When it comes to keeping fit, picking up injuries are an unfortunate yet inevitable consequence. Whether you are pushing your body to its limits by running a marathon or just going to the gym to try and lose a bit of weight for summer, you are susceptible to injury.
The overriding feeling when you pick up an injury is disappointment that you’re going to be on shelf for sometime and depression that all the hard work you’ve put in to get to the stage you are out could now be out the window if you are inactive for weeks or even months.
That’s only natural – but what you also need to consider is how to get yourself back and fit again as soon as possible. Here arefive steps to overcoming injury
Allow Yourself To Be Disappointed
We touched on the disappointment factor in the introduction, and it really is no bad thing to be disappointed at picking up an injury. By allowing yourself to be disappointed rather than bottling it up or berating yourself for feeling down, you are accepting the cards that fate has dealt you and that means you can move on quicker to working out how to get yourself back in the game.
Find Out What The Problem Is
Uncertainty fuels anxiety and anxiety isn’t going to help in your recovery at all. You therefore need to find out what the injury is and then you can work out the best way to go about treating it. Depending on the severity of it, that could mean looking up your symptoms online, visiting a sports therapist or if necessary, visiting a doctor – which is where Medicalhealthinsurancetoday.Org could come in handy.
Come Up With A Plan
Once you’ve diagnosed the issues and learned the best ways to treat it, you can come up with a plan to follow. That plan can involve rest for a certain number of weeks and then a gradual comeback to full fitness with short term goals, such as resting for four weeks and then attempting a 2k run which increases by 500m every week until you are fit and strong enough to resume full training. Always be sure to follow the plan so that you don’t rush your comeback – remember, time on the sidelines happens to everyone. Even Tom Brady missed a year out in 2008-09 injured.
Focus On Training Other Areas
Your ankle might be busted, but that doesn’t mean you can’t hit the gym. You can use the downtime to work on your upper or core strength which could offer long term gains for your performance. You might have even become so focused on running that you’ve completely neglected other areas. You can also get creative with your training as there are always out-of-the-box ways to come up with relevant fitness plans. If you are unable to run, why not take up swimming for a month. You’ll get aerobic exercise and it’ll have an impact on your arm muscles.
Most Important Of All, Be Positive
There will probably be speedbumps in the road so the most important thing you can do is be positive. You’ll get back to where you were eventually and you’ll be a much better athlete for it because of the journey through adversity you’ve faced.