Don’t Let Joint Injury STOP Your Progress!

As a Personal Trainer, the most common issues I run into with clients are “i-cant” issues.  “I-cant” issues are numerous in their occurrence, very common, but COMPLETELY fixable.  Probably the most common i-cant issue is joint related.  Quite often the i-cant issue is reinforced by the client’s physician!  Doctors will actually advise their patient to AVOID EXERCISE due to their joint-specific i-cant issue.  WHAT???

Let me give you my most common example of an i-cant issue:  “I can’t work out because I have a bad ________”, where the blank can be anything from back, to hip, to knee, to ankle, or even a wrist issue.  “I can’t work out because I have a bad hip.”

Okay…  So let’s say your right hip is completely thrashed.  Arthritis, bruised, still in stitches from a bad cut, and has a bullet lodged in it from a road-rage incident in 2009…  Pretty bad…  So how does that affect your right knee?  How does that affect your ankle?  How about you whole other leg, both arms, shoulders, your abs, and your lower back?

Your doctor says you need a hip replacement, and to NOT EXERCISE until after the surgery…  WHAT???  What your doctor THINKS is that “exercise” is what HE (or she) does for exercise, which is walk on a treadmill, or go out for a run.  Your doctor is an idiot… and is HURTING you, in order to protect you.

There are over a dozen joints in your body.  Just because one of them is injured, doesn’t mean you cannot exercise!  It means you must limit your exercise selections… but it doesn’t mean you can’t work out at all!  You can still get stronger.  You can still burn fat.  You can still train EVERYTHING ELSE!

Bad back?  Same answer.
Bad elbow?  That’s a REALLY bad excuse!
Bad knees (plural)?  YOU CAN STILL TRAIN!

Ask a wheel-chair athlete what he/she thinks of your inability to train, due to your bad knee…

Joint injury is an EXCUSE not you get in great shape… NOT a reason.  Get your butt in to the gym, or in to see a qualified Trainer, and get working!  Can’t do cardio?  NO!  Make diet adjustments, and adjust your strength training to compensate.  Besides…  WHAT cardio can’t you do?  Can you still swim, row, punch a heavy bag?  I’ve never met a client who could do ANY form of cardio!

Can’t put load on your spine?  Neither can I…  I live every day with degenerative disk disease, and it’s severe!  I can’t bar squat.  I can’t do deadlifts.  I can’t even pick up heavy dumbbells “normally” most days.  But I still lift weights 4-6 days per week, and I train with HEAVY weight.  I simply adjust my workouts to compensate for my injury/disability… and you can too!

I have clients with shoulder issues: torn rotators, surgeries (good and botched), dislocated clavicular-acromial joints, everything…  I can show them how to work that shoulder without pain.  I have clients with bad backs: degenerative disk disease, bulged, torn, and ruptured disks, arthritis, and fusions…  I can train them without inducing more pain, and most often significantly REDUCING their back pain.  I have clients with bad knees: torn ACLs, MCLs, and degenerated meniscuses.  I’m training them ALL with exercises that are improving their knee function, strength, and stability… while REDUCING knee pain.

Joint injury is NOT a reason to avoid exercise.  In fact… there’s no better reason to train smarter, with a trainer, who is qualified and experienced handling joint injuries!

If you know someone who is avoiding the gym, due to a joint issue…  PLEASE have them reach out to us ASAP.