This past Monday, I happened to be on the receiving end of an unpleasant surprise. I was sitting in the gym taking a brief rest in between sets, and I noticed my shoulder didn't feel quite right. I got that familiar feeling you get when you know that if you keep doing what you're currently doing, you're going to regret it the next day. It's kind of like when you're at the bar and you keep doing ridiculous amounts of shots. You know the next day is going to be a bitch, but you don't stop because you think you'll be able to get away with it. The odd time, you get lucky and you do get away with it, but let's just say Monday wasn't my lucky day.

I ended up completely aggravating my already injured acromion clavicular joint. That's the “shoulder” to all the fitness unsavvy. I knew that if I kept up with my workout, it would just worsen the situation. So what did I choose to do? I finished my workout. So I didn't sleep well as I couldn't fully extend my arm and I couldn't even brush my teeth or shave without feeling extreme pain. Why do so many people, as well as my self, constantly do this to our selves? I'm sure you've tweaked your ankle before and kept playing on it because you felt it wasn't that bad; or you've practiced doing ollies on a skateboard and kept at it even though you nearly broke a bone several times. Many of us do it for the same reason; we're still young and we think were invincible. Well I hate to tell you, a joint in the body is like a wheel and it's only got so many spins before it falls off.

What worsens the situation is the fact that many people don't take care of themselves, especially us young fools. We don't take the time to stretch properly, we do things against doctor's orders, and if you're as stupid as I am, you even train with heavy weights using a completely injured joint. Now I'm not an old man by any means, but I'm definitely not that fresh-legged sixteen-year-old kid I once was. Years of rigorous activity have taken their toll on my knees and shoulders, but a lot of it could have been prevented. Prevention is the key word here, and you need to prevent worse case scenarios by taking proper precautions and avoiding the things you know you shouldn't be doing.

Take a look a look at a couple of dudes who used to play for the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Utah Jazz by the names of John Stockton and Karl Malone. Each of their careers spanned around twenty years and while they were teammates, they probably missed less then fifty games combined. They of course were lucky enough to not endure any serious injuries, but that doesn't take away from the testament of how much care they put into their bodies. I don't care if you haven't had a single injury in your entire life; nobody lasts twenty years in the NBA without consistently nurturing their bodies.

The last thing you want is a chronic injury as a result of pure laziness on your behalf. Imagine not being able to hold a grocery bag for more then two minutes because you're suffering from long term wrist damage. Or better yet, how about walking with a cane by the time you're forty-five, simply because you didn't take care of your knees when you fully knew they were getting worse each year.

We often take our bodies for granted. Repeated abuse can age a body quicker than a fox. So take a page out of Hall Of Famers, John and Karl's book; your body will thank you for it later.