You’re killing it at the gym and seeing amazing progress then all of a sudden you slip on some ice on the way to work and you break your ankle. You’re just sitting on the ice thinking damnit, I am going to lose all my progress at the gym. Ever happen to you or something like this? Injuries are a big reason why people don’t hit their goals. So how should you handle injuries and working out?

It’s a bummer but injuries should not be preventing you from your fitness goals. The problem is you go to the doctor and the doctor recommends that you take it easy and do no load bearing exercises. People hear “do not do load bearing exercises” and they immediately assume they cannot exercise as a whole.

That is not the case, they mean don’t do weight bearing exercises on the injured area. Like you shouldn’t do squats if you broke your ankle. If you strained your shoulder you shouldn’t do a shoulder press. If you broke your ankle why can’t you do a seated shoulder press or a chest press. You can work arms, shoulders, back, and abs. There are even some lower body exercises you can do without putting weight on your ankle. 

Okay, you don’t want to risk lifting any weight, that’s fine. But weight training is just one form of exercise. Exercise is the act of engaging in physical activity to improve your health. We have never come across a client who has not needed to improve their mobility in some sort of fashion.

Here is the truth that no one wants to accept because mobility isn’t sexy. Mobility training makes you stronger and will prevent you from getting injured. So what is mobility training? Mobility training are exercises that increase and strengthen your end ranges of motion and improve stability or muscle control. It helps your posture as a whole and will help alleviate chronic pain. Mobility training is meant to bullet proof you.

Why wouldn’t you want to start bullet proofing your body from injury while you are currently injured? The other thing that will happen with your increased mobility is you will get stronger. Think about it, if you could only do a parallel to the ground squat and now you can do an ass to grass full range of motion squat. Which is going to build more muscle and make you stronger. The full range of motion. 

So by working on your mobility you are going to come back with the ability to get stronger and get back to your pre-injured self sooner. Remember injuries don’t mean do nothing. They give you an opportunity to work on things that will help you in the long term. Injuries and working out doesn’t mean stop, it just means you need to pivot and adjust your goals for a little bit.

Check out our website here.

Need help with workouts here are some for free

Find our previous blog posts here

Take a look at our instagram @riseabovefitnesstraining
Follow us on Facebook