Injury is an Opportunity

EIE Potluck tonight at 7pm at MDR!  Many of the evening classes will be cancelled due to this event, so be sure to check and reserve your classes via Wodify.  Everyone is invited to bring their friends and family to share in good food and good company.   Please email me at david@paradisocrossfit.com if you have any questions.

Prehab

Foam Roll Thoracic Spine
Keg Drill
10 Bird Dogs each Leg

Warm Up

2′ Double Under Progression
10 Bulgarian split squats ea. leg w/ front foot elevated
10 Russian Step Ups ea. leg
10 Side Plank w/ Hip Abduction

Cool Down

10 Hip Extensions or Good Mornings w/ barbell
30″ Arch Hold
1′ Banded hip extension ea. leg

Fitness

Strength

Three sets of:

Ring Rows x 10-12 reps
Jumping Squats x 6-8 reps
Monster Walks x 10 steps each direction

Notes:  Scale the ring rows to as hard of a variation as possible.  Jumping squats may be performed with a barbell as long as position remains perfect.  Monster walks are forward, back, left and right.

Conditioning

Four Rounds for total reps of 30 seconds of work and 30 seconds of rest:

Row for Calories
Sit-Ups
Russian Kettlebell Swings
Grasshoppers (l/r equals 1 rep)
Double Unders

Notes:  Prescribed is GHD situps, 70/55 kbs and shins touching every rep on the grasshoppers.

Advanced – Active Recovery Day!

Five sets for times of:

Swim 200 meters
Rest 2 minutes

Mobility and Maintenance:

Choose 1-2 Thoracic Mobility Drills and spend 5-10 minutes with them
Choose 2-3 Lower Body Mobility Drills and spend 10-12 minutes with them
Choose 1-2 Upper Extremity Mobility Drills and spend 5-10 minutes with them.

– AND/OR –

Body work from a licensed body worker (ART, Graston, acupuncture, etc…)

I have been seeing a Rolfer weekly and have seen measurable improvement in the mobility of my structure and quality of movements (like running, airdyne, walking). I highly recommend finding a body worker with knowledge of both myofascia and human movement.

Inflammation Maintenance:

This could be a lot of things, but think in terms of compression, contrast baths, salt baths, castor oil packs, etc….

Don’t forget the role diet plays in inflammation! Drink your fish oil and eat your veggies. I have also found EMS (electro muscular stimulation) to be quite effective as well.

Nutrition Preparation:

Ensure that you have quality foods prepared in the appropriate quantities to fuel your efforts for the remainder of the week.

A slow cooker is key to making sure you have plenty of good foods (especially meat) convenient with little effort. You can get 7 quart hamilton beach models on amazon for about $35. If you struggle with your nutrition or planning for the week, set up an appointment with me for help.

Mental Restoration:

Different for everyone – could be meditation or could be gathering with friends; the key is to engage in activities that make your life full and help you recharge your batteries.  

Diso does an incredible job in the above video of explaining why you should continue to train through an injury, but I also have a personal anecdote that I would like to share.

On a warm and sunny morning in June of 2012, shortly after graduating college and finishing my senior lacrosse season, I decided that blindly jumping off my roof into the shallow end of my pool was the perfect way to cool off and start the day. Turns out I was subject to the same laws as Newtons apple and I broke my leg in 3 places and ruined my ankle.

My amazing orthopedic surgeon cut me open, and with medical grade power tools put me back together as well as I could have hoped. When the anaesthesia wore off he gave me a pat on the head, a few prescriptions and and an 8 month recovery timeline. Bummer. I had plans to continue my lacrosse career and they went out the window.

The only way I was able to make it through those 8 months, more specifically the 3 months I was on crutches, with my sanity and self-esteem intact was to set goals that I could achieve and did not allow myself to spend any energy thinking about the things I could not do. So, I decided that 100 pushups and 50 strict pull ups would be my 2 goals.

I found some periodized programming online and went from 63 pushups to 121 before I could walk again, and from 19 strict pull ups to 40 by the time I started physical therapy and fell off the pull up program. When I was home for Christmas and able to able to ease my way back into CrossFit, I set (and still hold) the pull up record at the gym my dad goes to every day.

Accomplishing one of two goals and seeing major progress towards another did more than invoke elation. I recovered faster, I was walking a month early. I developed two strengths that gave me a competitive advantage as I was quite literally getting back on my feet. I can now share the story and hopefully give others a very simple paradigm for dealing with injury and goal attainment (whether or not you are injured). Set a goal, create & stick to a plan, and test your progress.

If you have a story about how you dealt with injury, please share (whether publicly or personally with me). I love to hear others’ stories! Here is Pat Sherwood’s- he is a rather famous CrossFit athlete who separated the AC joint in his shoulder and has been making videos about how he is scaling CrossFit.com’s WODs based on his temporary affliction.