No Pain, No Gain!

Some sayings never die - No Pain, No Gain! I hear it all the time in the gym. I hear it all the time in, out and around the wrestling business. It really rings true. Especially, for this blog I'm about to type.

I want to describe what a professional wrestler feels like day in and day out. Many of you will never know how much punishment a wrestler's body takes. You'll never be able to fathom how tough it is, even when you're younger. Age has nothing to do with the everyday pain of being a wrestler... it's all about the punishment from the squared circle (the ring).

Driving a car. Yeah, simple task, right? Well, after a trip of ten minutes or longer, it does get a little tougher getting out. Your body aches like you've been beaten by a mob. Your knees constantly hurt. Ankles, toes, shoulders and especially your back. Now, don't get me wrong... you get a little warmed up and loose. But the constant weight lifting, running and wrestling takes a huge toll on your body.

And I'm only 24 years old.

I used to sit back and watch the old-school wrestlers move around. I would actually make fun of some of them for always being in pain. Of course, age was the punchline in most of the jokes. Now, after seven years in the business, I can see that age might not have very much to do with it. I wrestle maybe 150 days out of the year. WWE contracted wrestlers might wrestle 275 days out of the year. Some wrestle MORE. Just imagine how their bodies must feel!

Injuries are very common in wrestling. If you injure a wrist while wrestling, it actually affects your entire life. Now, because of your injured wrist, you can't lift. So, what do we do? Well, you can't miss a day in the gym... so, you lift the best you can on an injured wrist. Yeah, not too smart, eh? Well, I lifted weights with a fractured wrist. How? Simple... I taped it up, wrapped it up and sucked it up. I had to do what I had to do.

I injured a shoulder two years back. I hurt it to the point that I couldn't lift my arm. I freaked out. Most wrestlers don't have insurance, so they don't go to the doctor or hospital. I didn't, then. So, I didn't go. I continued to go to the gym, I continued to train and I worked through it. Now, my shoulder is all better.

My third training session, seven years ago, I broke a toe. Never went to the hospital or doctor... I just ignored the pain and worked through it. Because of that, seven years later, my toe and foot still feels pain from it not healing correctly before. Yeah, I know... I wasn't very smart.

My toes, ankles, shoulders, wrists... or whatever. No big deal. You would never understand what some of the other guys go through all year around. Could you imagine KNOWING that you need surgery, but you don't get it done because then you couldn't work? Could you imagine a doctor TELLING you that you need surgery... but you're too scared to get it done because of fear of losing your job? That's the way it goes in wrestling.

If you're injured and can't "go", someone else will. That's the way this business is.