How to Deal with Sports Related Injuries

If you train hard in any sport at some point in time you will most likely get an injury, and if you have never gotten an injury then perhaps you aren't trying hard enough ;) I say that jokingly but there is some truth in it since there is a fine line in between going hard and going too hard...

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor nor do I have anything other than my personal experiences with injuries and training while injured to go by so don't listen to me since I am obviously under-qualified in this area at least from a medical standpoint.

Be sure to watch my video on the subject of working out while injured since I go into much more detail than here in this written article where for the most part I will be summarizing.

Ouch - I think I hurt something?
The first thing you need to consider is how serious is the injury sustained. If you are unsure of the severity then go see your doctor. If you feel the injury is not too serious then give yourself a day or two to feel the injury out before you train that part of the body since more harm can be done if the injury is worse then initially thought. Of course treat the area with ice and/or heat to bring down any inflammation. Work on mobility and range of motion during this time doing some light stretching and easy use. Within 2-3 days you should get a pretty good idea if the injury is minor or something more serious.

I did something but I think I'm going to be OK!
Once you have established that the injury is not too severe, you can start to ease into things again but keep in mind, a small injury can get much worse if you overdo it so go easy when training around injured areas. Don't forget if you have one area of you body with an injury, often times you can train other areas just as hard as normal so take this time to focus on other non-injured areas.

Work arounds when training an injury:
When you do start to work the injured area again, make sure to start with much lighter resistance than usual, do higher reps and make sure to do extra stretching and warming up to lubricate the area. Play around with using different machines that take the strain off of supporting muscles since often times they are the muscle areas that get injured the most. Try using different grips and limited range of motion to find an exercise where you can hit the area that is recovering while not aggravating it even more. A general rule of thumb is if it hurts when you do it then stop doing it.

No pain no gain!
Most doctors are going to tell you to stop training for a couple of weeks and it's probably good advice but if you are like me then you are generally willing to deal with a longer recovery time by continuing to train the aggravated area to some degree rather than lose all your gains. Yes it will hurt a bit while training but again keep it limited and use work abounds. Your recovery is also going to take longer so either deal with it or go on your doctors advice and take a vacation.

Yes there have been times when I had to lay off an injured area completely for several weeks but these where pretty major injuries. I have trained through tones of minor injuries and if you listen to your body you can usually find good work abounds that will get you through the recovery process and keep your strength up along the way.

Know your limits:
The best advice I can give you is to know your limits and always stay on the healthy side of them. Sure it's great to get one rep PR's but sure enough, that's when many of those more serious injuries can take place. If you're not a power lifter then perhaps keep your reps to 5-8+ per set and stay out of the danger zone. An injury is a sure fire way to reduce your PR or "personal bests" so keep that in mind...

Daily Workout - Back Pain!

Today I went to my Saturday morning MMA Class for 2 hours and then came home and did some stuff around the house. I thought I'd also do a quick leg workout as I still had some energy.

Maybe I should have skipped it today cause when I was on my last heavy set of squats I tweaked my back a bit. I've always had a bad lower back even in my 20's I suffered with pain but it actually has been better until today.

I did finish my workout but took it a bit easier. I am going to look for a good weight belt as a back injury is something nobody wants and once this gets better I'm going to make sure I keep the back pain away!

I hate injuries, so hopefully this sorts its self out over the next few days.