Muscle Sport Magazine

What’s Your Threshold? Lifting Through the Pain

Every now and then I happen to lightly injure myself yet skipping a day of lifting never EVER becomes an option during all this. I’m not saying if you tear a pectoral muscle you should ignore the throbbing pain and go bench press 315lbs tomorrow but what I am saying is you need to KNOW your body inside and out. When it comes to pain within the body, no matter how it is acquired, you should make it a priority to listen to that pain. Now that you’ve listened to the pain, it’s time to assess the severity of it.

I’m not a doctor nor am I a physical therapist but in my experience with injuries and pain; signs such as very limited range of motion, acute pain, considerable amount of internal movement and etc. are not good news. These types of injuries are not light and should be taken very seriously as soon as they occur. By “light” I’m meaning the occasional sprained wrist, a slight tweak in a knee or a minor pinched nerve in the back, these injuries can be worked around without being aggravated or worsened. How do you accomplish this feat you ask? Know your body.

A combination of knowing your body and utilizing helpful items out there to aid in active recovery make for…well, an active recovery! For instance, if an individual sprains their wrist, I’d suggest using some Powerflex Sports Wrap, which helps brace the wrist for a pending workload.Maurice Bright

These are the type of additions to your arsenal you should be considering when not seriously injured, now onto the “knowing” your body part. It’s vital that when workably injured you make some changes to your programming to accommodate this injury, to ensure of course it doesn’t go from 0 to 100 real quick (Yes, a Drake reference). What I typically do to work around injuries is; I’ll either decrease the weight and increase reps to compensate or scrap a particular workout altogether and replace it with a more suitable one for that session.

It’s not wise to train the same way injured as you would uninjured because the same type of movements you undergo 100% healthy could irritate an existing injury; the goal here is to cater to the injury but not baby it. Smith machines and machines period are good when training injured, that’s if dumbbells and cables prove to be only making it worse. The reason the machines trump dumbbells and cables in this particular category is because they balance the weight for you, taking the responsibility completely off your body.

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Given that element of assistance here, these machines help make for easier lifts and less worries for an injured individual. What you can also do to better cope with minor injuries on workout days is incorporate stretching or more of it into your routine; several people underestimate the benefits of stretching and a decent warm-up pre-workout. Stretching loosens up injured/tight muscles and this should be the greatest music to the ears of someone coming into the gym with an existing injury.

How about warming up? Yeah, warm-ups warm up (repetition at its finest) muscle fibers for optimal performance, makes it easier to move said muscle fibers and lubricates the joints for even more mobility. Stretching, warming-up, training wiser than usual and implementing help make for a superb combination for dynamic recovery and I’m not just saying that because I’m writing it either. These are all principles I live by and use in the event that I injure myself somethin’ minor, keep in mind I did mention “minor” because this is not a protocol I would suggest at all for major injuries. As with all my pieces I compose, I truly hope this helped and can be of use for all you badasses out there!

Maurice Bright is an ISSA certified personal trainer who also manages his own health and fitness website, mauricebright.com in hopes to inform, educate, motivate and inspire whenever possible.
 
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