5 Tips on How to Work Around a Training Injury
Gym injuries can be the most difficult thing to work through both mentally and physically for a person- especially for someone who is an avid gym go-er.
Trust me- I get it.
All your progress suddenly flashes before your eyes when your doing your normal leg day routine and all of a sudden, you feel it.
Something tweaks.
Here’s something to first off consider— over 80% of all adults will experience some type of back pain throughout the course of their lives. Working out is obviously something we know will keep us healthy and fit, but many people who workout eventually will experience some kind of injury.
Tip #1 Chill out
You may need to take a week or even a month or so off of training entirely but often times that doesn’t mean everything will be off limits. Listen to you doctor and get setup with physical therapy. Allow your body to rest but keep in mind this is temporary. You’ll eventually be able to get back to what you love doing but first and foremost allow your body to heal and give it the time you are told you need to rest.
Tip #2 Focus on your nutrition
Just because you can’t train or can’t train as hard doesn’t mean you should throw in the towel on your entire regimen. It just means you have to adapt. Tweaking your nutrition is a good way to keep body fat down if you are concerned about gaining weight. Since you won’t be burning as many calories, it might be wise to drop yourself down into a caloric deficit and focus on quality intake as well as hydration. If you are concerned about losing muscle, it might be a good idea to double down on your protein intake as well.
Tip #3 Once you get clearance from your doctor, start moving again
If you have an injury in your knee for example, you can still train your upper body and visa versa. This is also a good time to do some reading and learning on how to move correctly. If you got injured doing a squat for example, read up and watch some YouTube videos on proper form and technique.
Tip #4 Prioritize sleep
Sleep not only something we need to do in order to function at our highest mental capacity, but it’s also important for the body to rebuild and restore. This definitely applies to recovering from an injury. Sleep is the time when the body heals itself so making sure you are getting 7-8 hours of sleep a night is key.
Tip #5 Implement some serious warmups into your routine moving forward
A warm up can not only save you from experiencing new injuries but it will also save you from having old ones flare up again. A proper dynamic warm up not only increases the body temperature but it allows you to workout to your full maximum potential. Check out this dynamic warm up series here.