An active individual’s worst fear is getting held back from training or competition to nurse an injury. Depending on the severity, it may take time to rehabilitate and may feel as if you’re starting from scratch all over again.
One of the things that can stall full recovery is the weight gained during inactivity. Some injuries can last for months—or even years—and you may not be burning as much energy as you’re consuming. However, it is still possible to not lose too much musculature and maintain fitness during your downtime. Here’s how:
Avoid Weight Gain Tips: Don’t Stop Moving
There are ways to exercise around an injury especially if it is contained in one part of the body. For instance, runners who develop knee problems can cutback on miles for the meantime. They can fill their training gaps with a low-impact exercise such as swimming as it is still a cardiovascular workout that can sustain endurance level. You can also try spinning for another aerobic and low-impact workout, or something like yoga or Pilates for strength building exercises.
Physical therapist Joe Vega advises to lighten the load for those who like to train with weights. It may even be necessary to go back to doing bodyweight exercises if your body calls for it. Focus on strengthening opposing muscles, as Vega says. For instance, do pulling motions instead of pressing if the latter is exacerbating the injury. Continue to build the abdominals with supine poses such as leg raises or bicycles. The core is an important part of building strength as it is the support system for the rest of the body. If you have a strong midsection, it will be easier to get back to improving upper and lower body strength when you make a full recovery.
Avoid Weight Gain Tips: Overhaul Your Diet
Many people forget to factor in their meal planning during their time off. An injury is not a ticket to ‘pig out’, as it should actually be the opposite. Take this opportunity to focus on eating nutritious food to compensate for your workout’s job of flushing away the waste. Check out WeightLossMethods2u’s list of food that naturally helps the weight loss process and add them to your weekly grocery list. It contains a lot of healthy sources of carbohydrates, protein, and fats which is what your body really needs to heal. Remember the old saying that fitness is 20% exercise and 80% diet. Just because you’re not doing much exercise, does not mean that you have to stop watching what you eat.
Avoid Weight Gain Tips: Downsize Portions
You’ve had to slow down your training, and now you will have to downsize your meal portions, too. Very Well Fit states that calculating for your basal metabolic rate—the number of calories you burn doing regular bodily functions—can help with weight loss or maintenance. Even when you’re eating healthy, it can still turn to excess fat. Make sure that you don’t consume too many calories now that your caloric burn is significantly lower.
Avoid Weight Gain Tips: Cutback On Snacks
Less time spent working out can cause some people to spend more time snacking. By doing this, however, Pop Sugar warns that the calories can very easily add up without you even noticing it. For instance, a banana and peanut butter smoothie can be caloric dense even if the ingredients are healthy. Be mindful even when it comes to something as simple as snacking to maintain your weight.
Avoid Weight Gain Tips: Take The Time To Sleep
Make sure you’re getting enough rest during your downtime. Sleep stimulates the endocrine system to release important hormones, like testosterone, which is necessary for protein synthesis. Workouts subject the body to constant breakdown and during protein synthesis, the muscles grow and repair to become stronger. Some athletes are known for sleeping more than the recommended 8 hours. LeBron James reportedly sleeps for 12 hours every night, as do Michelle Wie, Andy Murray, and Roger Federer. Since athletes use up way more energy than the average person, they need a longer time to recover from fatigue.
Also, sleep deprivation can be a contributing reason why people get injured. When muscles are overstressed, they don’t contract in time to protect the underlying connective tissues. Bones, ligaments, tendons, and cartilage are more vulnerable in an overtired athlete. By being more mindful of your sleeping patterns now, you are also making a habit of it for when you start going back exercising. This can help minimize your risk in terms of further injury.
Avoid Weight Gain Tips: Focus On The Things You Can Do
The best way to recover from an injury is to accept that it happened and turn your attention to the rehabilitation process. Soft tissue injuries (e.g. sprains) are usually minor and take a week to recover from; but hard tissue injuries (e.g. fractures, dislocations) may take weeks to months before you’re back on your feet. Be kind to your body and train shift your mindset towards positivity so that you can be fully prepared for later. Since you can’t do much in the exercise department right now, the main thing is to let time heal those wounds while you focus on getting quality sleep and nutrition.
Take LeBron James again for example. The NBA star’s career almost suffered in 2014 due to disc issues in his back. His stats were dwindling until he finally underwent therapy which caused him to miss two weeks of the season. His recovery from injury clearly hasn’t affected his performance as Ladbrokes reveals that James is one of the highest earning stars in sports. A 15-year career is bound to see a few injuries and James manages to come out of them time and time again looking even more impressive than before. At 33-years-old, he still maintains his athletic performance and high fitness level.
Even if your athleticism isn’t at a professional level, finding control over your body can help boost your recovery period. Keeping your weight steady while injured can help you pick up where you left off once you’re ready to start retraining.