Gator Country

oI2ange · 04-30-2012, 02:35 PM

I'm writing this thread as a fellow reminder for those of you who are nursing injuries- DO NOT STEP IN TOO QUICKLY! Rest your body as it needs to be.

I had a slight oblique injury 4 days ago. It was just a mild tweak and it was well on its way to recovery (I probably only had to wait maybe a week tops). Of course I do the stupidest ****ing thing in the world and go work out on it yesterday-Midway through workout, BOOM, muscle spasm occurs while I'm pulling and I think I partially tear my oblique.

As of today, I can barely move. My injury recovery time has now probably tripled (if not more) due to my own idiocy and inability to rest as needed. Don't be a dumbass like me...if you're hurt or injured or recovering, DO NOT PUSH IT!

Take the time you need to rest your injury. Go back into it slowly. If it starts to hurt, QUIT your exercise and go rest it...don't make the same mistake I did. Workout will always be there when you get back- it's important to know that.

LeafUF · 04-30-2012, 02:43 PM

Absolutely. Also you really need to trust what your body is telling you. There is a difference between really injured and just a little hurt. A pulled muscle can turn into something worse in a hurry.

Sorry to hear you made that mistake but now you need to all you can to heal up.

Dreamliner · 04-30-2012, 02:48 PM

VERY wise advice. V-E-R-Y hard for us competitive types to heed. I know. I've continually injured myself attempting (and sometimes mastering) movements which are not orthopedically sound for me.

Presently, I'm trying to rein in my instincts and camp out on low-risk/high-reward movements. For example: dumbbell step-ups instead of pistol squats. Not as sexy, no. But probably the more sensible route to meaningful strength and hypertrophy gains.

Hope you heal up soon!

ATL_Gator · 05-02-2012, 07:05 AM

Hope you feel better quickly.

I have not listened to that advise a number of times. Mostly with my knees though.

Dreamliner · 05-02-2012, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATL_Gator

Hope you feel better quickly.

I have not listened to that advise a number of times. Mostly with my knees though.

Did you ever recover from the squatting-related knee pain.

ATL_Gator · 05-02-2012, 12:32 PM

Haven't had the pain return. Though, I haven't squatted very heavy in quite some time.

Honestly, lately I have been down to 2 days a week working out. /shrug

Busy with other projects and my kid's baseball.

Dreamliner · 05-02-2012, 12:37 PM

2 days a week in the gym and getting on with life sounds like a winning strategy to me.

As an encouragement, a recent study shows that it takes 7-10 days for a muscle to fully recover from a strenuous workout.

This rampant fear of atrophy borders on hystericism.

ATL_Gator · 05-02-2012, 12:58 PM

Tough to complain at this point honestly.

Weight is dropping, which is a goal at the moment. Most of which is fat as far as I can tell in the mirror and how my clothes are fitting. This is in spite of some pretty bad binges during the process.

Currently I don't value "high" weight room numbers (which are all relative anyway, compared to most boasted gym numbers my bests are just average for most lifts anyway). No motivation to push that hard, though I do enjoy lifting when I am there.

I have been doing that "Easier Strength" method by Dan Hall that you mentioned a while ago, though modified a bit. I do a push, pull, squat, and pullup (he says farmers walks) and follow the various set/reps he called out. Heaviest squat I have done is a 155 lb front squat (single), which didn't bother my knee at all. I will admit, that one was a bit of a struggle, even though I wasn't supposed to struggle with the rep.. but the struggle wasn't with the typical "squat muscle chain".. it was in my upper back from trying to support the weight (I suck at front squats due to this).

It's nice though.. workouts are fast. I had planned on 10 weeks at 4 workouts a week. That is now looking like 2 workouts a week though. Will probably stick with the planned 40 workouts.

Dreamliner · 05-02-2012, 01:22 PM

Hey, call it "Even Easier Than Easy Strength."

BTW, it's Dan John.

ATL_Gator · 05-02-2012, 02:19 PM

yeah, him

Lol.

Dreamliner · 05-02-2012, 02:53 PM

Don't get me wrong. Dan Hall is good too.

GatorFan89 · 05-02-2012, 10:03 PM

I'm very stubborn when it comes to injuries, and as it is now, I've been taking this week off from lifting due to a leg injury. I always go and lift when injured, I try to not let anything stop me from going to the gym and usually I just end up making it worse.

Three weeks ago I injured my knee wrestling, turned out it was on leg day so what do I do? Go and do squats and leg presses, I actually collapsed while doing squats because I went too heavy and my knee gave out, luckily I had someone spotting me because I had a lot of weight on the bar. Ended up barely able to walk for 3 days after.

Then this past weekend, I had a pulled calf muscle, once again it came around leg day. So the next day I go and do legs, doing the usual: squats, leg presses, calf presses, extensions and leg curls. Didn't collapse during squats, got through all my sets fine, it actually didn't really even hurt, just a little tight. But my lifting definitely aggravated it, as the next 2 days I can barely walk... again. So this week I've been taking off from lifting. My calf is still a little weak, but it's getting better.

oI2ange · 05-03-2012, 01:18 AM

haha you sound worse than me. i've learned my lesson on resting injuries...

good news is that my recovery is very evident. 2 days ago i could barely move. today i can slightly hang from a pull up bar for a few seconds, which is a vast improvement from a few days ago. there is also a lot less pain. i'm guessing 2 weeks or so and i'll be able to get back into it.

Dreamliner · 05-03-2012, 10:58 AM

Can't fault anyone who hurts themselves strength training. Why ? Because people who jog/run aren't castigated for jogging/running. And jogging/running is almost synonymous with injury. So, why should we strength trainees be taken to task ? Hell, what we are doing is arguably more essential than jogging/running.

holloffamer · 05-07-2012, 03:04 AM

Right. Some people get a little bit too stubborn when it comes to resting their bodies.

Quote:

Originally Posted by oI2ange

I'm writing this thread as a fellow reminder for those of you who are nursing injuries- DO NOT STEP IN TOO QUICKLY! Rest your body as it needs to be.

I had a slight oblique injury 4 days ago. It was just a mild tweak and it was well on its way to recovery (I probably only had to wait maybe a week tops). Of course I do the stupidest ****ing thing in the world and go work out on it yesterday-Midway through workout, BOOM, muscle spasm occurs while I'm pulling and I think I partially tear my oblique.

As of today, I can barely move. My injury recovery time has now probably tripled (if not more) due to my own idiocy and inability to rest as needed. Don't be a dumbass like me...if you're hurt or injured or recovering, DO NOT PUSH IT!

Take the time you need to rest your injury. Go back into it slowly. If it starts to hurt, QUIT your exercise and go rest it...don't make the same mistake I did. Workout will always be there when you get back- it's important to know that.

oI2ange · 06-06-2012, 01:44 AM

wanted to update this thread and just say that my oblique is probably 90% healed...i can still feel it when i do some massive pulls, and it might not ever be 100%. that being said, i'm fully functional with it and can do many of the same movements well enough...so hopefully that last 10 % will get there one day

LeafUF · 06-06-2012, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oI2ange

wanted to update this thread and just say that my oblique is probably 90% healed...i can still feel it when i do some massive pulls, and it might not ever be 100%. that being said, i'm fully functional with it and can do many of the same movements well enough...so hopefully that last 10 % will get there one day

Glad to hear you are functional again. Though wondering why you think you did permanent damage?

oI2ange · 06-06-2012, 01:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LeafUF

Glad to hear you are functional again. Though wondering why you think you did permanent damage?

it was just a really awful feeling when i first tore/tweaked it and it took a really long time to recover. i'm thinking that the pain will always be there if i do some really hard pulling motions towards my right side (injured side)...but could just be me being pessimistic about it.

Dreamliner · 06-06-2012, 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oI2ange

it was just a really awful feeling when i first tore/tweaked it and it took a really long time to recover. i'm thinking that the pain will always be there if i do some really hard pulling motions towards my right side (injured side)...but could just be me being pessimistic about it.

For me the hardest barrier BY FAR is the psychological one. I almost have to convince myself that I won't re-injure a site when the literature tells me I should be ready to restore range-of-motion.

That was certainly the case when I aggravated my knees learning pistol squats.

oI2ange · 06-18-2012, 06:31 PM

I need to keep coming back to this thread as a reminder to myself. I injured my shoulder very slightly the other day- it's just a tweak. It's definitely not a bad injury and should heal on its own IF I STAY OFF IT.

I know that I shouldn't be working out on it and I plan on keeping off it for the next day or two....And I need to be disciplined in this approach. No climbing- only cardio for a few more days...