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