Login | February 02, 2026
Listen to what your body’s trying to tell you
PETE GLADDEN
Published: February 2, 2026
Not long ago I had one of those heart-to-heart talks with a personal training client where I unfortunately had to give her some feedback which I knew she wouldn’t be too enthused to hear.
I had to confess to her that despite the amazing gains she’s made over the past several years in her strength and cardiovascular fitness, there still appears to be certain exercises that I don’t think she’s ever likely to be able to do safely, consistently and pain free.
The exercises I’m referring to here involve squatting, and this is because squatting has always seemed to exacerbate the pain in her arthritic knees no matter what version, what kind of volume, what rep range and what squatting depth we choose. And we’ve been taking stabs at this exercise for two years.
Now I feel a strong sense of empathy when I have to offer up these heart-to-hearts to clients because I’ve had those same discussions with PT’s and orthopedic doctors about myself. And in as much as it’s tough to hear such advice, it’s even harder to admit to yourself that they’re right.
So with that being said, let me offer a couple of my own heart-to-hearts as examples for those of you who just might be encountering this same age-related dilemma.
The first heart-to-heart involved running.
Now despite the fact that running isn’t as near and dear to my heart as cycling, it had been a thoroughly enjoyable activity that I’d partaken in for over forty years.
And I did scores of running races, not to mention a host of triathlons and ultra marathon trail events. But eventually I developed back troubles, which ever so gradually became exacerbated whenever I ran.
After my last marathon I finally had to admit to myself that my low back issues were getting worse with running, and that assessment was subsequently confirmed by physical therapists and a back specialist.
This first heart-to-heart was a bitter pill to swallow both from a social as well as personal standpoint.
My second heart-to-heart came after I had low back surgery.
Post-surgery I labored through workout after workout of rehab striving to get my compromised low back and my weakened legs to return to an acceptable level of strength and fitness.
I was diligent for two years with that rehab work. Eventually, feeling optimistic and sensing I had a great game plan, I decided to revisit two of my favorite leg exercises, the back squat & the barbell dead-lift, both of which were verboten prior to my low back surgery.
Yet no matter how meticulous I was with my form, no matter how much I incrementally bumped up the volume, intensity and frequency via a well thought out strengthening cycle, and no matter how much I willed that reinforced low back to adapt, it just didn’t like the idea of me putting weights across my shoulders for back squats, nor me doing the bent-over low pulls involved in barbell dead-lifts.
After about two months of laying on a heating pad thrice a day post squatting/dead-lifting I didn’t need a PT or an orthopedic doctor to deliver a heart-to-heart. I gave it to myself.
Now I’m sharing these experiences with all you senior athletes out there who are gallantly fighting this aging battle just as I am. And I know that just like me, you want to remain active for the rest of your lives.
But sometimes you have to consider the cost an activity’s incurring on your body.
Now in my case, had I stubbornly continued to run and perform back squats and dead-lifts, well, I’m not too sure that I could have remained as active as I’ve been for the past couple of years.
Some physical conditions - like my spinal stenosis and my client’s arthritic knees - cannot be reversed, and no amount of workout strategies, last-minute comebacks nor blissful optimism can change that fact.
Ultimately it’s a matter of contraindicating an activity… or enduring the chronic pain and/or further deterioration that’s associated with it.
But there is a silver lining to this story.
By listening to the heart-to-hearts I’ve had with my health care professionals - as well as with myself - I don’t have those debilitating and chronic aches and pains that would have otherwise prevented me from living the active life I continue to aspire to live.
To me, the choice here has been pretty simple.