Go Long, Go Hard, Even When Injured
Before the doctors perk their ears up (I see all of you!) and prepare to argue, this post is about working with your injury, not in spite of it.
When I injured my arm, the main concern doctors had was whether it was broken. My CrossFit coaches had different concerns. They wanted to know about every movement I tried, how it felt on my wrist before, during and after. They checked in with me the next day on every workout I took part in, the modifications, if I experienced pain afterward and where. It was because they kept calling my attention to it that I realized, yes, my arm was better in some ways but, whoa was it worse in others.
Photo by Matheus Ferrero on Unsplash
I sought my chiropractor's opinion. I should have gone to her first. She has yet to mislead me in any way. It took her approximately 60 seconds to determine I had a tear in my tendon, show me where it was, and prescribe a device to stabilize my tendon in order to stop re-tearing it. Even simple tasks like pouring out a cup of water were compromising the healing of my injury. She was my third opinion, and the first to consider injury beyond a break and what that means for an active CrossFitter like me.
Basically, both chiropractor and coaches considered me holistically. This continues.
Knowing I have a tear means I had to stop doing many of the moves I can complete without pain in the gym. No pain doesn't mean a movement is healthy. Pain is a great indicator of when to push harder and when to stop, but no pain for me was actually because the pain was delayed. It crashed down on me 24hrs later, or showed up when I randomly lost my grip or couldn't pick up a fork because my fingers weren't closing.
Photo by Maria Fernanda Gonzalez on Unsplash
It is very frustrating to not be building muscle at the level I want to right now. As I said, now that we know there is a tear in my arm, I've had to move backwards in all my movements almost as though I am a CrossFit beginner. But this doesn't mean I'm not getting a good workout.
In fact, today my workout was more strenuous than many I've done because I had to scale down. I couldn't do barbell lifts or hold a jump rope. I couldn't hang from the cage for toes-to-bar, so I was doing 25 sit-ups, 50 plate hops and 15 (13, 11, 9, 7) 10# medicine ball cleans. If you've never done plate hops, they are about twice as difficult as jumping rope. We had 4 minutes to complete each round of work. Most class members ended at 2 rounds plus a few reps. I completed 5 rounds almost three minutes under the time cap. The only other person to complete the full five rounds? Also injured and heavily scaled.
Photo by Juan Jose on Unsplash
Long story short, the workout was extremely challenging and I am sore everywhere. I went long and hard by working WITH my injury. Had I tried to do a barbell clean, I would have easily re-torn my tendon and possibly exacerbated the problem. Had I tried to hang onto the jump rope? At the very least I would not be typing right now. And had I tried to hold onto the cage? I wouldn't have made it past round one, my workout would have last 4 minutes instead of 17, and I would be disappointed instead of proud.
It's important to keep moving when we are injured, to keep challenging ourselves, but to do so within our abilities. Choosing safety can be inconvenient, but it's worth it.
For my part, I'm glad I pursued a third opinion on my arm. It hurts worse than ever, but it's pain that tells me it's healing, not the horrible, aching, tingling pain of reinjury.
How are you challenging yourself?
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Great article!
I injured my knee recently and it was really hard to stay out of the gym (I'm an brazilian jiujitsu and judo practitioner and fell prey to to a clumsy whitebelt during drills). There was no way I was going to make it several months without training at all so i decided to go in after a week or so and just take it easy.
As you said it is frustrating not getting better at the pace that I previously was and seeing others getting better and better because they get to train harder than me at the current moment.
I expressed my frustration to my instructor and he gave me some really good advice. He reassured me that injuries happen to everyone and as long as I stay consistent I will reach my goal and to think of training as a marathon and not a sprint.
That is excellent advice! I'm going to think of it that way now. I really want to push, but I also want to be able to push not just for a day or two. Pushing now means I won't make the gains I want in the long term. One thing one of my coaches says is it takes more mental strength than physical to get strong or skilled.
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Thank you!
Very interesting post you!
I really like to see your post.
Thank you!
I had knee pains due to weight. Despite that I am in the gym and working it out. My aim before the end of this year is to get rid of this knee pain and reduce the weight.
That was my goal last year. I got the weight down, the knee pain is better, but I lift, run and squat with Rehband knee sleeves. I don't have cartilage in one knee. This plus lots of rolling out my leg muscles has helped enormously! My knees rarely wake me up anymore. :) I hope you achieve your goal!
It is so good to hear you got a diagnosis, a tool to help protect the injury while it heals, an the wisdom to push forward with your goals, making adjustments to guard against further injury during healing. I would have used it as an excuse to quit and eat ice cream. I have much to learn and not much time left. Keep inspiring!
I can't say I didn't have the same impulse. Ice cream is amazing! But not moving makes me brain so unhappy not even ice cream can fix it. LOL. I'm glad I have coaches that will work with my injury instead of sideline me. I've been in the other situation. I'm happy to be encouraged to keep going.