Is MFP and crazy NEW fitness gear breeding injuries?

RAFValentina

Just scrolling down my news feed, I've noticed, have quite a few injured friends as a result of training, me I'm injured from a fall yet continue to train (OK, so I've adapted mine and it's been deemed not bad enough to ban me from anything but I should take a cautious approach to my training and what I choose to do).

In addition, some of these have been due to using "new" technology or concepts that have been (re?!)introduced such as barefoot running (hence the "new" and re-introduced as is primitive!) Just like with any tool or technique, if not performed or used correctly, it can lead to some injuries, which at that stage may be mild and not particularly serious, but without rest, could lead to something more sinister.

There is nothing wrong with trying out new stuff at all, it's great and I suppose in a cheeky way I get them to review it before I blow my dolla dolla on it!

(Just to finish this point, I believe barefoot running has it's place and could indeed lend itself to better running all round, but it's not for everybody and certainly not immediately. In fact I strongly believe throwing oneself into barefoot running could create some seriously nasty injuries. Most will be effectively learning to run all over again because they've been used to wearing footwear designed to takeaway the stresses of running on our limbs and body, which takes the body some getting used to as a generation that's been brought up to run in footwear with quite a lot of shock absorbency and structure/support/shape to help aid our devolved bodies cope with the physical stress of running. This article I think is quite good for a read to see where I'm coming from as a general direction

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/08/are-we-built-to-run-barefoot/ )

However, I can't help but wonder why some of us decided to push ourselves to the limits when broken chancing our well-being and health, and potentially leading to something more serious. I really don't know what it is, so this is not a place for accusation by any means, just a post out of curiosity what would make you train even when injured.

Personally, I think I know when to draw the limit and understand the key differences between training and working out. In my eyes, training is physical training for a particular thing, for example a 10Km event, a body building comp etc. Working out to me, is just to maintain or gain a certain level of fitness for one's general health and maybe to help lose or keep weight off.

If I'm injured and know I have an event coming up, I'll reassess how I can adapt my training but sometimes I know I just HAVE to rest, take a day off or as was the case in January, stop running completely. I know some people that wouldn't have stopped, and that's their prerogative and we're all difference, but sometimes I look at what they're saying is wrong and think "You're mad! STOP!" But then I also think of times when I've been so focussed on one thing, a goal, that nothing can stand in my way.

I've been worse for forcing myself to train or workout since joining MFP; personally, I get fitness jealousy, or see my goals written down a lot more clearly and want to stay on track or even beat my own personal goals. Sometimes it's so easy for me to be sucked in by the data and not the feelings, emotions and sentiments I have. Sometimes my determination overcame my pain so much that I'd pushed myself for example an extra km longer to reach my target despite being in excruciating shin pain. Or woken up in the night in pain because I trained so hard that the DOMS is pretty bad.

I've been much better since recognising this in myself and not letting MFP get in the way of how my body really feels and in fact used it to my advantage to find ways around the injuries I had. I can deal with not having a "WTG!" And understand the meaning much better now. When you've done a proper workout you get much more than a "WTG!" But that doesn't mean you have to train every day and in fact, the more astute will actually look at your days off and taking rest for injuries as and when required favourably.

This is good if you have plenty of friends like this (luckily I do!) but I do wonder for some people what is really driving them to train to beyond a mild injury to breaking point? Is it the buzz of MFP, the desperate eagerness to be always ahead with the latest sport technology, or purely the drive to see how far you can push yourself ...or something entirely different as the case may be!!?

Everyone's going to be different on this and is probably going to be entirely opinion so please, respect each others views... I don't expect everyone to agree because everyone's motivations are different.

DISCUSS!

RAFValentina

I know it's a sensitive subject but I think it could be an awareness thing we should all sit up to and just realign or just reprocess our thinking/thoughts on the topic.