Jim was a helluvan athlete. He could run, jump, catch, throw, hit and bench press a house. He was a varsity linebacker and one of my friends. One day Jim comes in complaing of pain in his neck and right trap. He plops down next to me and says, "Well Zach the trainer says I strained my trap pretty bad last week doing power cleans. Says I should lay off the weights for a few days."
Sounds like a good idea, Jim. Rest up and take it easy.
"But I think I'm gonna go knock out some light work in the weight room real quick."
Be careful Jim. Don't overdue it.
20 minutes later ambulances came to pick up Jim. He had torn his right trap doing light shrugs. Jim was injured and he knew it. Jim decided to lift anyway and ended his very promising football career. Jim earns a dumbass rating of: Joe Biden.
You may be thinking "Cool story, bro. What's your point?"
Before I continue let me first differentiate between being hurt and being injured. If you are walking in the middle of the night to go take a piss and you stub your toe on the coffee table then you are most likely only hurt. If you are lifting weights and you feel a sharp unnatural pain in your (insert muscle here) you are most likely injured. If a medical professional (you know, one of those guys who actually knows what the fuck they are talking about) tells you to lay off the training for a few days then LAY OFF THE FUCKING TRAINING. If you're pal Charlie (you know, you're dumbass beer drinking buddy without the PhD) says "nah man you'll be fine. Don't be a pussy" then punch him the dick and call him an idiot (after he buys the beer of course). You're not going to lose 10 pounds of muscle in your biceps because you took a break from curling in the squat rack for a week.
On a personal note I have pulled my bicep many times in high school while curling. But I was a badass of course and curled again two days later. My bicep was so sore I couldn't curl again for two weeks.
"But I don't want people to think I'm a bitch if they see me taking a a few days off from working out"
Well, nancy, you're going to look like an even bigger bitch when that severe calf sprain turns into a calf tear and you are forced to do curls in the squat rack and bench press while your legs wittle away into noodles as they take months to recover from your dumbassery.
Of course not every injury can turn serious, but why risk it?
"But Zach, I don't want to let my team/squad/girlfriend/ Personal Jesus down by not being able to workout/ perform while I am recovering."
You will let them down even more if you turn this injury into something serious and you end up being down for weeks or even months instead of a few days. Don't be a stupid ass.
This is not to say that you have to stop working out completly while you heal. If I strain my quad, what stops me from doing some bench press, flys, curls, overhead press etc. ? Nothing. Don't use that as an excuse to not workout completely. I hate that almost as bad as people who try to train through a bad injury. I will never call someone a bitch or a dumbass for injuring themselves doing athletic things. I WILL however call someone a bitch or a dumbass for injuring themselves further by training while injured.
If you love training as much as I do, injuries can zap your morale and recovery/rest days are things you don't look forward to. Think about it this way though: If you hate rest days it is better to take a few now than to further injure yourself and be on "rest weeks" or "months" because your dumbass wanted to be hardcore and "train through the pain."
If you are Hurt , however I expect you to harden the fuck up and train. A jammed toe does not excuse you from squatting, Mr. Bitch. Take care of yourself. Keep yourself healthy. Whether you're a soldier, athlete or average joe like me it is important that you take care of your body. The squat rack can wait for you to do curls in it for a few days and you won't die while you rest due to lack of metal music induced rage-grunting that you normally hear from your workout partner as he knocks out a set of sweet hip abductors performed on a machine.
(on a side not: Don't you ever fucking do shoulder press on a machine. If you want to be fucked above in your shoulders then go for it. They allow 0 range of motion while process and essentially 'lock' your shoulders while pressing)
Final Word: If you're injured, take a break. If you are hurt, stop being a bitch. It's that simple. Take the time to rest and get strong again in a few days. The better you take care of yourself, the stronger you will be in the future. Stronger people are harder to kill. And to steal a line from Tim Kenndy and Ranger up: "Stay angry my friends"
Go workout. Unless you are injured. In which case, carry on.
Nope
ReplyDelete