One of the most difficult parts of working out when injured (or when returning from injury) is not measuring ourselves against the pre-injury workouts. Second to that is finding the limits of our current level of ability.
Often, we can undertake a workout feeling like a million dollars only to find after the workout that we may have overcooked it, this can easily lead to further disheartening.
Identifying movements that we can perform is key, mixing these with any prescribed exercises (from physio, consultant etc.). The idea here is that we can still perform exercises to our pre-injury level whilst interspersing our rehab exercises.
When looking at the volume and intensity for our workouts, we should look to build this up slowly and in line with our rehab, it’s better to leave feeling we had some more in the tank and be ready to go the next day than push a little too hard and be both uncomfortable and unable to work out the next day.
Trying to cover all permutations here would make this very long and possibly a tad boring, instead let’s look at some themes towards these:
- Identify rehab exercises – these will normally be prescribed, this could be from a sports masseuse, physio, consultant etc.
- Understand what body parts we can continue to train – if we have a lower limb injury, what can we do with our upper body, do we have any areas which we could improve?
- Find a way to integrate our rehab exercises – where do they fit, how often can we undertake them, do we require any specific equipment?
- Consistency beats intensity – day by day, week by week gradual improvements will have you back faster than trying to jump back into it too fast.
- Knowing when to start transitioning – so we are feeling good, time to hope back into our previous program right, maybe not straight away – another topic and one for later in the month! – oh exercise cliff hanger….
Exercising whilst injured can seem confusing, daunting, or just complicated! However, it can be done and there are normally lots of alternative exercises you can undertake – some you may even like and keep doing post rehab.
If you would like some help with working through an injury, pop us a message 07597 215652 or email info@spikefitness.co.uk