Anyone who considers themselves dedicated to the iron game or calls themselves a serious strength athlete is going to realize that injuries are just part of the game. Unless you are a freak of nature, everyone is guaranteed to run into a speed bump every now end then. Constantly raising the bar higher and lifting heavy weights in the gym is going to create both a positive and negative toll on your body. Be smart and listen to what your body is telling you. If you are feeling great, kick ass and turn up the intensity. However, if you feel beat up and stressed, back off a bit. Knowing your limits is what separates smart training from stupid training. However, being injured does not mean you should just sit on your ass and skip work outs. You can always train around and through and injury with the right approach.
Just about two months ago I started getting some pretty bad tendonitis or what I thought was ulnar nerve entrapment in my left elbow to the point where I had pins and needles in my fingers. I continued to press and train heavy for a week or two but I knew the inevitable was coming. Finally it got so bad that lowering the barbell on the bench press was excruciating and I had to leave the gym in the middle of my work out. I left frustrated, pissed, and miserable. I could have easily put my tail between my legs and sat on the couch for a month and do nothing but instead I went right to correcting the problem.
I didn’t even look at a barbell for probably 3 weeks. For the first week, the only thing I did was focus on soft tissue regeneration. For 20 minutes a day I worked on self-myofascial release with the use of a lacrosse ball, foam roller and a voodoo band. If you don’t know what a voodoo band is please go to http://www.mobilitywod.com/ and get yourself one. Your body will thank you for it. I also scheduled an ART/ massage therapy session once a week for te next month in advance.
The following week I started to add back in various intensities of body weight work using a weight vest for the majority of my external resistance. I also pushed the prowler relentlessly during this time.
After three weeks I finally started to add back in some dumbbell work and all my pressing movements were used with fat gripz. Fat gripz are a unique training device that simply wraps around standard barbells, dumbbells and cable attachments instantly converting them into thick bars. These little suckers are a life saver when dealing with any nagging wrist, elbow, or shoulder pain. Not only that, but they build tremendous grip, and forearm strength to boot.
Two months later, the elbow is at about 90% and I am back to heavy pressing with the use of the fat gripz. When I got hurt, I could have just sat on the couch, popped an anti-inflammatory and hope the pain would go away. Instead, I created a plan to get better. The main point I want to get across is for you to realize that just because you are hurt, doesn’t mean you can’t train. Just because you hurt your elbow does not mean you get to sit home and shut down mentally, and physically. You still have two legs and one other arm you could be training!
There is ALWAYS something you can do to produce a desirable training effect. Don’t focus on what you CAN’T do but what you CAN do. By training hard and training smart, by staying true to technique and not being reckless we can keep training related injuries to an absolute minimum.
Just about two months ago I started getting some pretty bad tendonitis or what I thought was ulnar nerve entrapment in my left elbow to the point where I had pins and needles in my fingers. I continued to press and train heavy for a week or two but I knew the inevitable was coming. Finally it got so bad that lowering the barbell on the bench press was excruciating and I had to leave the gym in the middle of my work out. I left frustrated, pissed, and miserable. I could have easily put my tail between my legs and sat on the couch for a month and do nothing but instead I went right to correcting the problem.
I didn’t even look at a barbell for probably 3 weeks. For the first week, the only thing I did was focus on soft tissue regeneration. For 20 minutes a day I worked on self-myofascial release with the use of a lacrosse ball, foam roller and a voodoo band. If you don’t know what a voodoo band is please go to http://www.mobilitywod.com/ and get yourself one. Your body will thank you for it. I also scheduled an ART/ massage therapy session once a week for te next month in advance.
The following week I started to add back in various intensities of body weight work using a weight vest for the majority of my external resistance. I also pushed the prowler relentlessly during this time.
After three weeks I finally started to add back in some dumbbell work and all my pressing movements were used with fat gripz. Fat gripz are a unique training device that simply wraps around standard barbells, dumbbells and cable attachments instantly converting them into thick bars. These little suckers are a life saver when dealing with any nagging wrist, elbow, or shoulder pain. Not only that, but they build tremendous grip, and forearm strength to boot.
Two months later, the elbow is at about 90% and I am back to heavy pressing with the use of the fat gripz. When I got hurt, I could have just sat on the couch, popped an anti-inflammatory and hope the pain would go away. Instead, I created a plan to get better. The main point I want to get across is for you to realize that just because you are hurt, doesn’t mean you can’t train. Just because you hurt your elbow does not mean you get to sit home and shut down mentally, and physically. You still have two legs and one other arm you could be training!
There is ALWAYS something you can do to produce a desirable training effect. Don’t focus on what you CAN’T do but what you CAN do. By training hard and training smart, by staying true to technique and not being reckless we can keep training related injuries to an absolute minimum.