Injuries can be pretty frustrating but don’t let them derail your fitness gains or goals. When my doctor told me I would not be able to run for at least 3 months, I about died! But with a little creativity and a lot of patience, I found ways to still move forward. The following are things that helped me while recovering.
· Nutrition is key. Clean up your diet as much as possible. I knew I wouldn’t be able to be as active as before so I tried to make sure everything I put in my body would benefit it. This was tricky at times because friends and family brought lots of comfort foods. It can be easy to feel sorry for yourself and drown those sorrows with empty calories. Trust me, it doesn’t make you feel better.
· Focus on the body parts that aren’t injured. Since I have a broken leg, I have been focusing on what I can do. I discovered a hand crank bike at my gym. It’s the only cardio I am able to do right now. I am able to work my upper body while keeping my cardio up at the same time.
· While at home, I set a timer to go off every hour or two to remind me to get up and do a few simple exercises so that I am not sitting for hours at a time.
· While at home, I set a timer to go off every hour or two to remind me to get up and do a few simple exercises so that I am not sitting for hours at a time.
· I keep a resistance band and some hand weights close by so I can work my upper body. I can do bicep curls, triceps extensions, kick-backs and even dips. Unfortunately, burpees are out for me for a while but lateral and front raises will keep my shoulders looking great. I also love Denise’s killer arm workouts.
· Planks are difficult with my broken leg but I found several other things to do to keep my core strength. I do single leg glute bridges, crunches, reverse crunches, leg lifts, and dead bug several times each week.
· Strengthen your non-broken leg. Single leg squats and calf-raises kept my “good leg” strong.
· I miss yoga as much as I miss running. I found some yoga poses that I was able to do. 3 legged downward facing dog and a shoulder-bridge inversion along with breathing exercises all worked wonders and helped keep me sane.
Stay positive and as active as possible for the healthiest recovery!
2 comments:
Awesome post, Kristin! It's so important to do what you can, even when what you can do is not what you're used to being able to do. Remember that article I shared with you a couple months back? Training the parts that work will benefit that parts that don't work to some extent and can help prevent atrophy in those muscles you aren't moving right now. Keep up the good work!
How did you break your leg?Hope you feel better and dont have any pain.
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