3 Ways To Stay Pain-Free In The Gym Without 100’s of Pre-Hab Exercises

Let’s face it, whenever we endeavor into performing any physical task there will be an inherent risk of injury. When it comes to lifting weights and training, that risk is elevated because to create change in your body you have to lift and move close to or just beyond your limits. If you are reading this then there is a good chance that you have experienced some sort of injury in the past. Maybe you were Deadlifting and hurt your back. Maybe you were Bench Pressing and felt something tear in one of your Pectoralis Major muscles. There is also a chance that you want to learn ways to prevent these things from happening in your training. Whether you have experienced an injury in your training or want to avoid it from the get-go, these principles still apply.

But what’s the point? Why should you want to try and avoid injury in the gym other than the fact that no one likes to be hurt?  The answer is time. Time is the one resource that you can’t get back no matter how hard you try. When you experience injury in the gym the time it takes for you to reach your health & fitness goals gets significantly delayed. A lower back injury after Deadlifting can range from a few days to a year plus when you are unable to take steps towards looking, performing, and moving how you want to. Or even worse, taking steps backwards if you truly can’t continue training around your injury.

Fortunately, in addition to this blog I have a free resource on preventing lower back injuries in the gym that you can get access to by clicking this link: “The Recreational CrossFitters Checklist For A Pain-Free Deadlift”.

One of the best things you can do if you want to minimize the time it takes you to reach your fitness goals is to stay pain-free and in the gym and these principles are how you can do exactly that

DO WHAT YOU CAN EXPRESS

How often have you taken a fitness class or done a workout that you felt everyone around you was crushing but it was crushing you? Ever have to use a band on a pull-up bar to do pull-ups because you have yet to get your first strict pull-up? Or, resort to a walk run strategy on a mid-metcon run because the distance that was prescribed was too much for you to do without taking breaks? These are examples of trying to “fit” into the workout instead of fitting the workout to you. In other words, you are doing things you cannot express or are way out of your capabilities.

When this happens too frequently it opens the door for potential injury because despite your best intentions, going too far beyond your capabilities can lead to movement compensations or decreases in joint proprioception that may put you into compromised positions during exercise. These positions can place a load on structures that are outside of their level of tolerance and that is when injuries occur.

Performing workouts that you cannot express also may lead to injury outside of movement compensations via doing too much too fast too soon. You can have the best squat in the world with perfect joint angles and positioning but if you have only ever done 10 reps in a workout and now jump to 100 overnight then the same tissues I mentioned above are not prepared to recover and repeat that effort the next training day. When this overloading of tissues outside of their tolerance happens too frequently like it typically does in the fitness class structure when there is no assessment process or individualized workload progressions overuse injuries are almost bound to happen.

So how do you only do what you can express? First, you perform an assessment like the WPSN Movement Assessment which I have all of my clients do on day one so that you can identify what movement patterns need to develop motor control before muscle endurance and maximal contractions.

Then, you perform workouts that are designed for you and not a group of people. Group programs are designed for the average of all the people in the class. If you are above the average you don’t get a great training stimulus and if you are below then you get stuck doing things you cannot express. Finally, you track the total workload by assessing load volume. You can do this by multiplying the weight you use by the reps you perform and increasing that number over time in periods of Accumulation and decreasing in times of intensification – more on these later.

HAVE PHASES IN YOUR TRAINING 

Not having times of the year when your training changes is one of the most common mistakes I see new clients make.

A best practice is to have a yearly training plan on paper or at the very least in your head where for certain times of the year you are in an Accumulation phase, an Intensification phase, or a Deload phase. If you are an athlete, there are more than these theee phases. You can check out my article “How To Write A Training Program For Athletes” to get more clarity around the extra phases that you need to prepare for your sport.

Accumulation phases are for “accumulating” or building volume and skills. For resistance training this is where time under tension is high, repetitions and sets are high and weights are lower. For conditioning, paces are slower and durations are longer. Accumulation phases are where you build resiliency in the tendons, ligaments, and body systems for the upcoming more intense phases.

Intensification phases are for “intensifying” from all the work you’ve done in the accumulation phase. In this phase weights are high, and reps and sets are low. Conditioning is faster and durations are much shorter. Intensification phases are where you realize the gains you have made in the past two phases and usually will conclude with some sort of a testing period.

Deloads are where you let the body rest and recover. There are many ways to deload such as dropping volume, dropping intensity, or dropping both. You can also choose to simply get away from training altogether and do activities that are simply just fun.

So how does this play into preventing injury? Well, in my experience too many people are spending too much time doing training that qualifies as intensification. Weights are too heavy too often and conditioning leaves them laying on their back gasping for air. Lifting too heavy too often can lead to CNS burnout and cranky joints. As well as overuse injuries as I mentioned above. This is why intensification phases are typically much shorter than Accumulation phases. By looking at your training year and breaking it up into these three phases you can get tough training in to drive adaptation. But also prepare your body prior in the Accumulation phases and give your body the rest it needs to recover in the Delaod phase.

PAY ATTENTION TO STRUCTURAL BALANCE

I saved the most controversial topic for last. Not every coach believes that having a structurally balanced body is important for preventing injury. Some think that if muscles on one side of a joint are stronger than the other then you are in the fast lane to injury. Others think that structural imbalance is a normal part of being a human and even preferred based on the activities that you engage in. Personally, for the average person whose goal is to lose 15 pounds in under 90 days while avoiding pain in the gym, I believe you should strive to develop a physique that is structurally balanced front to back and side to side.

Now I have to answer the obvious question “If some people believe structural imbalance isn’t a problem and even preferred why do I need to pay attention to it”? Well, I believe that for the average person, striving for balance in your physique will allow you to keep joints healthy and not over-train one movement pattern. It will set you up for success in your training when it comes to staying-pain free because weakness in the back side of the body or from side to side can create compensation. Which as we know from the previous points, can lead to overuse or overloading of certain tissues.

For example, take the Strict Press in someone who lacks upper back and scapular retraction strength and thus has a rounded posture. They will have difficulty reaching the full shoulder flexion range of motion because of the excessive thoracic flexion that occurs. If they are asked to perform an overhead movement, they will shoot their hips forward and extend the low back. This creates forces on the low back that over time can lead to injury and pain. All because they were not balanced front to back at the shoulder. To strive for a structurally balanced physique you can use the ratios below which I learned from OPEX Fitness.

Will you ever reach these numbers? I’m not sure, that may depend on where you are starting from but regardless, you can prioritize certain patterns based on what is “weak” and what is “strong” in your training and take steps over time to get there.

 P.S. If you’re interested in leveling up your fitness and staying pain-free while you train, I can help. Just click 👉🏻 HERE and message me “Performance” to learn more.