THUR: What To Do When Injury Occurs?

**P360 OB First 50 Initiative — Enrollment Opens Monday, March 5th.** 

If asked you which was the tougher foe for injury, the barbell or the PB bar scene, what would you say?

Surely, a loaded barbell performed at high speed is more treacherous than an intoxicated body being basic on a Friday night. But alas, injury data at our gym does not support that. In fact, we see more injuries occur outside the gym than inside of it, and if we wrote a tell all one day, there would be some gems in there.

In all seriousness, if you go at weigh training long enough, an injury may occur. A small tweak, a strain. It should not be embraced by any means, but it shouldn’t spook you, either. There is a trade off for giving your body a stimulus that literally reshapes how you look and feel, and that is stress on the body. And like any stress, it can go sideways sometimes.

Hopefully, if you do suffer an injury, it’s of the minor variety. Here’s a few things to keep in mind as you return.

Use Your Coaches
Our coaches are all trained and knowledgeable on modifications for you. Don’t go at it alone trying to piecemeal a workout together. We are happy to help, and we love when people ask. We can’t help you if we don’t know what you’re dealing with.

Avoid What Hurts
If, say, you are coming back from a knee issue and lunges irritate them, do not keep “pushing through.” Working through pain is not a badge of honor, it’s likely a setback you’re creating. There are way too many movements that will work for you, for you to be forcing something that isn’t working.

Don’t Be a Jackass
In any muscle strain, don’t perform any movement that directly targets at above 50% your first few weeks back.  If you are recovering from the all too common low back strain, and it’s your third week back, don’t deadlift five reps at 75%. Seriously, this kind of shit is annoying, to have to play injury cop with very basic common sense. It falls under the category of ‘highly obvious’, so always just follow the very basic filter of, “Am I being a jackass right now?”

Build Your Library
Let your coaches help you at your initial onset, but it’s always a good idea to slowly build your library of movements if you are returning from an injury that might be more serious. Self sufficiency should be the goal with any knowledge acquisition, and if you find you are in need of help two or three months in, it might be time to either pay more attention to what you’re doing, or have your injury re-evaluated.

Diversify Loads and Speeds
I’ll say it right now. The majority of people who get hurt in the gym are the people who go too heavy, too often and don’t get enough light weight, body weight, high speed training in their routine. It’s usually sprinkled in with poor preparation before workouts (sitting all day), and jumping straight into heavy lifting.

Heavy barbells are a wonderful too. They are not the only tool. Even if you don’t care about the other stuff, you should if your aim is to be in fitness long-term.

Follow WES Principles
WES is a concept from StrongFit founder Julien Pineau, and stands for:

Weight Bearing
Eccentric
Skill

When training around injury, we want our movements to have low versions of all three. Low weight bearing, meaning weight avoiding movements that load the spine at heavy weight. Low eccentric, meaning avoiding movements that contain a heavy lowering component to it (eccentric phase), because that’s where the majority of stress and stimulus occurs. Low skill, meaning avoiding movements that require a high degree of coordination. The greater the cognitive demand of a movement, the less natural we move and more likely we are to move incorrectly.

This makes sleds and rope pulls wonderful recovery tools. They have no eccentric component, are non-weight bearing, and require next to no skill. This is also a reason why they appear almost weekly, because the same movements you use to correct injury are the same movements you use to prevent them.

Take. Your. Time.
There is no rush. Your body isn’t going to turn into mushy weakness. Don’t hurry the process and set yourself back.

Above all, remember that if you have an injury, we’re here to help.

-Dave

Thursday, 3.1.18

First, for Structure.
8 DB Bench Press
4/s 1/2 Racked Goblet Rev Lunge
8 Pull-Ups
Complete 3 Rounds in 15 Minutes.
—
Then, for Conditioning.
(6) 3’on / 90” off Intervals. Continue for as long as you can. When you hit your threshold, you will run for a run for a distance based upon where you stopped.
1: 50 BW Squats + 50 Shoulder Taps
2: 50 Goblet Squats + 50 Spidermen
3: 50 Goblet Lunges + 30 Burpees
5: 50 Renegade Rows + 50 Plyo Skaters
6: 50/30 Push-Ups + 40 V-Ups