I like to think of the human body like a car. When is a car at it’s best? When it has good fuel, timely maintenance work, and is driven well regularly. Now think of the human body. Your body is at it’s best physically when you get proper nutrition, enough sleep, and perform maintenance work (mobility/accessory movements) to remove physical imbalances. Take away one of these things and you’re going to have a problem, maybe not at first but it is inevitable. The older the car or body is (age) or the more wear and tear that car or body has undergone (previous lifestyle/training age), the more important each and every one of these three components are. Now we aren’t all perfect. No one can live a stress free life, eat perfect and timely, sleep 8-10 hours a night and do an extra hour of mobility/accessory work each day. So something is going to give at some point. Which brings us to the injury.
Injuries are common. They come in all shapes and sizes. During your training you will probably sustain some sort of set back. It is just asinine to think otherwise. The human body is a machine and even under the best conditions, machines break or experience setbacks. It’s life. We do our best to run a program at EDCF so that you get proper warm-ups, progression and periodization from week to week, and much needed accessory work. But even having the best programming on the planet won’t keep you from meeting the injury bug at some point in time. It is inevitable. It really is. And this goes for doing anything active and not just CrossFit.
Say you are injured. What can you expect to feel (aside from pain of the injury)? Well you might feel a little isolated and disconnected. We do our best to make EDCF have a team-like atmosphere and an injury can make someone feel left out of group. You could also start feeling anxiety and a fear of reinjury. After all, we aren’t professional athletes. Most of us have regular 9-5s and families at home. Anything that could affect our personal lives outside of the gym is out of the question. And finally, lowered self-esteem. If you define yourself by your output (whether consciously or unconsciously) having an injury can be a blow to your ego. So as you can see it is hard to stay positive and maintain or progress a current level of fitness after experience an injury.
Now onto the important part. What you SHOULD do when you experience an injury.
- LET YOUR COACH KNOW. Either in class or through email. We coaches meet once a week and talk about those with physical setbacks and how to scale or adjust workouts accordingly. It might just take a few alterations to our current programming or a more individualized approach. Either way, we don’t know unless you TELL US!
- KEEP COMING TO THE GYM. I can’t express this enough. I’ll say it again. KEEP COMING TO THE GYM. You are not a burden on your coach. You are our number one priority and this is your gym. Don’t let your injury be an excuse to slack off. I promise you there are a thousand movements you can do that won’t affect your injured area. Get ready to be creative!
- STAY POSITIVE. Yes it sucks, but guess what, everyone goes through it at some point. Your goal is either to maintain or progress your current level of fitness, but not let it drop. You are not the most well rounded athlete. There are always things for you to work on and add to your athletic toolbelt. This might be the perfect time to do so! So sack up, let us help you redefine your goals and help formulate a plan, and let’s get to work. Do not let this be an excuse to quit. Every day you sit at home feeling sorry for yourself is a day wasted and a step back in the wrong direction which brings me back to point #2: KEEP COMING TO THE GYM!
These three points will help combat those feelings of negativity, anxiety, fear, and isolation. You are still part of a community of fellow members and knowledgeable coaches. You are a part to a greater whole. Let us help you get through this time of suck!
Sometimes injuries can be a blessing in disguise. They happen for a reason and that reason is almost always an imbalance. Whether the imbalance is more musculoskeletal or in your past or present lifestyle. If you sustain one, you have the opportunity to take a step back and examine why it happened and what you can do differently in the future so that it wont happen again. We are always looking for progress. Most of the time that is in the form or gains from consistent training, but sometimes it comes from learning from our mistakes or setbacks and moving forward stronger than before. Either way, fitness is journey and not a destination. There are going to be potholes on that journey and how you react to those potholes is what defines you as an athlete and a human being.
Oh and one more time… KEEP COMING TO THE GYM!