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So here's
the deal...an injury isn't the end of
the world! They happen to the best of
us, sometimes no matter how careful
you are. And THAT is what this article
is all about...I'm going to give you
examples of how I'VE trained around
a few injuries I've had over the 20+
years I've been training.
Getting
these injuries didn't mean I had to
completely stop every aspect of my training
until I was fully recovered. In fact,
continuing to train actually helped
with recovery!
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Before we go any further, let me be VERY clear
right up front. The examples I'm
using here are from MY own experience and
used only on myself. I'm not recommending
you do ANY of these techniques.
I'm not a doctor
(and especially I'm not YOUR doctor). I'm
not a physiotherapist. This should NOT be
considered medical advice. When you read this
article, PLEASE use your own common sense
and PLEASE consult with your doctor and get
the all-clear to train if you decide to train
around any injury.
Injury #1 - Twisted Ankle
The first injury
I want to talk about is a twisted ankle. I
was playing soccer and got my foot stuck in
a hole in the field and at the same moment
got spun around by another player. So basically,
I tore up most of the ligaments in my left
ankle.
I did all the
rest, ice, elevation, etc and I went to the
doctor the next day. He told me I had two
choices...because the sprain was so severe
I could either put it in a cast and it would
get weaker, or I could just keep icing and
elevating it.
I asked him
if I could do other things in the gym while
it was healing and he not only said "absolutely,"
he actually encouraged me to start using it
as soon as I felt I could put weight on it.
I was back in
the gym that same evening, hobbling around
and doing upper body training without any
problems. The next day, I was doing one-legged
squats on my RIGHT leg (the uninjured side).
By working the
non-injured side, you can prevent a lot of
the strength loss and atrophy that you often
see when a limb is immobilized. This happens
because of nervous system activation.
When the right
leg is used and activated, the nervous system
also activates the corresponding motor units
of the OTHER side. This can help prevent a
lot of the muscle-wasting you see with people
who are in casts - if only they would have
trained their uninjured side!
The key thing
to note is that even though I was working
my right leg, I wasn't putting pressure on
my injured side while I still had pain on
it. As it healed and I was able to put pressure
on it without pain, then I gradually worked
it back into my training, with no loss of
performance.
Injury #2 - Wrist Pain
This happened
to me my very first year of training and I
very quickly figured out exactly what the
cause was: too much barbell curling.
Every time I
picked up the straight bar to do curls, I
would get sharp pains in my wrists. I even
got to the point where I got a couple of wrist
wraps to help ease the pain (which worked
briefly).
How did I train
around that injury? Easy. Dumbell Curls.
Once I figured
it out, I immediately stopped all barbell
training...curls, benching, rows, machines,
everything that locked my wrists into position
while training.
I still had
some pain in my wrists while I was doing dumbbell
work for several weeks after I got off barbells,
but the wrist pain gradually went completely
away on its own.
The key thing
to note here - I had an injury as a result
of getting "locked in" on barbells
(especially straight barbell curls, which
put a lot of pressure on the wrists, which
in itself is the reason the EZ Curl bar was
invested), and I immediately trained around
that by switching to dumbells.
Problem solved,
and I actually saw increased growth and strength
because I changed things up.
Injury #3 - Pulled Tricep
Muscle
This one will
seem like a strange injury...I pulled the
long head of my left tricep doing heavy SHRUGS.
Yep, you read that right. Shrugs.
The reason I
pulled the long head is because it's the only
head of the three-headed tricep muscle that
crosses the shoulder joint. I had been doing
high training volume (shrugs every session)
and heavy weight (about 600 lbs) for a number
of weeks and it caught up to me.
Because of the
nature of the injury, it meant some changes
to my program. It meant no more deadlifts,
shrugs or stiff-legged deadlifts. Also, I
was off all rowing, chinning and pull-down
movements. Ironically enough, I could actually
do close-grip bench pressing and dips without
any problem at all, which is strange for a
tricep injury.
My tricep was
injured but I could hardly do any BACK training
because of it!
Training around
it was relatively simple. I just avoided those
exercises I mentioned. But that left me without
many options for back training. For back,
I used a bench press machine backwards, sitting
with my chest towards the back pad. I then
put my elbows against the bench handles and
pushed back against them to get the back activated.
This took the injured tricep completely out
of the movement but allowed me to get in some
decent back training.
Injury #4 - Strained Pectoral
Muscle
This one happened
to me doing VERY heavy weighted dips. I had
170 lbs hanging off my waist, had just done
several sets with that weight and decided
to finish with some high-rep, top-range partials
to really overload the muscle.
It's a technique
I'll never use again, because looking back
on it, I was totally setting myself up for
this injury. Very heavy weight on a stretch-focused
exercise (which in and of itself wasn't so
bad) but then when I did the high-rep partials,
it was like tearing the muscle repeatedly
until it ripped even more.
The good thing
is, the moment I felt the start of the strain,
I dropped to ground immediately, so I didn't
get an actual muscle tear, thought I thought
was pretty much done with chest training for
at least a month.
Not even close...after
swearing about it for awhile, I began doing
one-arm dumbbell bench press (on the Swiss
ball) on my right side to help keep the strength
up on both sides. I avoided all exercises
that caused any pain or stretch on the left
pec (to give you an idea, I couldn't bench
press even a 10 lb dumbbell without pain on
that side).
I kept up with
the one-side pressing and within a month,
I was back pressing 100 lb dumbells with both
sides with no pain and no real loss of strength
in the injured side.
The key here
is that I focused on what I COULD do and not
what I couldn't. This allowed me to keep up
with regular training and not see any drop
in strength or mass, even on the injured side.
Injury #5 - Pulled Muscle
in my Lower Back
This one I wanted
to use as an example of an injury that I COULDN'T
train around. I did this one to myself trying
to stretch out my lower back with a twisting
stretch. BAD idea. I was about do some incline
barbell bench and I was sitting on the bench,
rotating my torso and pushing with my right
elbow against the outside of my left knee.
And then I felt
and heard a "POP."
And that was
that. I was doubled over on the floor and
could hardly breathe. No workout that day!
It took me about
4 times as long to walk home because I could
hardly hold myself upright. Sleeping was no
fun at all. Luckily at that point, I still
owned a weight belt. I had to wrap it tight
around myself and sleep with it on in order
to not be in excruciating pain.
There was simply
NO way for me to train around that one. Breathing,
let alone training, was painful. I couldn't
support any weight. To this day, when I get
lean enough, I can still see where the muscle
popped through the fascia in my lower back.
A few days later,
I was able to get back in the gym and do some
light training but that was definitely something
not to be trained around.
Conclusion:
The key to remember
here is to pick your battles. I've had injuries
I could easily train around and which were
more inconvenience than injury. I've also
had injuries where discretion is the better
part of valor and have had to take time off.
In all things,
if YOU decide you want to try and train around
an injury, PLEASE check with your doctor first.
The last thing you want to happen is to self-diagnose
and find out later there was more going on
with the injured area than you thought.
Yeah, it stinks
to have to take time off training, but the
alternative could be a MUCH longer recovery
time or even chronic re-injury and weakness.
