Injuries…

Injuries suck! Most of us have had them in the past or are currently injured and trying to figure out how in the world we are going to meet our health and fitness goals with a bum limb. Tony Horton had a pretty serious injury a couple of months ago. While doing iron-cross flys on gymnast rings with his feet on a stability ball, Tony snapped the ligament that connected his bicep to the bone. *Note to self: Dont do iron-cross flys on rings…

Bicep Injuries take a long time to heal and at the age of 52, some people might have taken this as a sign to throw in the towel. Not Tony Horton though! He is an inspiration to millions and has an attitude like no other person in fitness! Tony does not let excuses get in the way of his success! Tony says that his injury has taught him one of the greatest lessons in life.

Tony recalls Eric from the Plyo-X video (the guy with the prosthetic leg). He remembers Eric not being able to do any of the plyo moves, but HE KEPT SHOWING UP! He remembers it being hard for him, but he KEPT SHOWING UP! Eric didnt make any excuses as to why he couldn’t! He did his best and forgot the rest!

That is the key: DO YOUR BEST AND FORGET THE REST

If you have experienced an injury to your upper body, you now have a great opportunity to SHOW UP and focus on your lower body. If you have had knee injuries in the past that act up every once in a while that prevent you from going all out, just do what you can without making excuses. Tony says that his injury will force him to take a break from his bread and butter Upper Body Lift Workouts which are one of his favorite thing to do.  And as a result, he will have now have more time to build other areas of his fitness that aren’t as “fun” for him — cardio, core, lower body, and plyo.  He sees this as an OPPORTUNITY to work on other areas and get better! This is exactly what our attitude should be!

When an injury occurs, and the odds are that at some point in your fitness journey it will occur, you now have an OPPORTUNITY to focus on areas that you otherwise might have neglected. You can almost look at it as a blessing in disguise. For me its a nerve in my shoulder blade. For some odd reason when I am doing any type of shoulder or back fly, a get an extremely painful shot to the shoulder blade, almost like a pinched nerve. Now I could just stand around and wait for the next move…but that aint me! Sometimes I lighten up the weight…sometimes I will repeat a shoulder exercise that doesnt cause the pain to flare up. The point is that you can just throw in the towel and hang it all up. You have to SHOW UP, DO WHAT YOU CAN and DO YOUR BEST AND FORGET THE REST!

Here is some motivational mojo for you. I remember listening to Tony talk at a Beachbody event 35 days after his surgery on his arm. He blew me away when he said that he had worked out 33 of the 35 days since his operation…If that doesnt get you goin, I dont know what will! He cant do it all he says, but the key is showing up and doing what you can. Get your butt out of bed at the same time each morning no matter what! Continue with your schedule as if nothing had changed. To produce a permanent lifestyle change in ourselves and not just some short-lived fitness focus, we need to give our all in all circumstances, no excuses.

Here are some practical tips for common injuries:

• If you have an acute injury (sprained ankle or wrist) you may have to lay of that area until it heals. Focus on other areas.
• If a certain move causes a chronic problem, find a way to substitute something else in its place
• Knee injuries are very common. Lay off the higher impact exercises like plyo until it heals.
• If you have a back injury, you may need to lay off the core workouts for a bit to let the affected area heal.

We all have injuries – thats just the nature of these rickety bodies we were given. Wont it be amazing when we get to trade in these worn out bodies for the new ones promised us! But in the meantime we eat right and exercise to keep these ones in the best shape possible to prevent injury. Dont think that just because you are eating right and exercising, that you are injury proof – we all get dinged and scratched along the way, but thats just part of the journey!

One thing is for sure though! RIPPEDCLUB aint makin no excuses to toss in the towel. We push play everyday and set circumstances aside in order to attain the goal!

What injuries have slowed you down before? What did you do to work through them?