Here at the International School House one of the common problems we face with our students are injuries from PT. Most are injuries to feet, knees and shoulders. No surprise, as these are the high use joints and muscles used in swimming and running. This isn’t an issue limited to international students, as many U.S. military people are injured everyday during PT sessions. The causes of these injuries aren’t as obvious as they might appear to be. You may think that its just a matter of poor conditioning. That is surely part of it, but I’ve seen many people that are in outstanding condition go down with an injury. Based on my own experience and observation (over many years) I think there are 4 main causes of PT injuries (not including the obvious like falling, misplacing a step, twisting an joint, etc)
1) Improper Warmup and Cool down: Jumping cold into an intense PT session without a proper warmup is a sure way to injure yourself. In my book Corps Strength, I outline a simple and effective warmup that properly transitions your body from a rested state into one that is ready for PT. This is an essential element in injury prevention. You can’t sell this process short, your body needs this transition. You also need to stretch out after PT, this also can go along way in preventing injuries as you are much better able to stretch throughly after PT when your body is warm. A better stretch will increase your range of motion, and more range of motion = less chance of pulling a muscle.
2) Over training: This is the most common cause of injury with people that are in good condition. Highly motivated people tend to always push themselves too far, I do this at least once a year. If you’re going to PT hard, you’ve got to give your body time to recover. Its that simple, listen to your body and take time off when you need it. Eating right is also part of this, if you don’t feed your engine with the right fuel, your body will run out of energy and the ability to recovery from an intense effort. A lack of appetite is a sign of overtraining.
3) Too rapid a progression: To get in top shape you have to gradually ramp up the duration and intensity of your routine. We all know this, however this needs to be gradual process. From my experience there are three stages to getting in shape. Toughening, Slow Improvement and Sustainment. Each stage takes about 30 days. getting you from poor to excellent condition in about 90 days. The problem arises when people think they can not exercise for months (or even years) then workout like a maniac for a few weeks and be in shape. Doesn’t work that way tough guy. You can only improve so much, so fast. Pushing that time frame will surely get you injured, or at least burnt out quick.
4) Monotonous routine: Doing the same thing, everyday will lead to injury. Do heavy bench presses, or run 10 miles everyday, and at some point your body will say enough. Your need variety to not only avoid injury but keep your body and attitude fresh and motivated. I’m a big believer in this, always have been, and I’m sure its helped me maintain a pretty intense, mostly injury free PT program for over 35 years.
The bottom line is that you can’t 100% prevent injury if you PT hard on a regular basis. However you can minimize the frequency and severity of these injuries by using your head and following the basic tried and true principles of a solid PT program. Working hard to keep yourself in top condition is smart, breaking yourself before you even get to the fight is stupid. Good luck and be safe.
Semper Fi
MGunz
