dentist would say to you?? As you are there so confused as to why your teeth are black and falling out. “ehhh…..are you doing anything to look after your teeth each day?”. Nope we say. “Well then what do you expect?! Of course they are going to decay if you don’t look after them!”

And to continue that further, let's say the dentist did ‘fix’ your teeth. Made them completely white again. It doesn’t matter as you’d go out and not brush your teeth or look after them again going forward……and YOU’D BE BACK IN THE SAME POSITION in another 5 to 10 years just as confused as before. This ‘quick fix’ you so hopefully seek, WOULDN’T EVEN BE THE ANSWER IF IT DID IN FACT EXIST. The irony.

I hope the penny has dropped.

Hacks don’t change your life. Upgrading your LEVEL OF THINKING is what changes your life.

Playing chess when everyone else is playing checkers. That’s where you want to be.

You might think that sounds ridiculous or laughable as an approach to looking after your teeth……but yet that's exactly what you do for your body:

• You don’t brush your teeth at all (you don’t have a daily mobility routine you are consistent with) 

• You eat shite food as we do (you hammer your body with sport/activities and ignore pain) 

• Over 5 to 10 years your teeth start to rot and go black (over time the tightness/pain gets worse) 

• You are so CONFUSED…why is this happening? (you think its just YOU, your body is the problem. And the ‘experts’ saying it makes us think it MUST be true) 

• You go to the dentist asking CAN YOU FIX MY TEETH?? (you look for all the ‘quick fixes’, chiro/physio/osteo etc, COMPLETELY missing the bigger picture. And this is why you get nowhere ) 

• You think ‘this is just how it is’, ‘what can you do’ (You think nothing can be done. You give up. You settle) 

Breathe, it’s ok. When we don’t know any better, we just follow the ‘norm’. I did this most of my life too. I followed this route to the end. There is no light at the end of that tunnel. And then you see one and get excited…..but it was only a train coming to take you off the tracks for good. Retire. Nothing can be done.

When the ‘norm’ is people ending up like the tin man, you know it’s not where the answers lie. Follow the norm if you want to end up like I did. Follow the outliers if you want to emulate them.

How do you think I felt when I went on my search for better answers? When I didn’t settle for the ‘experts’ saying that’s it. Times up at 25 when I should be in my prime. You’re body isn’t able for Jiu Jitsu anymore, take up swimming?!

I became resentful at a healthcare system that failed me, resentful of the societal approach to our bodies which is steeped in misinformation leading us all towards the tin man and taking our physical freedom away from us.

Once I figured out how the body works and got my own physical freedom back, I felt like I had to share it. I felt a moral obligation to help anyone like the young Mark. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. In this blind world, I’ll be that one-eyed king for those who need help.

On that note, lets get to some actionable take-aways you can implement from here on:

3 Actionable Take-Aways:

1. PRIORITISE your body with your ACTIONS, not your words

• Finally start to prioritise your body with ATLEAST the same level of priority as your teeth (5-10 mins daily). Brush your joints just like you brush your teeth

• If you can’t do this, nobody can help you. You’re pissing in the wind

2. UNDERSTAND what an EFFECTIVE daily mobility routine is

• Yes the daily routine is key…….but brushing your teeth with sugar won't help your teeth

• You need to have a routine backed by SCIENCE. One that will actually help improve your mobility and the health & longevity of your joints

• Or else again…….you are pissing in the wind

• I foam rolled for YEARS, still ended up as the tin man. This is a routine that will not change your body (foam rolling is literally not scientifically backed whatsoever if you didn’t know. Yeah, imagine that? and the whole world does it thinking it’s the answer)

3. Align Your Actions with your VALUES

• It’s not enough to do this for a little while and then feel better and drop off. Bit’s of motivation here and there isn’t the answer for LONG TERM PROGRESS. I still do my morning mobility routine 5 years later. Why? Because I am PROACTIVE in looking after my body. I’m COMMITTED to it. It’s a PRIORITY for me. You don’t stop brushing your teeth just because they are white do you??

• You need to sit down and think WHAT DO I ACTUALLY VALUE IN LIFE?

• Do you value your PHYSICAL FREEDOM as you age? The only body you will ever have??

• If you do, it’s time to put your money where your mouth is. To back up your words with your actions

• It’s your life. You are the one who has to live with the decisions you make. Identify your values and start living in accordance with them. Once you value your body, and see the vision of where you want to be as you age, it's much easier to stay consistent and find purpose in prioritising it day to day

To finish this off - I actually have a great example of a recent client talking about the effectiveness of incorporating this daily routine I have talked about in this newsletter into his life, and how it has played a big part in him getting his physical freedom back!

It’s funny how we think that we need some ‘secret exercise’, some ‘fix’ to get our physical freedom back (I’ve been there, I get it)……but in reality, you just need education and coaching on the basics of human movement, along with smart strategies & habits and let the small gains rack up over time.

For the full review from Adam - you can read it by clicking here!

That’s enough for today folks, I hope that was insightful and useful! Any questions just send me a DM on Instagram!

I’ll be sending out a newsletter roughly once a week going forward! So make sure to take this email out of your spam folder if you are getting it for the first time! To make sure the rest don’t go in there

The goal with this newsletter (and all my content) is to help people TAKE BACK CONTROL. Of their physical freedom, of their mindset, career-wise, life in general! I will be sharing wisdom & insights from my journey of building a resilient body, anti-fragile mindset & an authentic life

I’ll finish them with some insight into my week on a personal level. As I’m always interested in this from the many people who I follow online for inspiration & education!

This Week:

Education:

• Reading: Started “The Denial of Death” by Ernst Becker

• Podcasts (Self Confidence - The Hard to Kill Podcast) (Creating an Unbreakable Mindset with Jocko Willink - Modern Wisdom Podcast) (The Mystery of Female Sex Drive - Modern Wisdom Podcast)

Business:

• Some client wins:

Cian 6 months into his program went back to GAA training with barely any issues! (slight shin splints feeling, when it was knee & ankle tendinopathy issues limiting him before. Knees and ankles were all good in the training! so 80% there.

Jason 2 weeks into his program and feeling crazy relief in his hips from some exercises! Jason played American football! So he has been a battering ram with his body as you can imagine!

New client Jack started this week! He is suffering from chronic back pain & a shoulder dislocation. Has had to give up GAA, and struggling to go gym and run at the moment

Personal:

• I’m back in a better routine this week!! (drinking twice last week - once midweek! Ended up in Fibber Mcgees at 3am on Wednesday morning meeting an ex-client and friend!)

• I rarely drink too much nowadays! That life isn’t for me anymore! haha. But since I am only home from a 3 month solo travel and meeting friends again, and having my 30th 2 weeks ago, there has been a lot of drinking!

• But I’m happier when I am in a good routine with business, training and my personal routine. Some pints now and then for chats/connection yeah, but no more nightclubs unless it’s a big event

• My mentor makes me plan ‘fun’ twice a week (was skeptical but its been an amazing idea - it fuels capacity for the week business-wise. Things get stale if you don’t). So it’s Cinema tonight to see bullet train by myself, then have to make the plan for something Saturday/Sunday

Training:

• Good one-arm chin up session this week. Extra reps on assisted one-arm chin up and weighted chin ups! Small gains!

• Leg session too for knee rehab and pancake work

• Back at Jiu Jitsu this week after 4 months off with a meniscus tear and travelling! Did drills and some light rolls for now! MRI on the knee coming up in the next 2 months hopefully

Have a great weekend! Until next time 🙂

Don’t Settle,

Mark