Modifying a WOD
You come to the gym one day and the outside of your knee, your shoulder or elbow just don’t feel right. You take a little extra time warming up, doing some drills or rehearsing the movement that will be in the WOD and it still just doesn’t feel right but you decide “Suck it up buttercup, this is way less than your 1 Rep Max, you did the same thing no problem in a WOD before, why not this time?”.
Well, bad decision and you end up being really sore part way through the workout but decide to finish. The adrenal, music, and competition push you to complete all the reps. You’re not happy with your time but more concerning is the now burning or sharp pain in the area the was just sensitive earlier! Well now you’re injured, bad decision made and what should you do now?
You go home and ice the area (not once but several times, ice directly to the area, massaging or rubbing it in if possible), take some extra fish oil to decrease inflammation, some extra Vit C for collagen synthesis (the stuff that makes up muscle and scar tissue), maybe you even take an Advil, eat a good balance meal with lots of good lean protein and vegetables, you get to bed early and rest.
Should you take the next day off, maybe, rest is when we get stronger (stimulus is the exercise, recovery time is when we re-build/get stronger), but you can also Modify the WOD.
Modify? But that seems wimpy, not like a True CrossFitter, you know pushing through it!
Don’t be so ridiculous. You need to take care of yourself.
Almost 16 months ago now I was thrown over the front of a motorcycle (During a Safety Course! Front brakes jammed!), thankfully I do know how to fall (lots of experience with that from downhill ski racing as a youth) and walked away with only a partial tear of tissue between my forearm bones. I did workout the next day, but only did DeadLifts (they did not hurt). I iced it often, got it taped and treated and worked out the next 3 months without doing anything overhead. It was 6 months before I could do an OverHead Squat with anything more than an empty bar. A year before I hit PR’s in the Snatch or Jerk. But I did not stop working out I just modified things. Did a ton of DeadLifts, Back Squats, GHD Sit-ups, Single Arm Press or Kettle Bell Swings. Some of these modified WOD’s were boring and repetitive because the basket of movements I could draw from was reduced. They were modified but not easier, just different to respect/protect the healing part.
Now what should the fictional person I mentioned above do? They should use their grey matter, they should help the area. Exercise increases blood flow, needed to bring nutrients to injured tissue, some exercises like Squats and DeadLifts done heavy enough (with enough intensity) can help us secrete more Growth Hormone and Testosterone, both essential in healing. They need to avoid all movements which will over tax the injured tissues, they may need the area examined or treated by a Health Care Provider (get a real Diagnosis too!), but most importantly let the area heal and don’t be always testing it.
If you have a sore shoulder why see if pullups hurt? They will!
When recovering you must build up strength, DeadHangs before Kipping, slow Back Squats before a fast Met Con, DeadLifts off a raised height before going back to the floor.
Stabilize and strengthen, improve pain-free range of motion and deal with problems upstream or downstream.
As long as your upper back is tight and rounded you will be compromising your shoulder by putting excessive demand on it to do an OverHead Squat, Pullup, Jerk or Snatch.
Tight hamstrings and a rounded low back will threaten your lumbar spine.
We all have areas that need to be addressed, the question comes down to whether or not you are doing your due diligence. It takes years, yes years, to strengthen areas or change a poor movement pattern, but the benefit is improved functioning, improved fitness, and staying away from old folks home.
So to recap:
1. if you have an injured area, you may be able to still work out – but you may need to modify the WOD. Will you know yourself how to modify? Some will, some won’t. If a movement hurts, don’t do it. Be creative about a replacement movement, and confirm with the trainer.
2. Deal with the inflammation, ice, fish oil or some other ‘stuff’.
3. Rest as needed
4. Look for other reasons why it happened (eg. rounded shoulders) and address those issues
5. If its still sore don’t test it with an exercise that you know is likely to irritate it.
One last little note, we are lucky to have a group of Heath Care Providers who workout in our Box, keep in mind that they’re working out, a little question is not a problem but remember that a 2 minute conversation at the gym is not an examination, they have not had a chance to check things the way they would like and don’t have all the facts they need. My banker would never approve a loan after hitting “Grace”, nor can or should we expect a diagnosis to be made in the absence of information or an appointment.
Great post Dave! Having been in this situation with a quad tear about a year and a half ago after losing a battle with some stairs, I definitely agree that it is frustrating not being able to do the WOD’s as they are laid out. But substituting something else in does not necessarily make it easier! Plus, you can sometimes see other benefits – I ended up doing loads of shoulder press and push press while injured (both with a bar and with dumbbells) and saw a 10# PR on my shoulder press a short time later.
Bottom line – take the time to heal properly the first time. Otherwise, you just end up extending the recovery time or making things worse!
Did you every have the feeling that a song on the radio is being sung just for you or today’s horoscope is right on the mark – well the above write up by Dave has my name all over it. Between Dave and Carol continually telling me to modify my workout, I think I am starting to smarten up. I have been injured for about three months now and just in the last few weeks I am admitting it to myself and ’modifying’ my workouts thanks to Dave. His patience and guidance is much appreciated.
Dave’s point about questioning health care providers during a workout is also on the mark. I am lucky to have been able to make appointments with a couple from our group that gave me insight into my injury and alternatives to getting better.
Enough thanks to everyone for your support during the workouts no matter what the weight or modified workout I do. As Carol says to me ‘this is a life time, life changing program so get at it’.
Great post Dave. Sound advice, as always.
Greg
Great post, Dave!
As someone who has had non-CF injuries (ankle & knee sprains) as well as hamstring tears & a recent wonky shoulder injury, I have done many a modified WOD. I have elected to return to CF immediately after injury (hammie tear) or to take time off (shoulder injury). Bottom line, listen to your body.
And I have learned to check my ego at the door. There is nothing wrong with a modified WOD. Just think of all those folks who do nothing at all for a fitness/wellness routine. I have been doing alot of rowing, squatting, situps & intervals on my treadmill. I have shaved 6 seconds off my best 500m row. I gave myself a couple of options on this am’s WOD and decided to strip weight. I was still destroyed after 20 minutes. But without pain or any other limiting factor.
My recovery from an injury takes time, lots of time. Our CFPEI trainers are more than willing to help with modified WOD’s; just talk to them.
Excellent write up! I’ve had that very battle in my head many times. The result has always ended in more damage. (ego usually plays a part) Good to know I can change my workout and still participate.
Thanks for this article. I have been modifying since I began crossfit 2 years ago. In fact, i began crossfit when running long distance was no longer an option due to injury. The variety of exercises and weight scales always allows for a great work out -modified or not.
When Dave and I started CrossFit PEI three years ago, we had to modify quite a bit as we brought our fitness levels up as well as a lack of equipment (many of our early members will remember this quite well).
This was particular evident in the benchmark workouts which were all modified initially because we were not able to hit them at the prescribed weight etc. It took quite a while before we were able to get close to prescribed.
Like Dave says, don’t rush the healing process. I injured my low back significantly teaching a self-defence course two years ago and it took a couple of months of modifying wods and a ton of back squats with the empty bar. Only once the pain started to “blur” (meaning that I was able to actually forget about it sometimes) did I start to add small amounts of weight. I haven’t hurt it since but I do listen to my body … if it tells me to back off, I do.
Sage advice.
We often go for the quick fix of advil/tylenol for pain but the use of ice and fishoil works well and is healthier.
Heard loud and clear. My shoulder has been bothering me since early Dec, and I finally forced myself to start modifying WODs last week. Starting to feel better. However, the lump on the side of my knee has popped out again (doctor calls it a “hernia of the knee”) … so it is tough to modify when you have a knee and shoulder out of commission!
Here it is at the top of the comments, Simon. Read it, and git your a$$ back to the gym