How I’ve Remained Uninjured

After a recent, minor illness, I’ve spent some time taking inventory of where I am physically. This included nutrition, rest and training.  It dawned on me that I have not had a real injury since around June 1998. That injury occured while I was in the Ranger Integration Program (RIP) while on active duty in the Army. I was 26 years old. I’m now 42.

I have not trained non-stop since then and that was a long time ago so let me account for some of that time. After the injury forced an end to my career, I attempted to continue exercising for several years. That exercise included, typical body building weight training and the occasional 2 mile run. This was what I believed to be the correct way to go about being “fit”. I ate a low fat, high carb diet and eventually, I gained body fat, in spite of weekly exercise. The worst side effect of the added fat was that it made my back hurt so badly that exercise became out of the question. Nearly everything made me hurt. Sitting too long, standing too long and worse, moving too much would nearly debilitate me for the following day. So, I stopped moving. This would have been around 2005. To stay focused on my main points here, I won’t go in to what an utter train wreck I was at this point but, eventually I got tired of being tired. I stopped listening to what the doctors at Walter Reed had told me back in 1998-99. I decided to change everything. All of the things that I did are really a story for another day but, believe me, I changed it all. This would lead us up to about 2007.

Since 2007, on a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being extreme athlete stuff), I’ve trained between a 6 and a 9 continuously. Not only have I not had a single injury in that time but, my chronic back injury has done nothing but, improve over the years. I will be the first to admit that when people engage in physical activity they can get hurt. In fact, for nearly any athlete in any setting, over the course of years, you will get injured at some point. However, I also believe that, that injury possibility pales in comparison to how often you will get hurt AND SICK without exercise and training. So, I said all of that to share with you how I have avoided injury in all of these years.

• I got a coach– This is the thing that nearly every adult that “wants” to get in to shape will ignore, men most of all. Wether you want to admit it or not, your belief system is this:  “I’m a male and because I’m a male, I know what good exercise and training is”. Here is a news flash buddy, you are wrong. What you know about exercise isn’t a whole lot as compared to what a professional coach or trainer knows. For me, I only knew what I knew. The thing that I did right was that I recognized that I wasn’t getting better doing it the way I was doing it. So, when I decided to train at a 7, 8 or a 9 (remember the 1-10 scale?), I got a coach. Good movement patterns don’t always come naturally, they often need to be learned. Good movement patterns will keep you safe. Get a coach!
• I listened and executed, exactly– I’m not sure why but, I have always tried hard to be coachable. I played team sports growing up and I wanted to be good at everything that I played. I think this is why I did EXACTLY what he said. Every movement, every “little thing”, I simply did it. I put it in to practice. Wether the coaching was on lifts, movements and even the mental side of rigorous exercise. Again, I didn’t say “ya but” or argue or try and reinvent the wheel. I just executed. It kept me safe. I have no doubt.
• Flexibility as a priority–  If anyone has ever benefited from mobility training, it’s me. I don’t enjoy it but, it’s a requirement for true fitness. Way back when I decided that I had, had enough of being sick, tired and hurt, I focused on getting my back more flexible. I had a 20 minute routine that I went through EVERY. SINGLE. MORNING, for years. The more I did it, the better my back felt. An interesting side effect happened too. I noticed that my belly was getting stronger too. Then I noticed as my belly got stronger (I abhore the term “core strength”), my back felt better. This is when my inner beast mode was awaken. Haha. Back to flexibilty. We see it time and time again with our athletes. The flexible athlete seems to never get tweaks or especially injuries. It’s the newer, less flexible athlete (think bad positioning) that tends to have these minor, yet nagging injuries. So, from the day you begin your exercise life or your fitness journey, focus on flexibilty as much as you do cardio health and strength and you will benefit greatly.
• I focused on my weaknesses– This goes back to having a coach. There is a miniscule number of people that can write their own workout regimen and NOT focus on his strengths. Basically, you won’t work at what you suck at. It’s human nature. Since I had a coach, I had to do what he said to do. That meant focusing on my biggest weaknesses. It makes sense that if you make your weakness a strength, your overall fitness level will  go up. So, since I hated strength training, I had to do a lot of strength training. You know what I got? Strong. We did this using a proven and basic approach which…kept me from getting hurt.
• I learned how to eat and rest– The fuel that you put in your body will have a direct effect on how you perform and recover. The amount of rest you get relative to your training will have a direct effect on how you perform and recover. On both accounts, I have evolved over the years. I’ve trained a number of different “day on, day off” scenarios. It took some time to find out what works best for me. To add to the learning curve there, I’m aging (aren’t we all?). So, my needs are different today than they were 5 years ago. My food changed too. I went from a strict Paleo diet to something a bit looser. I figured out that I wasn’t getting enough carbs to sustain 7-8 training sessions a week. It wouldn’t work. BUT, I went through the trial and error to figure it out. Eating well and resting well have contributed to my lack of injuries.
• Genetics and luck– I think it’s fair to acknowledge that I come from physically hard working, hardy people. Do my good genes make me lucky. I’m sure they contribute.

So, is there any single reason that I’ve stayed injury free? No. Is there a magic milk shake, pill or drop that will make you fit or keep you injury free? Hell no. But, life is all about the little things. Staying injury free is a lot the same. Take all of these “little things” in their totality and what you have is a powerful recipe for staying off of the DL and in the game.

Train your ass off, eat well, rest well and love the people that love you. Thanks for reading.

– Matt