Training through Injury in Cross Training
Injuries can derail your CrossFit training, and as such you must take the necessary steps to refocus your efforts and keep on training hard even through injury to maintain your fitness. When you get injured, you have a choice to either call it a loss and count the recovery time as part of the wasted time. You also have the option of ignoring the orders of the doctor and do whatever you can the soonest possible to get your physique back. The last choice is to figure out a way in which to train safely and in a very productive and efficient way. Enlisted below are a few tips on how to train through an injury.
Adjust Your Program and Goals
Every CrossFitter has a list of goals that keep them going. The goals may include a 30-second handstand hold, butterfly pull-ups, 47.5 kg snatch, and many others. When you suffer an accident, you have lots of things to care about which means some of the workouts will be automatically crossed out from your list. By adjusting your goals and programs, you can be able to continue working out, but with more caution than before. For instance, you may have to resort to single arm kettlebell or squats and lunges with a weighted vest.
Take Care of Yourself
As you work on your new goals, you have to access how your body is responding and feeling. Your training will be somewhat different, and you have to appreciate the fact that you are in the process of healing and such you must not overload your system. This may mean a lot of stretching and mobility explicitly focusing on muscles which may be compensating for those that you can’t use due to injury. You also need to take care of your mental state because it can be frustrating watching as your friends, train while you are kind of stuck.
You must understand that not all your improvements will happen in the CrossFit gym. Your goal should be to come back stronger than ever physically and mentally.
Never Forget about CrossFit and the Community Support
CrossFit is not about moving fast, lifting heavy, and getting jacked. It has so much to do with the community and the spirit of comradeship. In the course of training, you will make friends as well as partners who care so much about you. When you get injured and your training schedule changes, do not avoid them. Your workouts may happen in the open gym, but you should keep showing up in the box and cheer your friends up as they take on their WODs. This will make your recovery time much faster because friends are an excellent support system.
Learn from Experience
It is true that some injuries can be freak accidents, but others are more of lessons than accidents. Some CrossFit movements and workouts are very complex and robust. You should know when to push your body and the point at which to stop.
Don’t push your ego to the sidelines but always analyze that whatever you are doing will not hurt you. Take your doctor’s advice and do easy intervals on your workouts so that your long-term health and well-being is not compromised.
