03.14.08

Injury Prevention

Posted in Injuries tagged , at 9:00 am by leslie

Two and a half years ago, I dislocated my elbow while sparring at TKD. Not a little pop-out-of-joint thing, either; it was 90 degrees in the wrong direction. It hurt. And it took a long time and much PT to heal (and it still isn’t quite straight).

But from my stupidity, I’ve learned lessons about preventing injuries while training, in TKD or in the weight room:

  1. Swallow your pride.
    I was tired; we were sparring at the end of class, in the summer, and I was having trouble focusing enough to control my body. I knew I should have ended the fight, but I thought, “I’m a black belt; he’s not. I can beat him.” (Never mind that sparring isn’t about “beating” anyone in the first place…) I should have dropped the attitude and accepted that he had “beaten” me.
  2. Know your limits.
    As I said, I was tired and not in control of myself. I had reached my limit that day, but I tried to push past it. Sure, there’s a time for exploring your limits, but I was a danger to myself and the other guy. I should have stopped and regrouped, trained some more, and then come back.
  3. Avoid anger.
    I was “losing” the match, I thought, and I got mad at this underbelt who was “beating” me. I let that anger override my good sense, which was telling me I was too tired and obnoxious to keep fighting. Anger and other strong emotions can prevent you from avoiding obvious mistakes.
  4. Don’t show off.
    I seriously heard the words “Hey, watch this!” before I launched my “revenge” (which ended with me on the ground saying “Owie!”. I know, I know: a redneck’s last words. But I’ve never claimed to not be one.). I tried to do something physiologically improbable and ended up hurt and in pain. I should have stuck to falling correctly; instead, by trying to break my fall and launch a counterattack, I am now the class example during Falling class of what not to do.

02.28.08

And rest, 2, 3, 4…

Posted in Injuries tagged , , , , , , at 9:00 am by leslie

You workout, you eat right–and you’re still not losing weight (fat or otherwise). What gives?

Check your recovery and rest.

How often do you exercise? Every day? Too much, most likely. Your body needs time to rebuild what you tore down the last time you worked out. It’ll usually take your body 36-48 hrs to strengthen a muscle and have it ready for tearing down again. Take a day off between lifting or intense cardio sessions (HIIT, kickboxing or spinning classes, etc.). Some people say you can do LSD (long slow distance) in between, but I think that may still be too much, especially if you’re already burned out.

What about sleep? For me, even 8 hours isn’t always enough. While you’re asleep, your body can get even more work done because you’re not interrupting it. Get to bed an hour earlier to recover, or sleep in instead of throwing in another LSD session. Grab a nap, if you can.

Resting is one of the things I have a hard time with. I want to lift every day just because it’s fun, and, while I do like to sleep, I also have so many things I want or have to do. I use my lifting hour on non-lifting days to get things done. And I’m trying to get that extra hour of sleep each night, even though it’s hard to quit the video game, put down the book, get off the internet, or stop studying. I even started setting one of my alarm clocks to go off at night, to tell me to shut everything down and go to bed.

While it may seem that “not lifting” or “not exercising” is counter-productive and not logical, in reality, it’s an essential part of getting stronger. Purposely add rest & sleep to your schedule.