Do’s and Don’ts for Recovering from Injury

Have you ever wanted to be able to do one thing so badly, yet it was the only thing you couldn't do?

There I was, a little over a month ago, standing underneath my pull-up bar. Like any other morning, I was planning to hammer out a few reps before starting my schoolwork. Only this day turned out not to be like any other morning. As I started my first rep, pain seared through my back and arm muscles. Thinking I was just sore from rock climbing the day before, I tried again. The result was the same: shooting pain.

I had never felt this type of pain before. It took me a few moments to wrap my mind around the reality of the situation: I was injured.

The strange thing is that I don't remember suffering the injury. It must have happened while rock climbing, but I couldn't recall an acute episode where the injury occurred. I just woke up that morning and had intense pain when I tried the pull-up.

Assuming the injury was minor, I rested up for a few days and tried a pull-up again. Searing pain just like the previous go round. The severity of the injury was beginning to dawn on me. It was going to be a hot minute until I’d be back to doing any pull-ups or climbing.

As a calisthenics junkie, I was majorly bummed. Just a few weeks before, I'd set a new personal best time for 100 pull-ups. Now I couldn't do a single one.

Thinking back, there were some yellow flags that an injury was brewing. In the days leading up, I was more sore than normal and had a harder time loosening up when I climbed. I didn't think anything of it at the time, and I obviously should have.

My eternal optimism wouldn’t allow me to wallow for long, though. I decided to take my own advice. I reframed the situation as an opportunity for self-growth rather than a setback, and I set to work on rehab.

My 5 Biggest Personal Training Mistakes

Most seasoned trainers and coaches will tell you unashamedly that they’ve made a ton of mistakes over their decades in the trenches. For instance, Mike Boyle himself wrote an article a few years back called 25 Years, 25 Mistakes.

In 25 years, you’d expect a guy to make a few boo-boos here and there. No one’s perfect. But what about relative newcomers to the training game? I for one don’t have nearly the tenure of Coach Boyle. (I obtained my personal trainer diploma in 2013.) Yet I have to admit I’ve also made quite a few mistakes.

For younger trainers, however, there seems to be a taboo surrounding this admission of fallibility. After all, if people know I’m not always right when it comes to fitness, will they still want to train with me? Or will they realize I’m nothing more than an imposter in a personal trainer costume (i.e. sweatpants and a dri-fit t-shirt)?

Real personal trainer or imposter?

I think it’s safe to say that eternal professional damnation will not be in the cards if I admit to my snafus. I state this with confidence for the following reason: You have to make mistakes to stay fresh and keep learning. If you’re not screwing up every now and then, you’re not improving at your craft.

It’s exactly these “Oh Shit! Moments” that engrain in you the lessons you can’t learn from reading a textbook, blog post, or T-Nation article. Not only that, but experiencing them firsthand solidifies them in long-term memory, so you’ll never make the same mistake again.