Strength is a skill" -Pavel Tsatsouline
"Don't take this practice too seriously but train like your life depends on it." -Pattabhi Jois
"I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times." - Bruce Lee

My Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/yogadude1234/videos?flow=grid&view=0

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

On dealing with training injuries.

This is a very general post about dealing with training injuries.  It is not a substitute for seeking an actual professional in the field of sports rehab. 

If you train hard in any activity there is a 100% chance that at some point you will get injured.   There is just no way around this as serious athletes/fat-burners are often toying around at the edge of their physical limits.  I have had and recovered from such an incredible amount of injuries over the past 20 years that I feel very qualified to tell you what to do to get through them and come out the other side stronger.

If the injury causes pain when doing simple stuff like walking, reaching to grab something,  or turning your head you must take a full break from training.  This phase shouldn't last more than a week or 2.  During this phase you need to be very careful.  You have to be aware of the way you are moving when doing your regular daily routine.  Don't move too quickly, don't turn your head too fast, don't reach out and grab something if you cant get it under you.    You will want to ice the injured area at least 2x/day.  Use ice for no longer than 15 minutes per icing.   You can not ice too frequently within reason but you must keep the sessions to 15 minutes or less.   Use this injury as way of getting a deeper understanding of the way you move and move things in space.   

Once you feel that you can move comfortably (but still feel the injury) you can go back to whatever your training is using a much lighter load, usually about 30%.  An example of this would be Kettlebell Getups.  If you used to be able to do 5 sets of getups with a 24 kg kettlebell you will want to start with an 8 lb kettlebell (or even lighter) when you train.  If it still hurts too much to train with the 8 kg bell try bodyweight getups.  The entire point is to start at a very low load and work your way very slowly back up to your full capacity.  Once you feel comfortable at 30% it is time to start slowly adding weight/intensity to your routine.  Do not rush this phase.  It could take you 1-6 months to get back to full strength, depending on the intensity of your injury.

If you find yourself not recovering when training at 30% you need to create a rehabilitative routine to slowly build you back to 100%.  Since I train with kettlebells I guess that is my focus for either strength work or rehabilitative work.  90% of injuries I see are low back, upper back, shoulder or neck.  All of these bodyparts can be healed with one basics exercise, kettlebell hiking.  I believe that the body strengthens and heals as a full-body unit.  When you pick up something with even a little bit of weight the entire body is forced to slowly catch up to its weak links.  I had tremendous success healing my upper and lower back injuries using simple kettlebell hiking.  I had an injury so bad last year that I couldn't even comfortably carry the 4 kg bell.  I put a bottle of water into a bag and hiked with it as if it was a 1 lb kettlebell.  Every other day I added a bottle until I could carry 4 lbs total.  Once I was strong enough to do that I went to the 4 kg bell, then the 8, 12, and finally when I was strong enough to hike with the 16 kg bell I was 100% healed. 

Every injury I have had has led me to a personal record of some sort in my training.  The injury I am describing above was one of my worse, a badly torn upper back muscle.  It took 6 months to get back to 100%.  On the 7th month I set personal records in the strict Military Press (5 sets of 5 with a pair of 24 kg bells) and the Getup (70 lb getup stacking 2 bells). 

Do not let your injuries get you down in any way.  Everything is a learning experience and that which does not kill us eventually leads to new PR's.  Every kettlebell master I study has had injuries.  You are not Superman but you do need to be Supersmart when making your comeback.  Life is long and you will always have plenty of time to get stronger, just be smart about it!

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