14 Feb Why do I get injured? -intensity and purpose
You’re working out hard, eating right, getting plenty of sleep and BAM you wake up one day and you’re injured. Happens to all of us and can really derail your morale. You were doing everything right! Why does this always happen? You are not alone! Shoulder, neck and back injuries and pain are so normal I don’t meet any clients that don’t have at least 1 injury/issue with their body. Good news, we can help.
I want to talk about two commonly misused and misunderstood parts of fitness, intensity, and purpose. What should they be and what they are.
One of the number one reasons people get injured is too much intensity for too long. This can be in many different forms, going from the couch to running every day. An inappropriate amount of weight during an exercise that you are not ready for (ego lifting). Or trying to always 1RM/redline every workout. Dont get me wrong, I used to get after it and do some crazy shit just for the sake of doing crazy shit. There is a time and a place for this within any program. Im just saying that %97 of your exercises should be pretty standard and within the spectrum of your abilities.
The purpose of exercising is to give you small SAFE adaptations to your body with whatever modality is your favorite/best for your sport/goal. If you’re going from zero activity to trying to run a marathon in 3 days, it’s pretty obvious that you are doomed for failure or injury. We must slowly implement a running program that will make sure you have plenty of peaks and valleys in training. If you run as hard as you can every time you train, your body will simply fail you. I know you’re eager to lose 20lbs as fast as possible, but if you work out too hard for 1 month and get injured from redlining your body, you will never reach your goals. Instead, let’s shoot for long-lasting small changes with no injuries. This way we can properly adjust your muscles, ligaments, tendons and endocrine system so we don’t have a catastrophic failure in them.
The same theory applies to strength training. If you’re just learning to squat, take the time to learn properly (with guidance) on how to make sure that your form is absolutely PERFECT. If you cant do an amazing bodyweight squat, you have no business putting 135lbs on your back. I know it hurts to hear but this is the BEST way to ensure your risk of injury/set back is almost %0 and that you will be a master of your body. If you build the foundation you’ll be stronger/faster than everyone else. Leave the temporary ego lifts at the door and focus on basics! If you’re reading this and dealing with an injury from lifting, try this. GO BACK TO BASICS. Shoulder hurt on the bench? use just the bar and figure out what’s wrong (usually not enough scapula stability). Knees hurt while squatting? Go back to bodyweight and improve! (usually not enough contraction in glutes) I dont ever want to be the person that used to lift weights, I want to lift and run and jump for life. Drop the ego drop the weight.
It’s hard to not chase a feeling while exercising, but for the love of God, stick to the program provided by an experienced fitness professional. Don’t make endorphins be the thing that you exercise for. Your body cannot redline every time you exercise you will get hurt! You need safe neurological adaptations in your body over a longer period of time. This way you’ll be fit healthy and ready for life! Not racing to lose weight or gain muscle. An injury will make everything take much longer than doing it safely.
George Eix
Questions/Comments/Concerns? – Georgeeix@gmail.com
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