It’s now nearly 7 weeks past my WNBF Pro Physique debut and over the past two months I’ve been laying plans for my off-season and setting goals for 2016. Designating a period of recovery and focusing on rehabilitating past injuries as I trained over 2015 has been well worth any frustration that came with the extra care, time commitment, and restraint…and I am now very happy to be in an excellent position for making improvements over the next year.
Social media tends to show a highlight reel of our lives, especially the competitive lives of athletes. Here I want to share some of the physical setbacks I’ve had and overcome in the past year that may not have appeared in the Facebook and Twitter posts, with the hope that it may benefit someone reading this.
At the end of 2013 I was in peak shape. I had been training consistently and extremely intensely without any major layoffs for over two years, and a win alongside the 2013 Plantbuilt team in Austin, Texas was a resulting achievement. Unfortunately, as much as I tried to ignore it, all of this brutal training had worn my body into the ground. In the fall of 2013 I had one injury popping up after another and it got to the point that regular training became impossible. Here are the issues I was dealing with:
- A chronic abdominal injury from 2010 that made training abs very painful. Neglected abs then left my hip flexors to do all the core stabilization and become painfully tight with any heavy hip flexion such as squats, deadlifts and olympic lifts (my favorites!)
- A shoulder impingement that I’ve had on and off since high school. I actually spent all of 2013 and 2014 with virtually no chest training and limited biceps training because of it.
- Tendonitis in my elbow that interfered with any pushing movements (golfer’s elbow).
- Tendonitis in my knee that interfered with squat and lunge movements (jumper’s knee).
- An ankle impingement which made running, jumping, or calf training impossible.
As you can see, this time last year I was a wreck! Just about the only muscle group I could train was back, which is already my most dominant body part. This situation made me extremely frustrated and I spent most of 2014 training around or through the issues I should have been rehabilitating…yet, even with this recklessness, I lost 10-15 pounds of muscle. The one positive that came out of all this was that, following the decision to compete in men’s physique rather than bodybuilding due to my muscle loss, I unexpectedly earned a WNBF Pro Card at the 2014 Naturally Fit Games with the Plantbuilt Team!
I now had a pro show to train for: it was time to bite the bullet and focus 100% on rehab work for a while if I ever wanted to make progress instead of merely treading water. I devoted 3 months exclusively to rehab exercises, with no regular weight-training at all, then, as my injuries improved, I began to slowly integrate regular training back into my schedule.
Was the time spent worth it? These issues are now…
- Abs strain = 95% recovered. I can now train abs intensely for the first time in 5 years, and my hip flexors are slowly improving.
- Shoulder impingement = 95% recovered, with no imitations to training.
- Golfer’s elbow = 100% recovered!
- Jumper’s knee = 100% recovered!
- Ankle impingement = 100% recovered!
Developing and implementing a long-term plan to overcome my injuries and working with clients throughout this year with that same focus on prehab to prevent injuries and recovery work to repair them has taught me so much. I am now coming out the other side of these seeming setbacks with a valuable education that has changed the way I train, myself and others, for good.
In following segments I will be sharing my strategies for rehabilitating each injury with the hopes of helping anyone out there who has the same problem – many are common issues – and I will be spreading this lesson as much as possible moving forward, such as in my Prehab and Rehab class on the 2016 Holistic Holiday at Sea vegan cruise – it would be awesome to see some of you there!
When it comes to injuries, an overarching guideline I use now is: Start small, build slow, and be just as aggressive with your recovery gains as you are with your other goals!
Hi Derek,
I really like what you have achieved and overcome through your injuries. I had a lower back injury one over a year ago and it seems to be quite chronic. Then I just took two weeks and and hit it back hard. The lower back pain seems to be going away although my lower left back feel tights. However, I can feel the nerves pain in my left glute which sometimes could lead down my left leg. Although the its never severe since I managed to train harder over the year. About 6 weeks ago I definitely overworked my hip flexors (both sides) not sure whether it’s due to the abs issue similar to yours as I am doing abs 5 days a week. I can barely walk properly for 3 weeks. Last week was the first week walking without pain. I’ve been completely off exercise for 5 weeks and no leg or hips related exercise but it is difficult as I want to work on abs. What can you recommend from this aspect? My Physio told me to do a lot of lunges stretch which I’ve been doing twice a day. Tomorrow is my first day in start lifting weights on upper body. Thanks
Hi Alex, I’m sorry to hear about your back! I plan on getting this post up with my own experiences some day, but for the hip flexor/back asymmetry issues I suggest doing a lot of unilateral work for your legs such as lunges and bulgarian split squats, and to improve your pelvic alignment with lots of training of the glutes (hip thrusts) and lower abs. Just be sure to research technique because doing it wrong will make it worse!
Thank you! I appreciate it:)
Hi, I have a right wrist injury from a year ago- got it while doing lat pull downs. It’s now chronic. What gloves can you recommend (vegan)? Any rehab exercise?
Thank you!
Hi, sorry to hear about your injury! I would take at least a month off everything even remotely risky (chronic issues take longer to heal), and really work on eliminating risky activities from your daily life. In addition to that, add some gentle daily stretching and some light rehab exercises (you’ll need to research these based on what’s wrong) 2-3 time per week. Add things in slowly only after it’s been 100% for a little while, then build up from there. I hope this helps!
Derek
Nice thoughts, can’t wait for the next part of this article. For me i learned how to deal with my shoulder and knee issues but currently my elbow drives me crazy while working out.
Glad you enjoyed it, and that you were able to get past your shoulder and knee troubles! I would lay off your elbow until it’s pain free, work on stretching everything around it then add things back in gradually. Hang in there!
Derek
Great post and thanks for sharing. I currently have many injuries that I am trying to work through. I would greatly appreciate you sharing your advice for how to deal with shoulder impingement, this is just one of the issues on my list! Thanks again.
Hi Kim, I’m sorry to hear about your injuries! The shoulder impingement is a really tricky one. I plan on posting all the details later, but immediate relief I would take a month off from any aggravating exercises, stretch your chest and biceps daily, and add some sort of external rotation shoulder rehab work in 3 times a week – but make sure to keep this light and easy because you can overdo it! Good luck!
Derek