Have you ever been pushing toward a fitness goal, just to be deterred by an injury? There is nothing more frustrating than being in the zone, just to be stopped by an injury. As a personal trainer, I hear the injury excuse regularly and I understand that most people accept the excuse as legitimate, I like to look at things in a different light! A more positive, can do light.
In the case of an injury my question is ‘what can you do’ instead of what can’t you do? I have never accepted injury as a qualified excuse to totally stop all activity. It may stop you from certain exercises, but it can’t stop you totally. It is possible to continue training with appropriate modifications regardless of the injury. I have been fortunate to have had great success training hundreds of clients with varying injuries over the years. It is important to work in conjunction with the appropriate health care practitioner(s), (i.e. physician, physical or occupational therapist, massage therapist, etc.) to assure the safe, appropriate modifications are made.
If you are a dedicated cardio trainee and injure your legs or feet, you may feel like your training has to be put on hold. I disagree. There are many things that can be done to keep your training on track, minus the running or aerobic dance classes. Instead of quitting, look for ways to modify your training to avoid the injury, yet sustain and increase your fitness!
Don’t let an injury be your next excuse! Modify, adapt, change, and keep pushing hard toward your goal – you can do it! When you understand the training variety available through H.I.T. Strength Training and optional aerobic exercises, you can design a program to help you move forward even during an injury.
4 tips to remember when modifying a routine for an injury:
1. Check with your healthcare provider for recommendations and clearance.
2. Avoid exercises that place stress on the injured body part
3. Strength Training:
a. Include 1 exercise per major muscle group (without working the injured body part)
b. Train harder, yet briefer! One set of 8-12 repetitions done to a 4 second count up and 4 second count down to fatigue is all that is necessary
c. Move as quickly as possible 5-30 secs from one station to another to increase cardiorespiratory benefits.
4. Aerobic
a. Look for other training options to continue your workouts
b. Pool training reduces the weight on the extremities, while still allowing excellent cardiorespiratory conditioning.
c. Lower body injury? Use an UBE (Upper Body Exerciser), rowing or switch from running to biking, elliptical, cross country skiing, or one of the many other cardio options.
Exercise variety is everywhere and it is always possible to make appropriate modifications to assure that an injury won’t totally stop your training. Use the 4 steps above to help make the necessary changes, keep you exercising and still improve your fitness while your injury heals.
