If you’ve ever been injured and had to deal with the daily nagging pains this is a post for you. Hell, even if you’ve never been injured before you still can learn from this post to hopefully minimize your risk of injury. But inevitable a majority of the fitness population will go through some type of injury (minor or major). The type of severity is the combination of luck, smart training, and genetics.
My Injury
It was back in 2007 and I had the mentality to never sacrifice a rep, train hard and you’ll get the numbers needed. Unfortunately that mentality, with bad form, and a weak foundation herniated my L4,L5, and S1 discs. The loud pop, pain, and burning sensation is burnt into my memory and it knocked me on my ass but not before I completed the rep! What an idiot, right? I was extremely lucky not to have any nerve issues but the pain stayed with me for about 2-3 weeks on a CONSTANT basis. I iced, heat, massaged, did some rehab exercises, then finally was able to focus on doing powers because any squat position destroyed me. Long story short, I started to feel a little better and then dove back down the gutter = hurt my back. Finally I learned my lesson and took about 2 years off, during that time focused on slowly building my GPP back up. Finally feeling pretty good I hired a well known “fitness guru” to help guide my weightlifting program. I was pumped to get the program, unfortunately it didn’t seem to take into consideration my back limitations. After explaining to him how some of the movements didn’t prepare me for such a big jump, he simply said to trust him and sadly I did = blew out my back again.
Listen to YOUR Body
The above story is a perfect example of the need to LISTEN to your body. No one knows how you’re feeling throughout the movement. If you feel pain or discomfort then there needs to be an adjustment and assessment of why that’s happening. It could be as simple as positioning or a bit more complicated such as muscle not firing correctly or just an exercise you shouldn’t do. The point being is that if theres pain, that’s not good and it needs to be addressed through stretching, foam rolling, ice, heat, a GPP phase etc…
If you talk to any elite athlete or even the older fitness enthusiasts, they all say the same thing “LISTEN to your body”. If it’s saying the weight is too much, you need to stretch more, take an extra day of rest, etc… then you should! Especially if regarding a previously injured area.
Personal Trainer Feedback
If you hire a personal trainer or “Fitness Guru” and they don’t take into consideration your feedback, the programming doesn’t make sense, or they don’t explain the thought process of the program, then they should be fired immediately. In my situation, I completely was naive and didn’t want to micromanage the program. I hired the personal trainer/ “Fitness guru” for a reason and I know that I can be over analytical so I bought it to his words and it was an EXTREMELY costly mistake on my part.
To further explain, the program went through a x5 week GPP phase that kept the percentages down around 30-40%. After the x5 week phase the “guru” personal trainer then had me do as many reps as you can fit in for 30minute at 75% of your max. That makes absolutely no SENSE at all, there is no preparation for that type of volume at that intensity, a 25% increase in intensity with a high amount of volume. Point being is that if it doesn’t make sense, ask the personal trainer to explain, if there no adjustment after your feedback of risk of re-injury, then you should move on to a different personal trainer.
Mental
Positivity has been proven to help with your overall health. This includes how quickly you respond to an injury. According to the research from Arden et al, positive thoughts and outlook is associated with a higher rate of returning to sport following athletic injury. This is where a good support system from a NYC personal trainer, family, workout buddy, physical therapist is going to be very important to help you stay motivated and positive:
“Positive psychological responses including motivation, confidence and low fear were associated with a greater likelihood of returning to the preinjury level of participation and returning to sport more quickly. Fear was a prominent emotional response at the time of returning to sport despite the fact that overall emotions became more positive as recovery and rehabilitation progressed.” Arden et al.
Here’s the research: A systematic review of the psychological factors associated with returning to sport following injury
Your mental attitude and the “fun” factor makes a significant difference, to the point that now hospitals are finally allowing animals in children’s hospitals! Which I’m HUGE advocate of.
Final Thoughts
The take home message is to just be careful, there is a time to push and time to scale back. Over time you’ll develop an awareness of when to push and back off a bit. If you’re still having trouble, a qualified personal trainer will help you gain the knowledge on when to cut a rep, scale back the intensity, or take a recovery day. It may take some time for the both of you to develop that rapport but over time it’ll happen. Finally, if the program doesn’t make sense and you have doubts, then you need to address it. Otherwise your more likely to injury yourself.
Train smart,
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