#30Dealing with serious injury
By James | posted on 7 April 2009 | 3 comments
Injury. Something we all may face at some point or another while training, whether it be small grazes, cuts, bruises or perhaps something more serious. We prepare our mind & body for the worst of outcomes through conditioning and repitition, perfecting a jump.
The reason I bring attention to this is because a while ago I seriously injured my left knee on a running cat leap and have had to change my approach to training completely. People often ask me how can I still train if I can't jump and in this article I'll give you some ideas on how to continue progression while injured.
The biggest key of all is to stay happy and enjoy what you're doing.
Injury isn't the end of training. There are many aspects to consider while training in general, so when an injury comes along focus should be moved onto the areas it doesnt effect. A very simple example is if you sprain you left wrist doing a vault you can try a vault that only requires use of your good hand. In a broader sense this approach to training with an injury will allow you to continue progression even if there is a lengthy recovery period.
The first thing I do when injured is list every thing I'm capable of doing without slowing down recovery. This may range from basic movement to physical and mental training. Rather than seeing it as a step back see it as a chance to work on your weaknesses for example if your lower body is injured focus on muscle ups or rail balance at height outside your comfort zone to challenge you mentally, if your upper body is injured focus on perfecting your touch and strength. Your outlook on training should always be positive and you should leave each session feeling you've achieved atleast one thing and forget you even have an injury. With this mind set in no time recovery will fly by.
The last thing I'll touch on is the mental approach to training. One thing I've learnt from sustaining a lengthy injury is that your mind still develops and sees new jumps that you didn't realise previsously, even when you're injured. Your mind will still progress even if your body needs to catch up meaning you will still have constant progression. If you experience this, keep the jump in mind and visualise your self performing it perfectly over and over. With the right attitude when you come back to the jump 100% it should be vastly easier to do.
The biggest key of all is to stay happy and enjoy what you're doing. Look at the bigger picture. In terms of how long you will be practicing parkour in your life and the amount of time the injury will encompass. In comparison this will be a very short amount of this time and is an another experience to learn from.
Labels: Injuries
About the Author : James3 Comments:
really good post, I remember having to focus on upper body when my knee got pretty bad. Just out of interest How did you seriosuly injure your knee on a running catleap??
By 
, at
1:22 pm, April 08, 2009
the tag 'physical' is mistyped =)
nice post
By , at
9:38 pm, April 14, 2009
Good positive article James, which we all can relate to.
Hope you heal soon and enjoy becoming stronger in other areas of your training/movement, which you would not have tried out, had it not been for your injury.
Zeno
By Zeno, at
9:43 pm, April 30, 2009
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