The vast majority of people who work out aren’t athletes. Everyone has a little niggle somewhere, a historic injury they are working around or something that flares up every now and again. This is really normal.
They have lived a life before they started hitting the gym. They might have played sports or had a hobby that played a role in an injury. They might have hereditary or genetic conditions. They might have started training in a way that didn’t agree with their body, going in hard when they need to build up some base strength. Whatever the history is, whatever the injury is, we find a way to work around it, to build confidence or to build strength/mobility that helps to avoid future injury or pain.
How we do this is by careful exercise selection and progression but most importantly, with a change in mindset. Often when someone has something physical going on it can feel like a barrier to being a fit, healthy person. But with almost every person on the planet having something getting in the way of their Olympic career, this couldn’t be further from the truth.
One of the most significant things we work on is getting to know our bodies. We look at what exercises, ranges or vectors of motion trigger pain or a feeling of discomfort or weakness and then we make a conservative plan on how to move forward, how to seek alternatives and how to build strength in areas that might support the injury source. We learn how to celebrate the small wins and how to continue moving forward even when the progress feels slower than expected. Most importantly, we learn we are not as fragile as we think we are. That perhaps there are some situations that we can go harder in than we thought… and that niggles or low level pain do not always mean something extreme is happening.
One of the best things I did was learn about my back - not necessarily through books or education but through my own experience. This exercise is not great for me (after trying it over time and giving it a chance) but its brother from another mother is just perfect and I can go hard on that. Exercises tend to fall into categories that are mostly interchangeable - for example the squat, split squat, leg press or lunge and all their variations. It can feel like everything is uncomfortable at first, but sometimes it is the variation we are trying or the way in which we are doing it.
If you are struggling with an area of discomfort/worry but you know it’s time to feel stronger for your overall health & wellbeing, reach out - to me, to a sports physio/therapist, to someone who’s goal is to get your moving again and who wants to see you doing what your body was designed to do. We do not need to be athletes to feel the benefits of building strength… and this is especially important as we age. We ALL want to be that person who’s still strolling down the road at 80 off to do the shopping with no help. We have to put the work in first to achieve that, even if it means working around niggles or injuries.
If you’ve been putting off getting started with resistance training, January is a great time. Yes it is a cliche to start fitness in January BUT it really is the most boring ass month in the whole world so it may as well be used to its full advantage and set us up for a year of physical magic.
Flex Big 3 (online) starting Jan 2nd. Daytime PT slots available for those with flexible working hours. Let's bring some big fitness energy to January.
Anna
xx
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