Keep training? But I'm injured!

A few weeks ago, I ended up with very sore and bruised ribs on both sides! The Left side bruising is still a bit of a mystery and the Right side came courtesy of Sifu Ralph in a private lesson.

The day after my private lesson, I found I was unable to lift anything heavy overhead. This could not have come at a worse time as I am currently doing a lot of kettlebell press ladders in preparation for my February 09 RKC certification.

As pressing heavy was out, I had to change my routine a bit until the ribs healed. I kept up the pressing at a lower volume using a 16kg kettlebell instead of the 24kg. This allowed the press groove to remain current in my CNS and I am able to go right back into my 24kg schedule this week. For conditioning, I kept up the swings/snatches but again with lighter bells so I could ease up a bit on the abdominal contractions and avoid pain/possible re-injury.

It is very common to just stop training when injured as the current program cannot be followed. This is when it's time to step back and look at the big picture. Keeping up your fitness level with alternative exercises will allow you to return to regular training with little or no strength and conditioning loss. The most important part is that you will have kept up the consistency of your workouts and not found other things to do to occupy your training times. As we all know, consistency is the name of the game for long-term, lasting results. Sometimes the unexpected happens and if we are not flexible enough to change the game-plan, we just stop playing the game, losing much of what we gained and causing us to have to restart much farther back in the process. If this happens too often, we can lose our way and take way more time off than planned, leading to often just stopping the training altogether.

Next time you experience an injury, ask yourself if it can be safely worked around. In most cases the answer will be a resounding "YES". Your body AND mind will thank you for staying the course, continuing to improve and moving that much closer to your next Personal Best!

Do.