I can’t go to the gym right now, I have injuries
Have you ever said this? Thought this? Or maybe you just thought you can’t go to the gym or join the fitness program your friend keeps telling you about because you might GET injured, or hurt something worse.
When something hurts, or you have an old injury it’s perfectly natural and smart, to be hesitant about what stresses you put your body under. However, it’s important that we understand that our bodies NEED some level of stress when we want them to change.
When it comes to strength, fitness, flexibility – if we want progress we need to ask our bodies for a little more. We need to be in measured, but slightly uncomfortable situations to generate change. We easily accept that about fitness – we need to “push hard” or go heavy or fast to get fitter. But when it comes to injuries, we often think we need to stay off them all together to keep them safe.
This is not the case. Most injuries come from imbalances, weaknesses, flexibility issues that eventually cause pain. The only way to fix these problems is to WORK on them. Resting when your injuries are inflamed or when they first occur can be incredibly important. But after that – if you want them to get better, you need to take ACTION. Rest just allows everything to stay the same, while inhibiting your life. Maybe you’ll rest and the pain will go away – but when you start going about your life as usual – the pain can and will return.
I have worked with hundreds of “dodgy knees” and “sore shoulders” and “aching backs”. Sometimes people come to us with this ongoing pain – concerned that exercise will make it worse. With careful strength training and increased fitness – these injuries can be significantly reduced or even fixed all together.
Dodgy knees need strengthening in the joint and muscles that support it, dodgy shoulders might need re-training to make sure they’re moving correctly and recruiting the right muscles, aching backs generally come from long term weakness and instability in the core. NONE of these issues go away with “rest”. They go away with consistent work.
If you want your injuries to stop bugging you – join a gym and get a good coach who will help you work through them and help you work on your other goals without hurting you further.
If your shoulder is sore, what’s stopping you working with your legs, your core? You can work on strength, cardio, everything you need even while your injury recovers.
The gym is the one place we slow down and actually think about and work on our technique, our movement patterns, our strengths and weaknesses. We don’t think about it at our work desk, walking around, carrying our kids, we just act and react. The gym is the most likely place to actually make some ground on your injuries and to move on with your health and fitness.
Don’t let your injuries hold you back – get to work on them and get to work working around them. There are plenty of things you can do, old injuries are the worst reason to stay home.
If you need help with your injuries, or you’re not sure what you can and can’t do – why not book a chat with us? We can help point you in the right direction. Book a No-Sweat Intro with us >>>>
Coach Feebz
CrossFit Long Haul
Owner / Head Coach
0439 185 157