How to Minimise Disruption to Training When Injured

You can find a full resource for exercising with an injury here: Exercising with an Injury.

We like our programming to be bulletproof – unstoppable. We like to have a plan. When we program we work backwards. We determine where we want to be at some point in the future, then determine what I need to do to get to this point. Once the path is laid out, forget about the end goal, and focus on the process.

All things being equal, this works great… all things being equal. Training motivation is easy, if, from the outset, you don’t give yourself the option of not training. Then you don’t need to motivate yourself – you simply follow through on your decision to stick with the plan. This works great, unless of course something causes you to deviate from the perfect path you have paved for yourself. With motivation not being an issue, the problem, invariably, is injury.

When training has been so meticulously engineered, injury can throw a spanner into an otherwise perfectly tuned engine. Once this spanner gets to work it affects not just your ability to complete movements related to the injury, but also your mental state and, by association, your motivation and willingness to perform other training not associated with the injury.

I’ve explored this concept with my own training and my own response to injury. The solution, I believe, is thus. When injury strikes (aside from treating the injury), you need to very quickly go into damage control to minimise the impact on your programming. You want to preserve the stimulus your training is eliciting so you can continue to benefit from the intent of your program. Exercises may need to be modified, or even changed completely, but if we can preserve the effect, we can continue on our previously determined path and the desired outcome remains the end result.

What follows is a resource for preserving programming stimulus during injury. The ideal alternatives are the first listed. If they still cause pain and aggravation, work you way down the list until you come to a variation that doesn’t cause pain. Bear in mind that these are not for serious injuries, they are for those niggling issues that won’t resolve because your training keeps aggravating them. These exercises simply exist to tide you over until your injury heals, or you correct the biomechanical deficiencies causing the injury.

The biggest benefit in working with cadavers in an educational setting is the appreciation they give the student of individual differences in people’s bodies. Take these individual differences into account and experiment with movement until you can find the best variations for you.

Remember, the best exercises are at the top of the list – if pain free, these are your preferred substitutions. You can find a full resource for exercising with an injury here: Exercising with an Injury.

Back squats aggravating knee injury:

1. Box squats (to a depth not causing pain)
2. Good mornings
3. Backwards heavy walking sled drag
4. Pistols on healthy leg

Front squats aggravating knee injury:

1. Front squat recoveries
2. High bar back squat
3. Front rack barbell static lunges (split squats)
4. Front rack barbell step-ups (as high as possible without knee pain)
5. Backwards heavy walking sled drag
6. Pistols on healthy leg

Full (squat) cleans aggravating knee injury:

1. Power clean into front squat
2. Power clean
3. Muscle clean
4. Clean pull
5. Speed deadlifts

Full (squat) snatches aggravating knee injury:

1. Power snatch into overhead squat
2. Power snatch
3. Muscle snatch
4. Power clean
5. Snatch pull
6. Speed deadlifts

Back squats aggravating hip injury:

1. Box squats (to a depth not causing pain)
2. Good mornings
3. Backwards heavy walking sled drag
4. Pistols on healthy leg

Front squats aggravating hip injury:

1. Front squat recoveries
2. High bar back squat
3. Front rack barbell static lunges (split squats)
4. Front rack barbell step-ups (as high as possible without knee pain)
5. Backwards heavy walking sled drag
6. Pistols on healthy leg

Back squats aggravating back injury:

1. Box squats
2. Good mornings
3. Front squats
4. Barbell static lunges (split squats)
5. Barbell step-ups (as high as possible without knee pain)
6. Box jumps from seated box

Front squats aggravating back injury:

1. Front rack barbell static lunges (split squats)
2. Dumbbell static lunges (split squats)
3. Front rack barbell step-ups

Deadlifts aggravating back injury:

1. Good mornings
2. Deadlifts off pins/blocks (as low as possible without pain)
3. Forwards heavy walking sled drag
4. Eccentric hamstring lowers

Overhead barbell lifts aggravating shoulder injury:

1. Dumbbell shoulder to overhead with palms facing inwards
2. Push-ups
3. Narrow push-ups with elbows tight to ribs
4. Dumbbell shoulder to overhead with healthy arm only

Handstand push-ups aggravating shoulder injury:

1. Barbell shoulder to overhead
2. Dumbbell shoulder to overhead
3. Push-ups with feet elevated
4. Static handstand hold with active shoulders

Ring dips aggravating shoulder injury:

1. Bar dips
2. Deficit push-ups
3. Push-ups
4. Narrow push-ups with elbows tight to ribs
5. Partial depth push-ups
6. Ring support hold

Push-ups aggravating shoulder injury:

1. Narrow push-ups with elbows tight to ribs
2. Partial depth push-ups
3. Static push-up hold

Pull-ups aggravating shoulder injury:

1. Strict (non kipping) pull-ups
2. Ring pull-ups
3. Neutral grip pull-ups (palms facing inwards)
4. Chin-ups (palms facing towards body)
5. Ring rows with elbows tight to ribs
6. Single arm ring rows with healthy arm
7. Dumbbell bent over rows

Back squats aggravating shoulder injury:

1. Front squats

Pull-ups aggravating elbow injury:

1. Strict (non kipping) pull-ups
2. Ring pull-ups
3. Neutral grip pull-ups (palms facing inwards)
4. Ring rows
5. Single arm ring rows with healthy arm
6. Dumbbell bent over rows

You can find a full resource for exercising with an injury here: Exercising with an Injury.