Staying Active & Managing Injury

Saturday mornings I try to get a lifting session in at Sayre Park, my weightliting club. It’s the one day I can spend 2+ hours just Olympic lifting. So I’m always excited to go. However, one day, I felt a little lethargic. It happens, especially on Saturday mornings when it has been a long week. That’s why I usually start with snatches. It’s less weight, and I love them. It usually gets the adrenaline going so I’m pumped by time I get to clean & jerks. On this particular day, I got to clean & jerks, and did not feel pumped. I still felt weak.

So I was torn. When I was training for a meet back in July, I came to Sayre after doing some Triathlon training in the morning. I knew I was fatigued and figured I would just do some light form work. Then my coach tells me he wants me to try for a PR in my clean and jerk that day if I feel up to it. I didn’t say anything about Tri training because I knew he would be mad at me, so I just decided I would do my best. Well, I got my PR and it felt great!

I have been tired, sore, and felt little aches and pains during WODs – and have often overcome them and not only felt better as a result, but made some improvements I wouldn’t have made had I not pushed myself through discomfort.

With that in mind, I loaded up the bar to start my clean and jerk sets. I planned on stopping at 85%, which would be a solid workout, but not pushing it. I got to 85%, and my cleans were sloppy. I wasn’t bailing them, but I was catching them awkwardly, I was moving slow – I was just off. On my last one, I power cleaned it, accidentally, stood there with it on my shoulders, and thought to myself “I don’t want to jerk this.” I haven’t felt that way about a jerk in awhile. Once it’s on my shoulders, I consider the hard part done. But, I responded to myself “HTFU,” and jerked it. And hurt my back.

I landed with a hard back foot which compressed my spine a little. Nothing that would last more than a day or two, but I was still mad at myself. Squats are no fun when you have to do them with a jarred back. Either is bending over to pick stuff up for several days.

Still, I look back on that moment and wonder whether I should have just listened to my body, not HTFU’d, and put the bar down after cleaning it. If I would have listened to my body that day back in July when I PR’d, I wouldn’t have gotten the PR. Heck, if I didn’t train every time my back started feeling sore, or my muscles were tight, or I was just generally tired, I would train about 1-2 days a week. And I would only feel worse because often working out is the only time my muscles don’t feel sore.

Still, was it worth 3 days of pain and less intense training (we had 85lb thrusters that following Monday in Crossfit, I wasn’t excited) just to make sure I followed my training regiment (self made) and did 3 clean AND jerks before moving on?

The answer is – I don’t know.

Another answer is to listen to your body. However, it is important to note that your body isn’t the clearest communicator. It might take some trial and error to figure out the signals. There are times when you need to tell your body to HTFU, and pick up the weight. Weight training, among other things, prevents injury. Getting stronger involves breaking down muscle tissue, and then allowing it to repair. So it is a balance of pushing yourself through pain, and allowing time for recovery. If you don’t push yourself through pain, you aren’t getting stronger. So you can’t interpret every ache and pain you feel as your body telling you stop in the middle of a WOD or to take a rest day. That said, you can’t ignore your body and work through pain so often you end up with injuries.

Yet another answer is to look at your personal patterns. When do you feel pain most often? During a workout? After? How long does it last? During some movements, time domains, days, etc. more than others? Don’t limit is to the negative either. You can ask yourself these same questions when you PR a WOD, race, lift, or even just feel really good coming to the gym. Take inventory of your body daily and not just when you are feeling sore or lethargic.

I wish I had a clear cut answer. It’s more of an art than a science. For myself, I’ll HTFU more than not because it’s worked for me in the past. I accept that I might have little aches and pains more often than not. It’s worth it for that 1 day I get a PR.