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Injuries and rest

Since November 2012 I was carrying a shoulder injury, I trained around it and competed with it and eventually had to take complete rest as I couldn’t even do a 2kg DB bench press.

Having to take time off from training to rest and recover is hard, but I see now the benefit to doing so. Rest is so under rated and too many of us train ourselves into the ground. I did this last year and trained non stop for 11 months preparing for and competing in 3 competitions. My body gave up and I got injured. I rested and feel so much better for it. I took 4-5 months off, no training at all. I didn’t gain weight, I didn’t lose weight, I ate the same and hardly lost any size. All the things I was worried about happening if I took time out didn’t happen. What did happen was rest and recovery for my whole body – my shoulder is strong and it only took me 6 weeks of strength training to regain the strength I had 5 months earlier. I thought it would take longer, but the rest I had enabled my body to bounce back.

If you are struggling with injury – take a break from training, see a sports therapist to rehab your injury back to full strength and don’t worry about losing all you have gained. Health is more important and if you eat well 80% of the time you wont get fat and you wont lose all your muscle mass. Take it from me.

Lisa Cunningham

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My Competition preparation and Injury update

I have been training for the past 2 months in preparation for Galaxy Universe on 26th October 2013. The videos I have uploaded are my 2nd phase of training for strength. Due to my shoulder injury that put me out of action for 4-5 months I had to start again with my chin up strength as well as my overall body strength. I have spent a lot of time working on my remedial exercises to build up the strength of my rotator cuff muscles to prevent more injuries in the future. I have also been working on my grip strength so I can perform better chin ups.

I started off only being able to do 1 chin up, last year I was up to 7 so it was hard to have to start from the beginning. So far I can do 5 wide grip chin ups, and 1 chin up with 6kg around my waist after 6 weeks of training.

I also added in videos of my tricep ez bar skull crushers and standing barbell curls. My strength is increasing each week and am looking forward to what I can achieve over the next 9 weeks leading up to the comp.

I have had to go back to basics and start again by building up my weaker muscles so they can help me be stronger overall. Its tedious and sometimes boring but if you want to be strong its essential to get it right, or else you increase your risk of injury.

Lisa

Wide Grip chin ups

Wide grip chin ups – 1 RM

Tricep Ez Bar skull crushers to chin

Barbell Curls 27kg