The old saying, “Every dark cloud has a silver lining” is something you hear me say a lot on with my client base.
You see, people come to me for a couple of reasons. They’re maybe sick of the regular gym scene and want something different. They’re coming to me because of our record with Combat, Kettlebell and Extreme Sports people. They’re coming to me because they hurt.
And lets face it, most people hurt some of the time. And if you’re in the combat sports or extreme sports, getting hurt is not a case of if, but when.
Here’s Wg-Fit client Aneta landing a superb Axe Kick at last weekends WKU Kyokushin European champs where she won the Silver medal:
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A post shared by Aneta Meskauskiene (@aneta.rudyte) on Dec 8, 2018 at 10:21am PST
And what happens when a hard charging, enthusiastic athlete gets hurt? They start carrying that dark could around with them.
They get miserable because they can’t do what they love to do.
They are in danger of losing their identity as a physical person, a sportsperson, an athlete (even if only on the weekends)
And that cloud can get pretty damn dark.
But, if you look closely, there is a silver lining. You MUST look for it, you need to find it and you have to focus on it.
But what is it?
Allow me explain.
First off all, this isn’t some hippy positive thinking nonsense.
This is an opportunity to step back and take stock of where you are at, and what you can do about it. Kind of like doing one of those corporate SWOT analysis tasks.
We all have a finite amount of time and energy. It doesn’t matter if we’re a pro athlete training twice a day, 5 days per week, or a weekend warrior stuck in the office 50hrs a week and only getting to train a few times per week.
Your time and energy are limited, so you prioritise. And when in full health, you prioritise getting out and performing to the best of your ability.
Then you break.
So you re-evaluate those prorities. Your time has freed up. Your energy has freed up.
Your main event is off the cards, so you can go down the list and work on all the stuff that you’ve had on the long finger, you can reshuffle that priority list and start developing those attributes that were falling behind. All while doing your main rehab.
If you’re a BJJ player who blew out their ACL, great, now you can focus on upper body strength, shoulder and upper back mobility and strength.
If you’re a mountain biker who has broken their arm, get on the turbo trainer and get the lungs pumping, develop the glutes and hamstrings, strengthen the neck and back. Mobilise your lateral line (to make your cornering smoother).
In doing all this, you maximise your down time. Your recovery will likely be faster, and once the injury is rehabbed, you will be a better animal upon your return to your sport.
Hopefully you will also have a better appreciation of the supplemental work yo need so as to avoid recurrences of this injury.
Silver linings exist.
If you need help finding yours, drop me a line.
Regards
Dave Hedges www.WG-Fit.com