Saturday 24 November 2012

A few words on Injury ...and this weeks training


Hey guys and girls,

Another great week of training with some real ups and downs.
During my Monday session I felt tension in my lower back (sacrum area) during my first exercise (the snatch).  I decided to ignore it and push on with my Deadlift.  This is a classic case of not taking my own advice.  If I had been training a client and they had told me they were feeling this pain then I would have found an alternative but being an idiot I didn’t and I promptly spent the rest of the day in discomfort and not able to move properly.

Although the effects of this disappeared by the next day it is still worth noting that on reflection I do not believe that I made the right decision here.  This kind of pain should never be ignored or played down.  The pain of fatigue during a tough conditioning session, this you can (and to a certain extent) should ignore.  But any unusual tweaks, aches or other pains during exercise need to be treated with respect.

There is no point in risking injury for a couple more reps, sets minutes or seconds.  You only get one body and you can only build it into the machine that you want it to be if you preserve it from being damaged unnecessarily.

I put this lesson into practise on Friday when doing my deadlift, on the final set I could feel my form wavering.  I wanted to get a final rep out but knew that it wasn’t worth compromising my form and possibly my back.  I know that this wariness came from my little tweak on Monday and that I might make the same mistake a few months down the line but hopefully the lesson will stick!

I have seen guys allow themselves to be injured during Jiu-Jitsu sparring simply because their ego wouldn’t allow them to tap until they had to.  Whatever type of training you are involved in, it is essential that you respect the potential damage it could do to your body and adjust accordingly.  Developing strength, skill and/or fitness is a long term game and avoiding injury is essential in ensuring that you make it to the finish line!

That said, some injuries are out of your control!

Just yesterday (Friday) I went out snowboarding after my workout, I thought I was doing quite well but ended up taking a tumble and hurting my right knee and my ribs.
After a quick check over in the infirmary at the slopes it was decided that no ribs were broken and they have steadily improved since then.
My knee however isn’t feeling great.  I have a pain down the inside edge of my knee joint which I suspect is a strain or partial tear on my medial collateral ligament.  I know that I did a similar injury last year while sparring at Jiu-Jitsu.

Time will tell how serious it is but until then I am going to play it sensible.  If anything aggravates it then I will stop doing it.  Eating right, plenty of sleep and good mobility work will all help.

Respect injuries, allow them to repair and come back stronger and wiser. If you push yourself to hard, to soon and don’t allow time to recover then you risk re-injury and an even lengthier delay in your progress.

Anyway, here is what I have been up to training wise this week.
Any questions, leave a comment below.

Monday 19th November:
Strength session
1)      BB Snatch 3-5 x 3-5
2)      Deadlift 4 x 10 (105kg)
3a) L, Y & W Shoulder pre-hap exercises 3 x 12-15 each
3b) BB overhead press 3 x 10


Tuesday 20th November:
Strength session
1)      Hang Power cleans 3-4 x 5
2)      Front squats 4 x 10 (62.5kg – 65kg)
3a) Back Lever (flat tuck) 3 x (5 x 2 sec holds)
3b) Front Lever (straddle) 3 x (5 x 2 sec holds)
4a) Inverted bodyweight rows 3 x 10
4b) Ring dips 3 x 10


Wednesday 21st November:
Recovery day – everyone needs them! (also I got up at 4.20am to start work at 6am and worked until 4.30pm!

Thursday 22nd November:
Conditioning session
Decided to re-visit a session that I only did a couple of weeks ago.

Tabata intervals (20 sec high pace work, 10 sec rest) Repeated for 6 minutes
Alternating between-
Bar facing burpees & BB Hang power clean and push press (60lbs)
Then with no rest straight into a progressive run
Set treadmill to 2% incline and 5mph, increase the speed by 0.3mph every 20 seconds until failure.
Rest for 5 minutes then repeat for 3 rounds.

On my second round all the treadmills were occupied so I just rowed at a moderate-high pace for 5 minutes.

1st round (progressive run) beat 9.2mph and covered 0.63 miles
3rd rounds beat 8.9mph and covered 0.54 miles

On all rounds I was trying to achieve a minimum of 8 burpees and 7-8 clean & press every 20 seconds.

Tough little session, especially mentally.  Knowing that you can give up at any stage on the progressive run but trying to push it and keep going is a real battle with yourself.
I felt supercharged for the rest of the day after this one.


Friday 23rd November:
Strength session
1)      1 DB Snatch x 5 per side (alternating), x 4 per side, x 3 per side
2)      Deadlifts 3x8, 1x7 (@ 110kg)
3a) Handstand practice 3 x max hold
3b) Symmetrical Deadbugs 3 x 30 sec per side
4a) 1 Arm negative assisted pull ups 3 x 5 per side
4b) 2 DB neutral grip overhead press 3x8, 1x7
5a) DB Windmills 3 x 5p per side (very light weight, just re-training movement)
5b) Cable face pull to external rotation 3 x 12


Saturday 24th November:
BJJ partner drills x 45 mins

Train hard, live happy
Bradbury

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