It seems like everywhere I look in my Crossfit gym (just like in a normal gym) there are people with injuries or sore spots. The biggest difference is that in a normal gym environment you tend to pick your own exercises and its easy to stay away from the ones that hurt. In Crossfit, you are being programmed exercises that will sooner or later expose your issues.
Here is where smart training comes into play. Smart training is finding things that you can do that don't make your problem worse (and doing them). That's #1. #2 is addressing your problem areas.
Find what you can do. Last Friday I pulled my Teres Major muscle during chest to bar pull ups. I can still feel the area when I pull my shoe on each morning. Guess what I can't do? Pull ups. And I found that there are other things I can't do either since then. So I went in Saturday and squatted. Then I played around with bench press and found that was fine too. This week I've been exposed to pull ups, muscle ups, and toes to bar in the workouts. I used a band on the pull ups. I picked a different exercise to sub in for the muscle ups. And I just lifted my knees to chest (any higher and it was uncomfortable). I have been working hard since the injury last week and haven't made my shoulder any worse.
Address your problem areas. First and foremost my muscle needs some rest. So I haven't been testing it. But I've also been on the lacrosse ball each day, I've done rotator cuff exercises, stretched it out. I am on the "get this thing better" plan. I'm not ignoring it but I'm going after it. The banded pull ups are designed to make the muscle lengthen and shorten in a pain free range. I'm using the muscle to keep it healthy without stressing it. I'm getting some blood flow into it.
Too often I see folks do what I call checking the picture frame. What I mean is imagine that a picture frame falls to the ground and breaks at the corner joint. You glue it together. Now instead of leaving it alone to bind, you anxiously keep checking the connection, pulling it apart to see if its ready to hang on the wall again. Everytime, the glued area comes apart and you have to start over. Well eventually you have a gunky build up of old glue and the frame no longer looks right and its hard to even use anymore. The same thing happens to people with injuries. They can't seem to leave it alone long enough or do the right things for it to let it heal. Instead they keep testing it and setting themselves back.
It's entirely possible to rest an area without resting your entire body. I come home dripping with sweat after each workout but my shoulder is no worse for it. You have to train smart with an injury. And while you may not know the rehab stuff I know, I guarantee that you can get the info. Heck, just ask me if you want!
No comments:
Post a Comment