Don't ignore injuries- learn from them

Most people training at the gym unsupervised have had  an injury that has caused a set-back with their exercise routine, this will unfortunately often cause them to stop exercising altogether. 

This is a mistake; very rarely will someone be so badly injured they cannot exercise at all- there is nearly always a way around it- I have trained a client with bad ankles, knees and shoulder- through corrective exercise and choosing pain free exercise and ranges of motion they have soon gotten over these problems- the result: improved strength, decreased body fat and less pain in the injured joints.

Even when the injury goes away without treatment, forgetting about it and just putting it behind you would be a mistake. It happened for a reason,usually due to poor exercise form and there being no one there to correct it at the time.


By choosing to learn from it, you can prevent it from happening again as with anything in life.
Come up with some proactive steps to ensure that it does not occur again. 

For example, if the setback was a pulled hip-flexor, and after evaluating what happened you realize that the reason you injured yourself was because you didn't take the time to warm-up before hand, take this as your cue to always make sure you are properly ready to exercise each time you workout.

Mark Hayward Personal Training, Exeter, Devon