How not to lose shape after injury and recover faster

Basic principles of recovery

Don't stop exercising

If you have injured a muscle, tendon or ligament, you should not completely limit your mobility: movement will help you recover faster. Exercise increases blood circulation around the injured area so that the tissues receive nutrients more quickly and get rid of waste.

In addition, movement provides positive stress that improves connective tissue formation. This is important because connective tissue grows where it is needed, where the body is stressed.

If you don’t stress the injured area during recovery, it will not build enough connective tissue to withstand the stress when you return to your previous training volume.

Therefore, keep repeating familiar movements, reducing their intensity. Do them every day, if possible and if your physical therapist has not forbidden you to do so.

Work on bugs

After an injury, the intensity of your training is greatly reduced, which means it is time to work on your weaknesses. For many athletes, the following is characteristic:

mobility problems;
poor exercise technique;
inability to breathe correctly;
insufficient aerobic endurance.

If you don't know your weaknesses, just remember what you hate doing the most, or ask a friend what they think you should work on.

Train your aerobic endurance

Aerobic exercise improves blood circulation, including in the injured area. This means that cells receive more nutrients, waste is excreted faster, and recovery is accelerated.

Aerobic training also has a positive effect on the functioning of the nervous system: it increases the parasympathetic tone, which provides the body with rest and recovery.

Get 60-90 minutes of aerobic workout two to three times a week. Instead of your regular long-term cardio, you can use a series of low-intensity, controlled movements.

Learn to breathe correctly

Breathing stimulates the lymphatic system, digestion, blood flow, and the immune system. All of this speeds up recovery.

Medication, pain and anxiety due to injury or surgery affect the autonomic nervous system and disrupt breathing patterns. Due to breathing disorders, the optimal acid-base balance of the body is shifted, which leads to a cascade of negative reactions and slows down recovery.

Therefore, do breathing exercises every day, include them in your workouts, for example, between sets. This will help you not only recover faster, but also improve your performance in the future.

Dealing with specific injuries

If you feel uncomfortable while exercising or exercising against your doctor's advice, stop exercising.

Injuries to the shoulders, wrists, elbows

For sports injuries like this, you can train your legs, core muscles, and your healthy arm.

Train your healthy arm

Dumbbell Row

Dumbbell snatch

One-handed dumbbell bench press

Sideways expander pull

Load your legs and buttocks

Take the strain off your back while recovering by taking a break from squats and deadlifts. Instead, you can do other exercises for your legs and buttocks.

Dumbbell Single Arm Split Squats

Barbell Glute Bridge

Lunges with a weight in one hand:

Add explosive exercises. They train the lower body perfectly and do not overload the back.

Jumping on the curbstone:

Jumping out of the squat:

Jumping out of a squat on one leg:

Depth Jumps:

Knee and ankle injuries

Training with leg injuries is more difficult than training with upper body injuries. But it is still possible.

Train your upper body

Even with an injured knee or ankle, you can do upper body exercises. Here are some options to include in your workout:

Pectoral Exercise

Row of the upper block to the chest

Dumbbell bench press

Dumbbell Rows

Reverse grip pull-ups

Horizontal pull-ups on the bar

Train your healthy leg

You can exercise with your healthy leg.

Deadlift on one leg

Bulgarian split squat

One-legged glute bridge

Train your core muscles

"Dead Beetle"

Leg raises

Exercise with straight legs

Hanging knee raises in turn

Injuries to the lower back, hips, abdominals

The hardest part is to keep exercising when your core muscles are injured, as they are involved in almost any movement.

Try to find isolated upper body exercises. For example, a free weights bench press on the floor or a deadlift with chest support on an incline bench.

Exercise with light weights, low intensity, and excellent technique. This scheme of work will help improve blood circulation and activate the parasympathetic nervous system. Perform breathing exercises after working sets.

3 stages of recovery

Now let's go through the stages of recovery: what to do right after the injury, in the middle of the recovery period, and just before returning to the previous intensity.

The initial stage of recovery

This stage can last from several weeks to months. During this time, your body is constantly undergoing inflammation and repair processes. Your goal is to correct weaknesses and at the same time not prevent the body from recovering, but, on the contrary, spur it up.

Here's what to include in your program during this period:

Set aside time for aerobic activity 2-3 times a week.
Do squats, bends, deadlifts, presses, and other exercises. Keep the intensity very low, light weight and repetitions very low, and don't use the sore spot.
Do breathing exercises every day.
Concentrate on your weak points.
Eat properly to support your immune system.
Sleep at least eight hours a day. Sleep is essential to recovery.
Move throughout the day. Go for a short walk, doing 20-25 air squats, push-ups, pull-ups, or other light exercise every two hours.
Avoid heavy strength training, anaerobic training, or grueling training sessions.

Middle stage of recovery

The middle stage begins when you stop using pain relievers and are ready for a more aggressive exercise. During this time, you need to stick to an exercise system that will provide the right hormonal response for faster recovery.

Alternate moderate intensity workouts with rest days, and stay active with aerobic exercise on your rest days.

Here's a rough workout regimen that will provide an increase in growth hormone and testosterone, but not overload your nervous system:

Do different variations of basic strength exercises: squats, deadlifts, different presses, rows, and pull-ups.
Do a full body workout. Choose 3-5 main exercises and do 3-5 sets of 5-10 reps.
Do a superset of 2-4 exercises. Rest between circles until you are fully recovered.
Use medium intensity. Leave 2-3 reps in reserve and focus on perfect technique.

As for the number of workouts per week, be guided by your feelings. You should completely rest and recover from your previous workout.

Return to previous workouts

The last 10–20% recovery is always hard on. Here are the key points from this period:

Slowly return to the previous intensity.
Make sure that the injured limb moves correctly during the various exercises.
Watch your main strength movements, ask a friend to point out mistakes, or videotape you to track down incorrect patterns.
Think long term about the injury. It is not scary to miss one season, it is much worse to suffer all your life from an untreated injury that repeats over and over again and lowers your performance. So take your time and take risks.