Should You Take a Break from Working Out When You're Injured? | How to Work Out Around Injuries

Getting injured can be one of the most frustrating things. You’re in pain and feel limited.

It’s not uncommon to ask, “Should I take a break from working out?”

It depends.

For some, an injury is just a small setback. For others, it is the wake-up call they need to take their health and fitness more seriously.

On the other hand, injuries can completely derail someone's fitness.

Let's first talk about the cost of completely taking a break:

• Decreased strength

• Muscle loss

• Fat gain

• Breaking the workout habit in your weekly routine

• Increased friction in restarting...

...just to name a few.

In most cases, you are able to work around the injury (at minimum).

For example, let's say we are dealing with a back injury. Here is how we might approach this:

• There are plenty of upper body exercises we can do that won’t irritate the back.

• Many people can perform light lower body movements using a TRX (TRX Lunge) or Swiss Ball (Swiss Ball Squat) to still stimulate the leg muscles while keeping the spine supported.

• Focus on core stability to aid in progress with the lower back, and add stretches that take pressure off.

I’m oversimplifying the details, but hopefully you’re seeing how you can work through and around an injury.

We can take that concept and apply it to a shoulder, knee, elbow, etc. I’m not saying you should ignore the issue and push through the pain. I’m saying there is a sophisticated approach to training, and we will walk you through it every step of the way.

Most injuries don’t have to take you out of the gym. In fact, the gym is one of the best places you can be to help make progress because movement is medicine.