Propel Fitness Journal, Issue 086
Earlier this week I spoke with someone who wanted to book an assessment.
Just not yet.
They wanted to wait until their flare-up calmed down first.
I get the logic. It feels responsible. Don’t come in while things are angry. Come in when you’re back to normal.
It’s also the worst time to get assessed.
The Mechanic Problem
You wouldn’t take your car to the mechanic after the noise stops.
You’d bring it in while it’s rattling.
Because that’s when they can hear it.
Pain works the same way.
During a flare, the problem is on display.
I can see which positions provoke it.
Which loads it tolerates and which it doesn’t.
How irritable it is. How fast it settles after loading.
Whether it’s worse in the morning, after sitting, or halfway through your second working set.
Two weeks later, all of that is gone.
I’m assessing a quiet system and asking you to remember what it felt like.
Pain memory is unreliable. Most people can’t tell me which set it started on, never mind which position.
So we guess.
A Flare Is a Map
Pain is data, not damage.
A flare is the loudest version of that data.
It shows exactly where your current capacity runs out.
The depth where the squat stops feeling tolerable.
The load where the deadlift goes from fine to sharp.
That edge is where the plan starts.
Without it, I’m building from a blurry photo.
With it, I know where to dose from day one.
Settling Isn’t Healing
This is the part that keeps chronic issues chronic.
Most flares settle because you stopped doing the thing that set them off.
Your capacity didn’t go up. The load came down.
Then you feel better, go back to the same training, and run straight into the same gap.
Flare. Wait. Settle. Return. Flare.
Every lap of that loop costs a bit more capacity and builds a bit more fear around the lift.
If this has been going on for months or years, waiting it out one more time is just another lap.
Start While It’s Talking
None of this means training through a 9/10.
If your pain is 7 or higher on the Traffic Light System, you back off.
But backing off is a decision inside a plan.
Waiting is what happens when you don’t have one.
If you have red flags like spreading numbness, changes in bladder or bowel control, or unexplained weight loss, skip the assessment and see a physician that day.
For everyone else, the flare is the best appointment you’ll get.
I break down how to deal with flare-ups in this video: click here to watch
Don’t wait until it goes quiet to figure out what it was trying to tell you.
– Dan
Injured and want to get back to lifting heavy? Grab The Injured Lifter’s Playbook (free), and you’ll get the Propel Fitness Journal in your inbox every Monday.
Want help with your own comeback? Work with me.