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Coming Back To Working Out After An Injury

massage therapist standing next to sitting woman touching her head and helping her start working out after an injury by giving her a massage

Participate in anything physical long enough and injuries will happen at some point. CrossFit might get a bad rap for injuring people, but the truth is that it happens just as much (if not more) in sports other than CrossFit. Plus sometimes life happens, you have some sort of procedure or surgery. The important thing is not the injury, but how you come back to working out after an injury.

You might have had doctor’s orders to take it easy and not do anything strenuous for a couple weeks or maybe even a few months. So, you served your time and now you are anxiously waiting to be able to work out again. But doing so incorrectly can set you back instead of push you forward. So how do you come back to working out after an injury?

When working out after an injury, start slow

Your body has been resting. While the mind and body might be ready and willing to get going, it is better to take it easy when you first come back. Pushing too hard can put strain on an injury that is healing. 

By starting slow you will also have the opportunity to focus on form or “easier” modifications. I say easier because if you are used to doing T2B go try some K2E. It’s the same thing with HSPU and wall walks. The “easier” one usually ends up being more difficult.   

Take note of your soreness

More than likely you will feel really great that first day back to working out after an injury. You get to see your friends and you’re back in the box actually moving and lifting again. We know it’s fun and exciting. 

But, be prepared for the soreness to hit harder than expected. I think I speak for us all when I say that coming back after that week-long vacation was much harder than expected. Who knew a week of drinking on a beach and eating all you can eat buffets for every meal would lead to this much pain?!

Rest and recovery are extra important when working out after an injury

You told yourself you would take it easy when you came back. But you didn’t know you would be coming back during a 1RM back squat day with a metcon of Fran. So you might have overdone it a little bit, but today just felt good and you PR’d both! 

As the saying goes, you can’t unring a bell, so now what? Now you need to focus on the rest and recovery. Good nutrition, sleep and water intake will be game changers here. 

Other things like starting with only a few WODs that first week or two while focusing on mobility the other days will also greatly benefit your ability to get back to normal when working out after an injury.

Enjoy the process of getting back in the gym

Is there anything better in the world than a good WOD? No of course not, but don’t sit around and mope.

While you are getting back on your feet you don’t have to do absolutely nothing. Use this free time to focus on another form of self improvement. Read a book, go for a walk with the family, learn a new skill, spend time with your pets, try a new recipe. The list is endless – so enjoy the extra time in your day but don’t waste it.

Injuries suck. Time away from the gym sucks. But, letting it get you off track is the worst thing you can do. So once you do get the green light from someone who gets paid more than me, start back. Don’t worry if it’s not where you used to be, and that might get you down. 

Remember success builds motivation. So even just getting into the box and moving should be seen as a success and help you be motivated for the next day!

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Is Weightlifting After 50 Dangerous?

does weightlifting hurt your joints after 50

We all know that getting injured at the gym really sucks, and can be especially common if you’re weightlifting after 50. A painful tendon or pulled muscle can keep you out of action for weeks. When weightlifting hurts your joints it’s particularly nasty, and can impact your performance for months. So much hard work and progress can all be undone in an instant. 

It may seem like weightlifting, particularly weightlifting after 50, is bound to cause some damage. All that heavy lifting is sure to put stress and strain on your body, right? 

Well, kind of. Like any exercise, weightlifting is attached to a risk of injury. However, evidence indicates that weightlifting actually strengthens your joints. 

For instance, this study compared the joint health of 25 weightlifters against non-weightlifters. The researchers found that the weightlifters had healthier, or as healthy, joints as their non-lifting peers of the same age.

So, you don’t need to worry too much about weightlifting hurting your joints. It’s never a bad idea to take steps to decrease the risk of injury, though. Here are some ways to make sure you avoid getting hurt:

Warm Up And Cool Down

Warming up your joints before exercising is a key part of preventing injury. Cold joints are injury prone, because they’re not very good at handling shock and impact. Warm joints are much more receptive of stress.

At the other end of your workout, you should cool down with some light cardio and stretching. This slowly brings your heart rate back to a normal resting range, which is important for healthy and even blood flow. 

Stretch

Stretching helps keep the joints limber. Taking time to stretch promotes healthy blood circulation. It speeds up the healing process after muscles begin breaking down, which also prevents next-day soreness. 

You can finish up your workout with a few minutes of dynamic stretching. Try lunges, yoga poses and leg swings as a starting point.

Many people also like to work foam rolling into their stretching time. Using a foam roller to pinpoint spots on muscles can loosen tight tissue, improving blood flow. Again, this helps your muscles to recover from the workout faster.

Keep Good Form

This is the most crucial aspect of preventing weightlifting from hurting your joints. Proper form is key when lifting anything heavy – even just when you’re carrying groceries.

Keeping good form is particularly important when performing heavy compound lifts such as squats, deadlifts and bench presses. When dealing with such heavy weight, you risk serious injury if just one part of your body isn’t aligned correctly.

If you’re unsure of your form, any trainer in the gym will be happy to take a look and give you some tips. This will not only help you perform your workout safely, but also give a boost to your performance and fitness progress.

Work Deload Weeks Into Your Routine

A deload week is a week when you still go to the gym, but you go easier on yourself than usual. Your workouts should be much easier during a deload week, whether it’s because they’re shorter, the weights aren’t as heavy, or you’re doing less sets.

This gives your muscles a chance to relax and heal to prepare them for the next phase of your training. Many people do a deload week every fourth week. If this is right for you depends on how often and how hard you usually train.

I Have Hurt My Joints! What Do I Do?

Unfortunately, while you can take steps to minimize risk, there’s no guaranteed way to prevent injury. If you do get hurt at the gym you should apply ice to the affected area and then wrap the affected body part in a bandage. You can take over the counter medication to deal with pain.

The most important part of recovering from weightlifting hurting your joints is resting until it heals. You will likely need to take a break from exercise. Yes, this is a bit miserable, but you need to take your time to heal. If you get back into the gym too early, you risk making the injury worse.

What About Weightlifting Above 50?

If you’re creeping past middle age, you probably feel more concern about your bone, joint, tendon and general health than you used to. Luckily, weightlifting above 50 is a great way to keep healthy, strong and in shape.

Humans lose muscle as they age. This process is called sarcopenia. However, exercise helps to combat this. Weightlifting will keep your metabolism healthy and decrease your risk of falls. There is also plenty of research to indicate that weightlifting is a great treatment for osteoarthritis. 

Weightlifting in your golden years is a great way to stay in shape and improve your quality of life. If you remember to warm up, cool down, stretch, keep good form for your exercises, and take deload weeks, you’ll find there are many more physical benefits than risks for weightlifting. Exercise is a crucial way to keep healthy well into your life.

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Is CrossFit Bad For You?

woman wearing a tank top and shorts hanging from gym equipment is crossfit bad for you

The draw to CrossFit, especially in the early days, was that you were receiving a ton of actual coaching for a fraction of the price of personal training. As CrossFit’s popularity exploded, boxes started opening up on every corner. Now CrossFit is a household name, but people still wonder: is CrossFit bad for you? Will it cause injuries?

The issues

In the early days, because CrossFit got so popular, some people who didn’t actually care about helping members just saw an opportunity to make a quick buck. 

These people really did not put much time or effort into becoming a coach. They didn’t have any knowledge of proper movements, form, and so on. And problems followed…

This situation caused major issues for the CrossFit community. A problem it created was the notion that CrossFit is bad for you and can even be dangerous.

Could a person get injured doing CrossFit? Of course, but a person can also get injured doing any sport, or not doing sports at all.  

Were all CrossFits a hotbed for injuries and a lifetime of knee issues like your doctor told you would happen if you did CrossFit? Absolutely not. It all came down to the coaching.

The rise of YouTube

Another thing that was happening during the early days was that the popularity of YouTube, Facebook and other social media was starting to rocket. 

CrossFit was new, different, exciting and unique. Seeing average people swing on rings, throw bars and weights around, jump over boxes and climb ropes grabbed people’s attention. I’m not sure CrossFit would be where it is today without the help of social media and YouTube in the early times.

However this attention was not all good, because if there’s one thing humans love to see more than someone do something amazing it is to see carnage and violence. Videos of people falling off rings, dropping bars on themselves, destroying their shins on boxes or plummeting 15 feet to the ground after a rope climb was too good to miss.  

The baggage: is CrossFit bad for you!?

Once this happened, CrossFit became known as a surefire way to get injured. And yes, many people were injured. 

Thankfully that has changed. Most of the coaches that didn’t actually coach are gone and this has benefited the CrossFit community greatly. However, there are still some poor coaches out there who don’t really coach or coach poorly.  

There are three types of coaches, and for today’s subject we will divide them only by their abilities to prevent, address and understand injuries. Having a great coach is such an important part of your fitness journey.

A bad coaches:

  • Doesn’t review movements, scaling or modifications.
  • Doesn’t pay attention to members during class.
  • Gives the same cue 5 times even though it has not fixed the issue the previous 5 times.
  • Allows members to move poorly without any corrections.
  • Tries to make every person move exactly the same way. Age, skill level, height, weight, etc do not matter to these people.

A good coach:

  • Goes over the WOD.
  • Has knowledge but overloads the athlete with it.
  • Breaks down complex movements the same way for everyone.
  • Watches movements but can only offer a number of cues which may or may not help.
  • Knows when people move poorly but does not research and learn why they are and how to correct it.
  • Gives members attention, but allows their attention to be drawn everywhere all the time instead of focusing on one or two people at a time.

A great coach:

  • Goes over every movement, scaling options, and modifications.
  • Implements those in the class for members of all different skill levels, ages, etc.
  • Modifies so all athletes are getting the same stimulus without being pushed to injury or pain.
  • Knows that change takes time, and understands deeply ingrained movement issues will take time to adjust and heal.
  • Gives each member at least one correction or approval each class.
  • Helps members understand their skill level might be different than they believe and adjust the difficulty to help progress an athlete.
  • Does not allow poor movement patterns, scales the movement, weight, reps, time or time to keep athlete moving properly.
  • Has a variety of cues they are able to use and change based on the athlete they are with at the time.
  • Not only can do certain movements, T2B, MU, butterflies, but can teach them as well.
  • Studies and learns about how to improve people’s athleticism while sifting through “snake-oil” fixes and movements while keeping the time tested models in place,
  • Pays attention to all members, not taking favor to more advanced athletes or those who show potential.
  • Actually coaches, answers questions, offers movement advice and fixes, and creates a learning environment.

So is CrossFit bad for you? Not if you have the right coaching and environment for your growth.

Finding a box you love and a coach who will help you advance not only as an athlete but a human should be your top priority. There are thousands of CrossFit boxes out there. Try them all until you find the right match.

At Buffalo Nickel CrossFit, we’re proud to say we’re a box full of great coaches. Contact us to try out our coaching style today.

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