Had To Take A Couple Of Days Off From Training

I'm not sure if I have mentioned that during CDL school, and since, I have been fighting through the pain of a pinched sciatic nerve.

Last weekend I went to the chiropractor twice, Friday and Saturday, and it helped, but by Wednesday, it was back full force.

We ended up at my trainer's house last night, and he is taking a half day off on Monday, so I discussed taking today and Friday off and hitting the chiropractor today, Friday, Saturday, and Monday morning and see if it helps. He said to be honest, I've been expecting this conversation, I can see the pain you are in and agreed it was a good idea. The chiropractor says my left pelvis is higher than the right, and twisted forward. It is pinching the nerve when I sit, and the pain travels down my leg and feels like my foot is being electrocuted, and my left calf tightens up like a knot.

So hopefully, I can get this taken care of and get through training.

My trainer has been driving my butt off too. :)

I have been from Niagara Falls to MA, NH, VT, and RI so far. I have 2,500 miles just with him. Unless the roads are really bad, I do everything and he just observes and teaches, so I am learning a lot. He says I am progressing well, and he sees no sign of me being sleepy. We have driven our clocks out a few days so far.

Sorry about your problem. Anything that hurts when you sit is a serious concern for a driver. Good luck finding an effective treatment

Do yoga! You probably have a tight muscle somewhere that's causing the misalignment. In fact, your calf could even be causing it.

I always tell everyone to do yoga, but I don't think anyone ever does. I've been doing it for about 12 years and I say it's the single most important form of exercise a person can do. It fixes almost everything and keeps you super limber and feeling great.

Sciatic nerve pain by all accounts is crippling. My ma had that problem for a while. I've had back spasms before, which is somewhat similar, and it is indeed crippling.

My answer to pretty much every problem is exercise. You could also consider seeing a physical therapist. The chiropractor might help for a short time but it's not a permanent fix. If it helps alleviate the pain, that's awesome. That's the immediate need. Long term you have to figure out the source of the problem, which is going to be something muscular, like either an overly tight muscle or one muscle weaker than its opposing pair. You have to fix that problem to solve this permanently.

An old friend of mine that I haven't seen in awhile was always hobbled by a bad back. Last time I talked to him I mentioned so how's the back doing? He told me he started doing yoga and within weeks all his back problems disappeared. You can Google yoga exercise videos now granted they may be a little tough to do in the truck but there are some you can do easily. There's even something called chair yoga for elderly people and my mother has several friends that do that. Good luck hope the sciatic nerve gets better I used to get them but I haven't had one in over a year cross my fingers.

Is there such a thing as virtual yoga? It wouldn’t require as much effort I did yoga for a while and went into it with the idea that it would be a piece of cake. Boy was I wrong. I got into a hot yoga class and almost died from exhaustion What I did learn is that if you do a yoga class always get a spot in the back row. The scenery can be spectacular

Is there such a thing as virtual yoga? It wouldn’t require as much effort I did yoga for a while and went into it with the idea that it would be a piece of cake. Boy was I wrong. I got into a hot yoga class and almost died from exhaustion What I did learn is that if you do a yoga class always get a spot in the back row. The scenery can be spectacular

That gave me a flashback to the 80's when they had all of those exercise shows on TV that our dads would watch even though they had no intention of exercising.

Yoga can be as mellow or as demanding as you would like. It can be custom tailored to accomplish a whole range of things including strength, flexibility, balance, or endurance. The biggest thing with any form of exercise is never to make it too grueling. If you go too hard to soon you're going to burn out and quit. It's not the intensity of the exercise that's important, it's the frequency. Doing 30 minutes a day of mellow exercise is far better for you than a two hour gruelling workout once or twice a week. Keep it mellow and do it often. That's the key.

An old friend of mine that I haven't seen in awhile was always hobbled by a bad back. Last time I talked to him I mentioned so how's the back doing? He told me he started doing yoga and within weeks all his back problems disappeared.

I'm not surprised whatsoever. In fact, I would have been shocked if it didn't cure his back problems. I'm telling ya, if someone came to me and said, "Brett, we'd like you to figure out an easy way to make everyone's life a whole lot better" my answer would be, "Have everyone do 20 minutes of Yoga seven days a week. That will solve more problems than any 10 things you could think of." That really would be my answer.

Here is one of my favorite all time videos ever. I've watched this about 50 times. Anyone who takes 5 minutes out of their day to watch this will be inspired by this story. People have no idea how powerful yoga is. They think something that simple couldn't be that effective, but it is.

I'm totally Blown Away by that video. My first six months in trucking I gained 40 pounds. Sitting all day , having a really challenging day as a new driver , so I would self-medicate with food . Always tried to hit an iron skillet or Country Pride Buffet and in the morning when I grab a cup of coffee at the truck stop I grabbed a couple packages of donuts . My girlfriend literally gave me an ultimatum... Start taking care of yourself or I'm gone. So the last two months I've literally been a diet Nazi. When I did go to a buffet all I did was salad bar and baked protein. I've only lost 15 pounds but one thing I have started doing is parking in the back row so I have to walk more and during my 30 minute breaks I try to walk. But the results are happening as fast as I desire. Don't get me wrong I have noticed changes. Used to be if I had to walk a hundred yards to the Shipping / receiving office I was totally out of breath and wheezing. Last week I was at a truck stop in Tennessee and for my 34 I parked clear in the back up on the hill and I can't tell you how many trips I took to the store. And not once was I even winded. Thank you Brett I'm going to give this a try. You're right that video is incredibly inspiring.

You guys aren’t the first person to mention yoga. Going to watch that video now and google yoga I can do in the truck. Once it is warm I can do some stuff outside as well.

My trainer never stops at truck stops for meals. Between carrying my own food and being too busy yo eat so sm losing 5 pounds a week so far.

Brett is right to point out that yoga is very customizable After I had the near death experience with hot yoga, I switched to a class for older folks and those with joint issues and did well I remember the exercises and review them every day in my mind