How do you guys stay motivated with an injury?

[NJA82]

Long story short have strained my lower back while doing deadlifts last weekend which was 100% my own fault being lazy with only 100kg on the bar warming up and not showing respect for the weight and form slipped enough to injure me.

Pretty much squats, good mornings, front squats and deadlifts are all out at the moment ( i have tried even light weight on squatting and it instantly flared it up ) for possibly 3-4 weeks at least. In the meantime I am going to concentrate mainly on my upper body lifts which dont cause me any dramas, surprisingly medium weight military press doesnt cause an issue... So trying to stay positive and look at this in the best way I can as an opportunity to work on upper body weaknesses while I cant squat or deadlift heavy.

Biggest thing im dealing with already is feeling like shit because im not squatting and deadlifting, I squat twice a week and always have and not doing them just makes me feel like a pussy, I know its purely ego but how do you guys keep yourself in a positive mindset whilst recovering from an injury?

I still will do some lower body shit that I can manage, leg extensions etc. shit i normally never would do but i gotta keep some kind of load on my legs or they will just go to shit...

Doing my fkn head in not being able to push myself hard like I normally do, going to be a long recovery mentally

 

[taurus]

Have a week off for starters man.
After I had back surgery, i cant dead or squat EVER!!
I have worked around it & am very happy where I am right now.
Ice & rest for a week. While you're off, have a look at as many magazines, forums etc for other programs, exercises you can do.

 

[Bazza20]

Rather than worry about what you cant do, focus on lifts that you can do and hit pbs in them.

 

[Darkoz]

Now's the time to get those huge guns

 

[myst]

Highly recommend you buy (or acquire...) this book:

Becoming a Supple Leopard - Iron Edge

The old rest for a week and ice is really counter productive in this day and age. You should be able to get to the root cause of your issues with some investigation and patience. Looking back the only injuries I've ever had were two slightly torn bicep tendons, everything else has been a result of tight muscles and imbalanced muscles.

If you want to be in the lifting game for a long time, you need to learn how to self maintain.

Happy to help you out with any queries, I've everything from tight lower back, IT bands, tight middle and upper back as well as clicky front delts all with techniques you will find in this book.

 

[Azz]

Just concentrate on upper body and do what you can that doesn't hurt your back. I agree with having a week off too. I haven't trained any upper body for 11 months and counting due to an injury in my neck and what motivated me was the fact I could bring my legs up to a level they would never have reached. All I could do was exts, curls, etc leg press was fine. But no squats. 3-4 weeks isn't long at all.

 

[kaz]

Stay active. Otherwise it's very hard to restart.

 

[taurus]

sorry dr [MENTION=12532]myst[/MENTION]; lol just kidding
Ill look into that book as well.
Rest & ice served me well over the years fwiw!

 

[myst]

sorry dr [MENTION=12532]myst[/MENTION]; lol just kidding
Ill look into that book as well.
Rest & ice served me well over the years fwiw!

Sorry I don't mean to come off like a kunt, it's an area I'm passionate about though. I see too many people give up certain areas of lifting when they could fairly easily fix the issue themselves. It's difficult when you first start to investigate your own issues and imbalances, but very empowering once you know you can solve most niggling injuries.

 

[Bazza20]

sorry dr [MENTION=12532]myst[/MENTION]; lol just kidding
Ill look into that book as well.
Rest & ice served me well over the years fwiw!

Agree rest and ice works well and is proven to work well.

All these new gurus come along trying to reinvent the wheel and recommending all this fancy shit.

 

[myst]

Agree rest and ice works well and is proven to work well.

All these new gurus come along trying to reinvent the wheel and recommending all this fancy shit.

So what was the last niggling injury you had where rest and ice fixed it completely?

Do you have any ongoing issues with certain lifts / ranges of motion / avoiding certain exercises because they hurt?

I just don't understand why you wouldn't be curious into new advancements in injury treatment / prevention..

 

[WarbyD]

meh save your money wrt supple leopard - IMO its 90% worthless. There is a bit of good stuff in there but not enough to justify the purchase.

(and yes, I have bought it and read it)

 

[myst]

meh save your money wrt supple leopard - IMO its 90% worthless. There is a bit of good stuff in there but not enough to justify the purchase.

(and yes, I have bought it and read it)

It's more of a guide when you experience pain in a certain area, you can then reference that part of the book and fix it.

Or just youtube Kelly Starrets videos, he's made hundreds on the topics covered in the book.

 

[Bazza20]

So what was the last niggling injury you had where rest and ice fixed it completely?

Do you have any ongoing issues with certain lifts / ranges of motion / avoiding certain exercises because they hurt?

I just don't understand why you wouldn't be curious into new advancements in injury treatment / prevention..

Virtually every injury I have had rest and ice for the first few days seems to have worked.

I have some issues because of patella tendonitis and have tried every guru theory i have heard and none have done anything.

I'm not against advancements. I am against listening to Internet gurus who try and go against the norm just to make a name for themselves.

My theories.
Strengthen what is weak
Stretch what is tight
Rest/ice what is injured
If that all fails chew down some pain killers.

 

[Grunta]

Not much choice here, all you can do to stay motivated is:
1. Treat the injury
2. Train what you can
3. Mastibate a lot

 

[myst]

Virtually every injury I have had rest and ice for the first few days seems to have worked.

I have some issues because of patella tendonitis and have tried every guru theory i have heard and none have done anything.

I'm not against advancements. I am against listening to Internet gurus who try and go against the norm just to make a name for themselves.

My theories.
Strengthen what is weak
Stretch what is tight
Rest/ice what is injured
If that all fails chew down some pain killers.

What have you tried out of interest in regards to the Patella Tendonitis? I get this also when my ankles / calves are tight, as well as having tight quads and hip flexors. A lot of different muscle groups can contribute to the knees not tracking correctly and it takes some persistence to resolve.

 

[Bazza20]

What have you tried out of interest in regards to the Patella Tendonitis? I get this also when my ankles / calves are tight, as well as having tight quads and hip flexors. A lot of different muscle groups can contribute to the knees not tracking correctly and it takes some persistence to resolve.

You name it and there is a fair chance I've tried it.

Anyway this thread is not about me.

 

[myst]

You name it and there is a fair chance I've tried it.

Anyway this thread is not about me.

No but it's good to have a discussion about what people have tried and feel works for them

 

[Felixflex]

last injury I had was in the hip area that prevented me from doing anything leg related apart from curls and extensions for a few months. just had to train around the injury and allow it to heal.

 

[Goosey]

Stay active. Otherwise it's very hard to restart.

This is a stand-out post for me Kaz.

And although you might mean something different...

Just keep moving.
Luckily I've had no complicated injuries, but if I've ever pulled a muscle, pinched a nerve or had some type of immflamation of sort, complete rest for that area is key for my recovery.

During that period of rest I try to maintain mobility, just moving the limb slowly without resistance.

Massage is also beneficial for me as, more as just a theraputic value.

Once the pain is gone, then I add progressive resistance and get back into it.

But I always prescribe to the idea that we can have as many injuries as we like throughout our lives, but only so many: or a limited amount of recoveries.