If you're someone who recently got hurt and isn't sure where to start back up again, this is for you. There are a myriad of ways that we can continue training, even while hurt, and although the following approaches may seem like a big step back, they tend to be the quickest ways of making sure you don't lose too much progress while the injury itself is getting better.
One of the biggest faults trainees make when rehabbing or training with an injury is NOT deloading the bar enough to find their "entry point". It makes sense. Why would you "forgo" all of that time, effort, sweat, and maybe even tears that accumulated as weight on the bar? It hurts our pride and definitely our ego. Personally, I have been in those exact shoes after going through two serious low back injuries myself. You'd think as a rehab professional, I would know better since I help people who are going through these exact same problems on a regular basis. But alas, I am human too...
That being said, the way I look at this problem is three fold:
Do we want to keep "pushing" and potentially delay our recovery timeline by sustaining another injury?
(the second one is almost always worse than the first)
Do we want to start off by lowering the weight enough to find an entry point that gives the injury a chance to recover within 8-12 weeks?
(Yes, this seems like a long time, but it's a LOT shorter than sustaining a re-injury and being out for months...trust me...I've been there).
Wait for the injury to feel better before going back into the gym?
(I'm not even going to entertain this option due to the amount of times I've seen people conflate "feeling" better with "recovered", and they go back to the gym after a few weeks, super deconditioned, trying to hit close to the same weights they were prior to their injury, and then actually getting injured moments later...)
As a clinician, I prefer option number 2 for the majority of my clients. Although option number 1 may work in select cases, option number 2 tends to build the proper constraints and momentum to sustain long term progress. Most people, by the time they hit that 8-12 week mark, will have restored, maintained, or even bested their previous strength numbers while working on rehab movements that strengthens the injured areas and its surroundings.
If you've stuck with me this far and are ready to find your entry point back into training, the following are 4 methods I would use to get you back in the gym and training.
DELOAD
continue with your main movement (i.e. squat, bench, deadlift, power clean, snatch, farmers carry, yoke, etc.) but find a weight light enough where you're having <4/10 pain or discomfort.
CHANGE YOUR ROM
limit your range of motion to ONLY the pain free zones and load these up accordingly. For example, if the pain is only off the floor with a deadlift, block pulls would work perfectly.
CHANGE YOUR TEMPO
limit your tempo as a movement constraint that forces you to decrease the weight being used
USE A VARIATION
try an exercise variation that doesn't bother your pain (i.e. if low bar hurts but belt squats are fine, load that up)
I hope the options above gives you some ideas about how to get back into training. Combined with a good selection of rehab exercises to bolster the surrounding tissues, I have seen many people come back stronger and better than ever. If you have any questions, please feel free to comment below or reach out via text, email, or phone call.
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