This past year has been injury hell for me. My resilience has been tested in life like it never has been before.
Back in February I was lifting 500lb off the ground and had never had an injury that limited me in the gym for any amount of time. After some really tough life events, I embarrassingly and foolishly punched a wall leaving me having to go through wrist rehab for 3-4 months, not getting back to previous strength levels until 6 months after the fact. I learned a lot of things about myself during that period.
An old adductor injury that I got playing soccer years prior started to become an irritation to the point I discovered a large lump in my in my adductor longus which then became more of an issue over time and has become chronic, tearing several times in the past few months. I went to physio and things were moving forward until I did a short sprint causing it to go again and being a problem ever since.
Tuesday gone, I felt a slight twinge doing something trivial but no pain. The next day I did some very light RDLs, working up to just 135lb for sets of 10 (to put it in perspective I was capable of doing 350lb for sets of 8 not long ago). There was a little pain but I’d just got some new earbuds, and I’m not really a guy who listens to music in the gym. I think the effect of the music psyching me up made me push through a little bit too much. Adductor was in agony the next day (Thursday). Was slightly improved Friday, and improved enough Saturday for me to walk to the gym almost pain-free. I thought I’d get started with a Bill Starr type rehab ~around 3-4days after i felt that little twinge. Just body weight squats to start with and I’d try with the bar on Monday.
During the session I felt pretty good. Did maybe 3x30 bodyweight squats. No pain, walked home fine. Getting through maybe my 5-6th injury set back of the year (4 of which was this damned adductor). Anyway. Feeling okay until 12-14hours later my hamstring started speaking to me massively, with a couple areas very tender to the touch and am now limping excessively. This morning I can’t even weight bear and have had to get cover for the under-12 girls soccer team I coach.
I don’t understand how my hamstring can be in so much agony after painless bodyweight squats. It’s as painful as anything I’ve ever experienced. It’s shaken me mentally and I’m really struggling after yet another set back. Haven’t really got any one to talk to and just trying not to be a wimp about it all. I need to reach out somehow though. I will contact my physio again tomorrow but bleh. I’m frickin’ miserable right now.
Apologies for the rant and for appearing like a modern-age victim we see so often. Shit got me messed up.
For me, the “trick” with injuries is to focus VERY long-term.
I tell myself that I am training for an event that takes place in 10 years’ time. Knowing that, how should I approach the current injury? If I give it 3 months to heal, will that have any negative impact whatsoever on my condition in 10 years? Definitely not.
So I try mentally to think of injuries as very short-term in the overall scheme of things… provided you sort them out completely as and when they happen and don’t let them snowball into anything chronic.
Back off the intensity for now, get the right treatment, get back on it, you won’t even remember these few difficult months 10 years from now when you’re still training hard.
Gt e a knee wrap, or Voodoo Floss, or Compression Wrap, or some kind of Groin Wrap/Brace to protect your crotch. Mark Bell (creator of the Sling Shot) also makes some compression briefs, like hip supporting foam shorts. But use caution if you search for “Sling Shot Briefs.”
Start training the adductor with the EASIEST possible moves. You want to teach it to lengthen under tension, and support weight. Only it’s injured, so it will try to avoid the tension/weight. So take your time, get to full lengthening before you start piling on weight/reps.
From there, work within your limits. If 3 x 30 squats fucked you up, start over with 3 x 8 squats. You’ll get stronger faster if you’re not constantly derailing yourself by rushing.
@cdep89 Man, I feel you. I started the injury train early in life with wrestling then powerlifting then Olympic lifting and back to powerlifting.
All I can say is:
Check your ego and don’t piss the injured area off but keep it mobile through full ROM if/when possible.
Find “similar but different” movements to work around the injury so you stay motivated. When I tore a hamstring prepping for an Olympic lifting meet, I found I could still front squat and for my lumbars, very short range 45 degree back extensions worked. I kept training until the tear healed (it was partial muscle belly tear) and I lost almost nothing strength wise. After 6 weeks, I was back to full training.
Sometimes a forced shift in focus is a blessing in disguise. When injuries start piling up, it’s a sign many (myself included) ignore. Your injuries spread when you keep pushing it due to compensatory actions by the body so old injuries pop up elsewhere.
Sorry if that was preachy but I stand with you as a washed up meathead held together by scar tissue and osteoarthritis!
I had a groin issue years ago for which my physio had me stop all leg stuff (even running) which i stretched and rehabbed the groin. It took a good 3 months to get to a point where i was running and the rehab was slow (but the physio said you have to rehab a groin slowly compared to other muscles).
I’d love to say its all better but it often still gets tight and needs special attention.
Not sure if this helps but just hope you get better and your head gets into a better space. I’m hear to moan at or talk to and if you are ever in the midlands i’ll take you out for a beer!
Not to go old man story (who am I kidding - I love it), but my first career and the only thing I really ever wanted to do ended after some injuries. I’d always been an athlete, and I simply couldn’t do some of those things anymore. I was cranky and whiny and a little bit of a drunk and also not very nice to my wife, who didn’t deserve all that. I gained at least 35 lbs. of pure fat whilst losing any muscle I’d previously had. I’d try getting back into some training here and there, but couldn’t do what I wanted, ended up hurt again, and just generally didn’t care.
What turned it around, for me, was just getting over it. I accepted (somewhat, I still have nostalgia) that a lot of that stuff was just in my past and I set out with a baseline of zero and all new goals. I focused on things I could do, didn’t set weight/ rep “records,” and just started really small improvements from 0 rather than thinking of it in terms of how far away I was from my old self. My goals became things like how lean could I get or how long could I ride a bike, etc., vs. how fast could I run or how much could I squat.
Over time, I did eventually get back to where I could do some things with a barbell… but I still have to be careful. I found programs (obviously for me it’s Meadows’ stuff) that force this as a feature rather than a bug. I also have a whole different reason/ view for training. I’m a person that can’t do anything that isn’t goal-oriented, so when I wasn’t lifting to be on a field, I didn’t care. I had to “make up” a reason - that it makes me better at work/ with my kids/ society/ whatever, but that was important to me or I’ll skip.
Eventually, my mind shifted that I was happy to last as long as I did rather than be sad that it ended before I wanted.
I guess the moral of that rambling story is what helped me was changing the whole paradigm. If what you’re doing isn’t working, and it’s pissing you off, you’re setting up a death spiral. You’re not going to just force yourself to love it again, so you’d be best served to start finding new avenues, new baselines, new expectations, and new goals.
