Injuries Suck!!!
I hate injuries. They slow down your progress and are such a pain in the neck!
I injured my right wrist at my tennis lesson just before Christmas. I have played tennis for a while but am relearning the technique – how to play using my wrist rather than my arms and shoulder… apparently I play old school tennis. Go figure!
At any rate, I hurt my wrist at my lesson and then further aggravated it during that week because we were moving. It was just my son and I with a lot of boxes and furniture. By the end of that night my wrist was throbbing.
During this time I also started the strength pyramid despite my injury and I have had to modify the program so that I can keep going. I have continued playing tennis too. It has been good, but I know I could do better if I was at 100%. My wrist is getting better, but today we focused on serves… and that was it.
I miss the days of my youth where an injury like this would be good as new after a few days. Even when I broke my arm at 38, (that's a different story :) ), I got better really fast. I just feel like once I hit 42 my whole body went through some kind of titanic shift!
But enough ranting. Let me get to my point. If you are injured what can you do to keep yourself moving anyway, and still recover?
Even if all you can do is walk – then do it. Walking is a great way to burn calories and get exercise. I love walking in London; never dull as there is always something to see, always someplace new to find and explore.
Modify as you can. I am doing my best to modify my regular exercises wherever possible. And accept that sometimes you just have to skip certain exercises for a time. As an example, right now I can hold light dumbbells but I can't do push ups. So currently pushups are out, and dumbbell presses have been in.
Go light on the weights. If you are set on continuing weighted exercise then it is wise to go light so you reduce the chance of making any injury worse. You can compensate for the lighter weights by doing more reps, always maintaining close focus on your form.
And lastly, my best advice is to take a break for the injured body part. Ultimately this will mean that you heal up and get back to better results once you have returned to full strength.
Today I am working out legs… with bodyweight only and no upper body at all in order to get some exercise in while giving my wrist a complete break. My plan for the next two weeks is to focus on bodyweight leg workouts and abs. Wish me luck!!!