1. Decrease the working weight and increase the number of repetitions.
If, despite the injury, you continue to train and work the damaged area, I advise you to switch to a lower working weight for more repetitions.
Do not jerk or jerk, do all exercises slowly, concentrate on technique and focus on the target muscle. This will keep you from exceeding your injury limit and exacerbating the problem.
By performing multiple repetitions at low intensity, you can activate regenerative processes in the affected area and speed up recovery. The early start of exercise in the rehabilitation period is also of great importance.
2. Improvise
Having a knee injury does not mean that there is no way for you to continue training and maintain excellent shape during the rehabilitation period.
As a retired athlete, I have had to train against a background of injuries a lot and I have always tried to find a new way to work out the target groups during the recovery period.
At this stage, it is important to create a gentle regime for the damaged area until the structure and function are completely restored, but all other parts of the body must be worked out as usual. The circuit training method is an excellent tool for this.
Short training cycles help maintain good functional readiness, allow the injured area to rest and protect it from overuse.
In the past, I have had shoulder injuries during which I had to create circuit training programs in which the shoulder joints were not directly involved, and most of the load fell on the lower half of the body. Thus, I was able to keep myself in shape, train intact muscles and stay in the saddle.
3. Avoid pain
Unless the injury was too severe, I found an opportunity to work through the pain. For example, when you have problems with your elbow joints, try alternative exercises instead of basic movements.
Vary your grip, vary your working weight, and look for alternative exercises for the same muscle group that will help you bypass pain.
4. Use the right technique
Injuries happen for a variety of reasons, but the most common is a violation of correct technique for performing movements.
Improper technique causes muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints to become uncomfortable, which increases the likelihood of an accident, such as a tendon rupture. If you are already in pain, an incorrect starting position will only increase the likelihood of injury.
The human body is subject to special laws of biomechanics, which we must comply with in order to avoid damage. Technique execution of movements during strength exercises significantly reduces the likelihood of injury. Keep in mind that your limb can only perform strictly defined movements, and various bends, jerks and rotations during power loads dramatically increase the likelihood of injury.
5. Always warm up well.
The minimum of prevention is worth the expensive treatment, right? This rule is directly related to strength training. I constantly see people who go to the gym and immediately start strength exercises, without a warm-up. It becomes a habit, and this habit leads to injury. A proper warm-up is essential.
If you stretch or squeeze cold muscles, you increase your risk of injury. But if you gradually increase the temperature of the muscle fiber, and then also stretch it with the help of static exercises, the muscle’s resistance to traumatic influences will increase several times. Warm up well before every workout!
And as a bonus, stretching will help you build muscle because it improves circulation and helps increase the elasticity of the muscle fascia.
6. Maintain a positive attitude
Let’s be clear – injuries are unsettling. At the same time, research shows that a positive attitude during the rehabilitation period significantly speeds up the recovery process.
So instead of complaining about fate and blaming the accident and fateful coincidence, consider working on lagging body parts and weak muscle groups during your recovery period.
As you know, there is a silver lining, and in everything you need to learn to find positive moments. Even if you are injured, do not despair, but stock up on a good mood and continue to move forward towards progress!
7. Rehabilitation and prevention
The importance of functional rest and adequate treatment during trauma rehabilitation cannot be underestimated, but now I want to talk about something else. Admit it, as soon as you feel the pain gradually recede, you immediately rush to the gym, planning in your mind a plan for a grueling hardcore workout. Many athletes make this mistake during the recovery phase.
The main danger that will lie in wait for you along the way is repeated injury. You have lost a lot of time due to damage, degenerative and atrophic processes have begun in the muscle tissue, and this significantly increases the risk of injury while returning to a normal training rhythm.
If you did run ahead of the locomotive and were damaged again, the grueling rehabilitation period will have to start over. Meanwhile, such a discouraging development of events can be prevented.
How? Very simple – after a serious injury, get the advice and guidance of a doctor before returning to the gym. You don’t want an injury that will knock you out of the saddle for an even longer period of time, do you? And if during your first workouts you experience severe pain, stop and return to the doctor.
I know that many people hate going to doctors and firmly believe that the injury can miraculously disappear the next day, but for this you need to at least provide the damaged part of the body with complete rest, because this is the only way to protect the injured tendon, muscle or ligament from further damage …
Strictly adhere to medical advice when returning to the gym, especially in matters related to the intensity of the load, types of exercises and features of the rehabilitation period. And don’t try to work with microtrauma. Better to lose two days than stay on sick leave for 3 months.
So now you know all about injury training. Follow these recommendations, and then injuries will bypass you!
