Setbacks happen. When interviewing potential new clients during the assessment, the vast majority of people report past injuries and surgeries. And these issues flare up sometimes, making it necessary to modify workouts.
Notice I wrote MODIFY, not stop.
Aches, pains, tweaks, and minor injuries are not an excuse to neglect your fitness. You CAN absolutely make progress while resting and rehabbing certain body parts.
Imagine that your shoulder isn’t 100% and it’s necessary to avoid overtaxing your upper body. At that point, the emphasis of your training should be on lower body movements. You can participate in lower-body strength training and while the rest of the class is doing upper-body work, you can add in some light shoulder mobility work. You can even do unilateral (one-sided) work.
Conversely, say your hip or knee is acting up. Make rehab/mobility your job, while jumping into class to perform upper body exercises.
As we’ve said numerous times, nothing is set in stone in our program. Everything can be modified to work for you.
Some additional tips:
Final word: don’t stick your head in the sand and give up when the going gets tough. Communicate with your coaches, rehab like it’s your job, modify movements, and keep your fitness routine. It may look a little different for a while, but you can still progress!
