Problematic Cases With Pain - Wise People's Opinion's Needed

One of my biggest personal problems is that I developed a close relationship with pain at the age of 12.

For me to comprehend at times I should stop is very hard. For instance, I was a competitive swimmer. I loved it - a lot. I decided to quit due to some circumstances that are not important to be mentioned, but after a week or two I realised " I feel energetic"..

So for 3 years my body was in constant exhaustion.

 

Why am I writing this? Keep reading

 

I was practising the 'chin to toe' stretch every single day.(You can see my best achievement at this in my profile pic)

I was in such a constant mental and physical pain I had to have rest. My mind subconsciously came to a similar realization again. And I stopped practising it daily.

I can barely achieve same side elbow to toe without being constant now 

 

Last month I began improving my adductors' mobility by doing Chinese middle splits & other stuff.

I've made huge progress on middle splits- I started from tightness on the adductors which transferred a lot of pressure & pain to the knees(especially the medial part) to finally feeling the stretch on the groin area and leaving my knees in piece.

The last 4 days I noticed I couldn't get my full ROM. I'm pretty sure it's a tendon issue cause I feel strange discomfort only somewhere close to my left ball. Lol. Anyway... I feel limited and this got me all butt hurt.

 

So can you see where I take this?

On the one hand, I constantly try pushing myself through the (good) pain barrier to be able to achieve some awesome goals.

On the other hand, it's highly recommended to back off for about 3 days with................ a possibility of breaking a good habit and feeling that a part of me is missing.

 

Please share your experience.

I need to mention that it wasn't a sharp pain, but it felt like if I had pushed it any further to get more ROM, I would have definitely got myself injured. Btw,  do you think 3 days are enough for this case?

Any tips/tricks for not dropping good habits in such occasions would be highly appreciated

 

P.s Sorry in advance for the long post!

I've had a similar problem with this in the past. I believe it comes from youth. You are capable of pushing yourself a great deal beyond where you should really be at or are 'capable' of being at. 

 

This is what has lead me to burn outs in the past, it really comes down to realizing the timelines it takes for tissues to adapt (the 235 days or some such for ligaments). Any type of adaptation before that is either muscular, neurological, or pushing beyond your limits and causes a greater amount of fatigue. Some things will just take time.

 

I dialed back the intensity of my workouts and attempts and focused on greater consistency and form. In time I have seen greater progress with this approach than I ever did with the churn and burn cycle you describe above.

 

Training can be very fatiguing (especially once you get to that third week) and cycling off time is important, however I usually have a greater sense of myself and feel more energized after a GST session these days than I ever have before.

 

I am still learning though at 30+ so don't take anything I say as gospel, but learning from my past mistakes and injuries has allowed me to settle into a slower pace and accomplish more at the same time.

 

Good luck, hope that helps.