You know how it is. You picked something up that fought back and won. Or maybe you fell and broke a bone. Maybe you threw out your back. Perhaps you just woke up one day with “mystery pain.” But one way or another, at some point in your life, you’ve found yourself injured and unable to do the things you normally do.
Many of us will simply think, “Screw it. This sucks, and now I’m just going to sit and do nothing till this heals.” While bleep-it mode may be the default for some, I’m here to tell you that training around your injury may be one of the best things you can do for yourself.
There are, of course, some caveats:
- Do you have clearance to exercise? Always make sure you have a doctor’s OK before you start any training program, just to be on the safe side.
- Does it hurt to do the thing you’re doing? Don’t do that thing.
- Do you feel worse after training? If yes, then it’s probably best to lay off for a bit.
However, if you have the medical OK and wherewithal to move within pain-free ranges of motion and the energy and bandwidth to get back to lifting, training around your injury has the potential to lift your spirits and keep you as strong as possible throughout your recovery.
Training one side has known beneficial effects on the non-working side, a phenomenon known as the cross-migration effect. In one study, single-leg cycling significantly affected gene expression in the non-cycling leg, indicating that the one-legged exercise had a positive effect on both legs. Another study examining single-sided ankle strengthening exercises on partially paralyzed stroke patients showed that their dormant side showed improvement from the trained side. In fact, this beneficial effect of training the non-affected parts of the body has been noted in literature all the way back to 1894.
Rigging the gym to help accommodate your injuries can be a tricky task in some cases. Lucky for you, I am an absolute pro at making unfortunate decisions that leave me functioning less-than-optimally (ask me about that time I fell onto my wrist doing pullups off grip implements, or the time I wasn’t paying attention while using a dysfunctional food processor!), and I have finagled my way into training all sorts of movements—perhaps somewhat awkwardly—to help keep me going while my body heals.
Top 5 Ways To Train Around an Injury
If you’re injured, don’t despair. You can still get your gains with a little creativity, and chances are, your whole body will be glad you did.
Use the Ankle Cuff on the Cable Machine
When I was dealing with trigger finger and with The Food Processor Incident, the cuff was one of the handiest (pun intended) items I found for training my upper body. Simply wrap the cuff around your wrist and perform the movement as needed. Rows, face pulls, flyes, delt raises of all kinds, and so forth are very doable (if not super comfortable) in this way.
Try a Deadlift Harness
A deadlift harness is a specialty strap that loops behind your back and attaches to the barbell, taking gripping the bar out of the equation and making deadlifts possible even with arm injuries. It’s an excellent tool to keep around, just in case.
Rig Up Some Belt Squats
If a back, shoulder, or arm injury won’t allow you to squat with a bar on your back, belt squats can be your best buddy.
Unfortunately, most gyms don’t have a belt squat machine, so you may need to set up a belt squat station on your own. One simple way to do this is to load one side of a barbell and secure the unloaded side against a wall, sturdy rack, etc. The loaded side can sit on a bench or elevated surface at about waist height for easy access. Put on a weight belt and leave enough chain hanging down that you can hook it onto the loaded side of the barbell. Place an extra clip on the loaded side to secure the belt chain. Stand up with the loaded side of the barbell in the belt chain and step to the side to get the bar off the loading surface and into squatting position. Proceed to squat with the bar attached to the belt.
Try One-Arm Hangs
Would you like to improve your grip strength, but have an injured arm or hand? Practice hanging from the bar with your uninjured side. If that’s not enough of a challenge for you, try doing some hanging leg raises from that position! Hanging like this not only helps give you gorilla-like grip strength, but also helps increase mobility and stability through your shoulders and lats, and can help supplement pullup training (you gotta be able to hang from the bar if you want to pull yourself up on it).
Disclaimer: You should already have a good base of grip and shoulder strength before trying this unassisted. If you’re not quite there yet, use a box to stand on, and sink your weight down so that you’re essentially hanging, yet keeping your feet on the floor to pick up any bodyweight you can’t handle just yet.
Use the Battle Ropes
If your legs are injured but you want to get in some cardio, battle ropes are easily performed from a seated position—no leg involvement needed!
