Ever been on a great run with fitness, making amazing progress then an injury stops you in your tracks?
It can take you from feeling mentally sharp to down the dumps over night.
And I’ve been going through it recently after hurting the medial meniscus in my right knee, after 7 months training for my first mountain marathon, just 8 weeks out from the race, I’m now missing out because I’ll be rebuilding my leg.
After years of no running because of past injuries on the same knee, then finally getting back to loving running again, I’m now back to rehabbing the leg.
Shit?
Yes.
But shit happens to the best of us and it’s times like these, be it a small or big injury, that can throw you down a path of self-sabotaging behaviors and set you back even further than the injury itself will.
So in this article we’ll cover:
- How to stop 1 injury making your whole body weak and fat.
- Avoid the injury becoming a permanent weak link for the rest of your life.
- And how to turn the adversity into an opportunity to become a stronger version of you.
Let’s dive in:
How To Stop Your Injury Making Your Whole Body Weak and Fat
If I could sum up Stoicism simply, I think it would be to live and act more logically rather than emotionally.
Emotional-based decisions often lead to bad outcomes.
And a lot of guys sack off their fitness goals entirely when they get even a small injury setback. If they can’t train fully or they way they want to without any obstacles.
Which just makes your whole body lose strength and muscle you only have say, 1 limb out of the game.
Or they may even eat more shit junk food as a means of seeking comfort.
But this is the perfect example of getting a flat tyre and deciding to stab your other 3 because you’re pissed off with the situation.
It just sets you back further and creates a much harder road to travel later.
At The Very Least Just Stay Active
When you stop moving you:
- Lose muscle.
- Have less blood flow and worse recovery.
- Feel more tired and struggle mentally.
Movement is your foundation for life. So find some way just to stay as active as you can every day. Whether its a modified way of lifting, some kind of cardio, hiking, or getting outside and walking more.
It’s crucial, especially during time of injury, to stay active to keep yourself physically healthy and mentally sharp.
Adapt, Overcome, and Control What’s Controllable
So try to stay hyper-aware of how your feelings around the situation, and focus on what you CAN do instead.
If you’ve an injured arm or shoulder, can you still train the other arm? Or get stronger in the lower body or your core?
If your lower body is injured, can you double down on upper body?
If you can’t run or walk far, can you do some stationary bike to get your cardio in and keep the leg active?
If you’re always focused on how hard it is for you and how much the situation sucks, you’re just gonna see more obstacles and feel a bit hopeless. Because what we put our attention on tends to manifest and grow.
The same is true when you switch you’re attention to what is in your sphere of control and influence.
You Get One Body – Look After It
When you’re car breaks you get it into the garage without fucking about.
But the amount of guy’s I’ve met who don’t treat their body with the same level of value never fails to surprise me.
You can replace parts of your car.
You can even get a new car.
And yes, you may be able to get a knee or hip replacement down the line but you’ll never operate the same as you did before.
So take car of yourself.
And whilst you’re focused on other ways of training that you can control, your absolute priority is to get into see an injury specialist (physio therapist) asap, and get a rehab action plan in place to make that weak link stronger and more resilient than it was before.
Any compensating in movement your injury causes you to make can become permanent, cause imbalances, and cause some aches and pains down the line if not addressed properly.
Seeing a good physio sooner than later, will stop that from ever happening though.
And if you’re ambitious about living a fit, adventurous life then it’s essential that you create a good relationship with a reputable physio anyway.
So let’s get to it.
^^ That’s me and my mate, Jonny. He’s also my physio, and my ‘go to’ for endurance running wisdom. We’d just finished a savage trail running session on the Jerah trails near Alva.
If you’re near the Glasgow area, you can check his company out at Physio Effect
Is This Happening For You?
You might thinks that’s a weird a question.
Because getting injured sucks.
But I was at an event a few weeks ago and whilst speaking with a former monk about mindset and how to handle hard situations like this, mentally and emotionally, this is what he suggested.
He told me about a friend of his who’s battling cancer and is dealing with the whole situation easier by telling himself that ‘this is happening for me’.
I’m sure if you ask yourself then it can open up more optimism and willingness to find solutions, which is quite a pro-active mindset to live in vs a mind that operates like the victim of bad luck.
It’s helped me see my knee injury as way of life just pushing back where I got too cocky.
I should be much more conservative about downhill running, given my previous injuries and surgeries on the knee.
And it’s a way of telling me that I need to make the knee even stronger than it was before.
So I’ll go away and work on it.
And it’s helping me make peace with missing the race and my current reality.
I think the same mentality can help you too.
Two Examples of Resilience
Two members of my Inner Circle program had to deal with emergency surgery around half-way through their physical transformations.
David –
Sean –
Both started exactly where you might be right now – frustrated, putting the work in and not seeing results in the mirror.
Then finally they start losing stubborn fat and seeing the muscle definition they wanted when this happened.
Both of them applied the principles I’m sharing with you now.
Ignored what they couldn’t do.
And focused on what they could, no matter how small – nutrition, certain exercises (eventually) – and because of this, they bounced back quickly.
Eventually, going onto surpass where they were at before disaster struck. Getting even leaner, and packing on more muscle.
All because they were willing to do the uncomfortable work through the tough periods. Â
And actually, that experience has made their most important ‘muscle’ even stronger and more resilient:
The mind.
What To Do Now
If you’re dealing with an injury right now.
Or life kicks you in the dick in some other way.
Adapt and overcome.
Stay ready and willing to work with what is within your control.
Try to shift focus from how shit the situation is to areas you can improve in your fitness game and the current challenges in front of you.
As they old saying goes –
When life throws you lemons, make lemonade.
Dean
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