4 Reasons Why Your Sport/Gym Comeback is Over Before it Begins

Wowsers, what a crazy few months it’s been.
With sporting facilities, gyms, and all sporting codes affected most of you are more than just a little excited to get back into your training.
We are already starting to see cranky knees, painful backs, and angry shoulders first couple of weeks in.

So why is your body protesting so soon? What can you do to make sure you don’t get sidelined with an injury before you get started?

1. You are weaker then you were 3 months ago

The last few months have taken a toll on all of us. Working from home. Not training as regularly, OR at the same intensity.

Even with a home gym set up, you may not be moving the same weight or volume as you are usually exposed to.

What does this mean? Well just like it took months to notice gains at the gym or on the sporting field when you first got started, it can take only a number of weeks for your body to adapt the other way i.e. get weaker.

So before you go into beast mode, remember you are potentially a lot weaker and deconditioned than you were last time at the gym.

The Solution: Start off way lighter than you think you should. Use the first few weeks of training to get re-acquainted with movement, and the demands of training.

2. You go too hard, too soon.

Following on the above point, if you decide to ramp up your training volume, intensity, frequency, all because everything is open again, You are definitely going to feel it.

Think back to when you first started training, you most likely had a plan, started slow and steady, committing to the long game. Consistently working out achieves a positive outcome, not one massive session where you super set legs for 2 hours straight, lifting 400 kgs on the leg press…

The Solution: Commit to consistency; several sessions will be better for you, than one massive session where you are too sore to turn up for the next week.

3. Your recovery is not where it should be.

Recovery is one of the most overlooked aspects of training.

When I say recovery, I’m talking about every aspect of it.

Sleep
Hydration
Nutrition
Stress management
Mobility / self release work
De-load periods with training

Each of these aspects needs to be on point for your body to be functioning at its best.

Training is a stress on your body, and if you are overwhelmed in other aspects of your life, you will only overburden your system, and injuries, chronic fatigue or illness can set in.

This is a huge topic in itself (perhaps our next blog post). But if you are always having those niggling injuries, perhaps its time to look at this aspect with as much focus as you have in the gym

The Solution: Make your recovery a priority, it will pay off in the gym.

4. Your technique is sub-par.

When patients come in injured after a session in the gym, besides helping you manage your acute injury, our number one priority is to evaluate how well you move.

There is a saying “its not the deadlift that hurt your back it’s how you deadlift”.

This quote reinforces just how important it is to have your technique evaluated.

One patient came in last week, lifting 60kg on the deadlift first week back…he’s a strong guy but still felt his back twinge with pain.

It settled after a few days, so we checked his technique.

When we reviewed his form, it looked 90% there, but a major finding was that he lacked some range in his hips to get to the bar easily.

This meant he was having to round his back for the last bit of range, putting unnecessary load on his lower back.. We adjusted his setup, raising the bar a couple of inches off the floor, and it looked and felt soooo much better.

If you are having problems with certain exercises, you need more than your buddy giving you pointers, you need to be assessed by someone who knows how to move..

And if your physio/osteo/chiro is now reviewing how you lift, you need to find a new practitioner!

The Solution: Get your movement evaluated properly. As Gray Cook Says “first move well, Then move often”

The main point from today is, if you take your training goals seriously, then you need to take recovery and planning just as serious. If you are always sore, or getting injured it’s time to review what you are doing and how you are doing it.

Feel free to drop me an email john@yourhealthsolutions.com.au and we can sort out your movement and install some positive change to keep you training better.

Stay well, Chat soon.