Are You Hurt …Or Are You Injured?!?!
Wanna know what grinds my gears?
Why, that’s someone who quits as soon as an excuse presents itself after telling me how badly they want to get in shape so their boo-bear doesn’t trade them in for a more bangable version.
One of the most common reasons for stopping is the experiencing of pain or discomfort. It tends to go a little something like:
Hey, Monster, I rolled my wrist three-twelfths of a degree too far back when I was front squatting with an Olympic grip. I guess I need to take some time off now to let it heal because, well, that’s what you do when you’re injured.
– you, with puppy dog eyes and crocodile tears streaming out of them down your face
And to that, the person hears:
Awwwww, poor boo-boo! You’re a little banged up with minor aches and pains? Welp, I guess you’re right, time to take a decade off from training so you can rest and rehab. See you in ten years!
– me, because I weally, weally care
Fuck outta here!!!
You better think again!
Yes, it’s true that you’re supposed to rest…
…but there’s one problem.
Are you hurt or are you injured?
If you’re like most injured people, you’re not injured — just hurt, if that at all.
“Hurt” means having something physically wrong with you but being able to perform activity through correction of the problem.
Depending on the severity of the impairment, that means training with it won’t kill you.
Now, let’s return to our example. What example? The scenario involving you needing grave medical attention for the joint connecting the hand to the forearm?
Yes, exactly. That example!
The person in said scenario — which is YOU, by the way — is nothing more than hurt.
Whoa, whoa!!!
How can I make such a clinical evaluation?!
Like, am I a qualified medical practitioner?
No, I am NOT a qualified medical practitioner.
However, despite my lack of credentials I can declare you as being hurt because…ummmmmmm…I have enough sense to know that the wrist has little bearing on your ability to bend your fucking knees.
That being the case that you’re hurt, you would change your front squat hand position to cross-armed or Frankenstein style, both of which completely eliminate flexion of the wrist. Either that or you would have the iron constitution to still front squat with an Olympic grip or the brains to switch to another squat variation.
As long as there’s no risk of structural or long-term damage, you can still perform whatever activity rather than use your infirmity as justification to skip your session and stuff your face full of bonbons while binge watching Orange is the New Black.1But what about the hilarious hijinks of Piper Chapman and the other lovable inmates of Litchfield Penitentiary, you say? I know, I know, the show is pure comedic genius!
“Injury” is something entirely different from hurt.
Being injured is having your shoulder reconstructed, it immobilized in a splint or sling, and a qualified medical professional telling you to hold off from the gym for a while.
Since the shoulders play a pivotal role in virtually all upper body movements, exercise should be avoided to limit the possibility of long-term health concerns.
…but even this scenario isn’t always a reason to stop training altogether.
Yeah, you can’t train the upper body because your arm is only remaining attached to the rest of your body by a string but I must have missed the memo because WHAT…THE…FUCK…DOES…YOUR…SHOULDER…HAVE…TO…DO…WITH…YOUR…MUHFUGGIN’…LEGS?!?!
Also, the last I checked, there are two sides of the body. So if one shoulder is immobilized, thus cutting off use of your arms, chest, and delts on that side, that means those muscle groups are still usable on the opposite side. You should use them! Because of something known as the “crossover effect”, researchers have observed that unilateral strength training produces adaptations on the non-trained side of injured individuals. This, of course, results in less atrophy.2The training load to achieve neurological crossover is “3-5 sets of 8-15 repetitions of eccentric contractions with rest times of 1-2 minutes between sets”.
Unless you’re in a full body cast, you should be able to still get into the gym and train SOMETHING, whether that means neglecting the injured body part and training around it, performing unilateral training for a contralateral effect, or finding alternative exercises that allow you to work the impaired body part without aggravation.
So, are you hurt or are you injured?
As we’ve seen, injured and hurt are NOT one in the same, though the unindoctrinated think otherwise.
One means that you have a physical condition preventing you from participating in an activity and the other means that you can still participate in spite of whatever physical ailment you have.
Whatever the case may be, everyone experiences aches and pains, some more than others.
It comes with the territory of placing repeated stress on the body in order to force an adaptation to make it bigger, faster, stronger.
No matter how hard we try to prevent them, changing the body — regardless how big or small the change — comes with nicks and bruises. Those who are successful at seeing what their body is truly capable of are those who are able to push through in the face of such adversity, like pretty much everything else in life.
So ladies and gents, act like you have a pair.
I don’t remember anybody saying this shit would be easy.
And since it takes a special kind of person to live this lifestyle, then, were it easy, you wouldn’t be fucking special for doing it.
Now wouldya?!
DISCLAIMER: Before you do something stupid and then sue me for your stupidity on the grounds that I cyberbullied you into cowboying up, don’t be a nincompoop doofus. Use your brain to determine for yourself when you’re just being a scaredy-cat looking for the easy way out or if the pain is something serious that should be checked out rather than ignored. While you have to challenge yourself, you also have to be smart enough to live to fight another day. Well, there you have it. My job is done. This disclaimer makes me legally bulletproof!!!