Athletes > Injuries > Ending Up Overweight/Unfit ?

Graelwyn75

as a former athlete whose career was cut short and wasnt able to represent the national team because of an injury, i can say that in my case the issue wasnt the exercise itself but the lack of proper recovery and healing time.

in any case in my instance it wasnt the fact that i wasnt able to continue exercising 4 -5 hours a day 6-7 days a week that was the problem, because let's face it that type schedule is NOT long term sustainable. weight started piling up for me because even though i was still working out at a normal 45-60 minutes a day 6-7 days a week, i was still EATING like i was a bada$$ rugby flanker who needed those calories to keep weigh on so i could cream the crap outta b*ches even though in reality i was a working in a cubicle 8-10 hours a day :laugh:


also for the record, i still have shoulder issues. but what i do now is make sure i build in rehab into my week.

That makes sense, for sure.
I suppose I sometimes get to wondering if those who do more moderate exercise, and thus have perhaps less chance of injury, are somehow being more sensible than someone like myself, who tends to go all out(for me personally) in their exercise, in terms of long term health and wellbeing. That said, there is always an alternative. If I got injured running, I could up my cycling or take to swimming.

zoom2

That makes sense, for sure.
I suppose I sometimes get to wondering if those who do more moderate exercise, and thus have perhaps less chance of injury, are somehow being more sensible than someone like myself, who tends to go all out(for me personally) in their exercise, in terms of long term health and wellbeing. That said, there is always an alternative. If I got injured running, I could up my cycling or take to swimming.

Right...because cyclists and swimmers are not at all injury prone. My worst running injury (grade 2 sprain during a trail relay, that I continued to run on...literally "taking one for the team") paled in comparison to my worst cycling injury (grade 2-3 sprain + 2 broken bones and 5+ weeks in a long arm cast, now facing months of PT and likely permanent partial loss of function in my dominant hand due to ligament and tendon damage). A friend of mine has had 2 Ti plates and 3 surgeries on her wrist from bike crashes. If you don't crash a bike bad at least once you're not doing it right. Nevermind the likelihood of being hit by a car, which is unfortunate, but reality. A triathlete friend broke her leg entering the water on the swim leg of a race.

Graelwyn75

That makes sense, for sure.
I suppose I sometimes get to wondering if those who do more moderate exercise, and thus have perhaps less chance of injury, are somehow being more sensible than someone like myself, who tends to go all out(for me personally) in their exercise, in terms of long term health and wellbeing. That said, there is always an alternative. If I got injured running, I could up my cycling or take to swimming.

Right...because cyclists and swimmers are not at all injury prone. My worst running injury (grade 2 sprain during a trail relay, that I continued to run on...literally "taking one for the team") paled in comparison to my worst cycling injury (grade 2-3 sprain + 2 broken bones and 5+ weeks in a long arm cast, now facing months of PT and likely permanent partial loss of function in my dominant hand due to ligament and tendon damage). A friend of mine has had 2 Ti plates and 3 surgeries on her wrist from bike crashes. If you don't crash a bike bad at least once you're not doing it right. Nevermind the likelihood of being hit by a car, which is unfortunate, but reality. A triathlete friend broke her leg entering the water on the swim leg of a race.

Lol, maybe I shall just stick to walking haha, though there is always the risk of tripping over the kerb or getting chased by a dog.
I love cycling though, I guess it is a chance to be taken for something you enjoy. Only accident I had so far was as a result of the store overinflating my tyre, which burst as I cycled along a main road, and went butt over handlebars into the middle of the road with the bike on top of me. Nothing broken, just bruised and a bit nervous of going out again.

meshashesha2012

any activity, including getting up from and sitting down on your couch - has a risk of injury.

when it comes to exercise it really isnt that difficult to be honest with yourself when you need to recover and heal.

zoom2

Only accident I had so far was as a result of the store overinflating my tyre, which burst as I cycled along a main road, and went butt over handlebars into the middle of the road with the bike on top of me. Nothing broken, just bruised and a bit nervous of going out again.

Doesn't that make a sound?! First time I heard a road inner tube burst I thought someone had fired a gun! DH had one burst in his car while he was driving...I woulda shat my pants!

ser0630

What about those who do damage, though, that permanently prevents them from ever doing anything strenuous again?
As in, permanent damage to joints and the like?
That is one concern of mine, given I run now. That it will result in my succombing earlier to things that might otherwise not have hit me until later in life. I think some exercise, or certain amounts of exercise, can act as a stressor on the body.

I went through that 8 years ago when I fell 12 feet and ended up with a 2 inch section of the radius bone in my left arm shattered to the point to where it was powder, multiple broken bones in my left and and wrist, along with soft tissue damage, two broken ribs, four cracked vertebrae in my mid-back, and 200 hair-line fractures in the lift side of my rib cage, left hip and femur. I had to have several surgeries on my left arm. I also had major bruising from my left shoulder down to my left ankle.

All that right there made working out difficult. I was in pain for a good three weeks after the fall. Before my fall, I was working 8-10 hours a day as a telecommunications technician (doing inside wiring and installation of devices) and playing softball. So basically, the "forced inactivity" is what got to be. Yes, I was going to occupational and hand therapy (starting 8 days after my first hand and wrist surgery), but working out was literally out of the question for a good 6 months afterwards.

Yes, I did end up overweight and unfit as a result. I did deal with depression and messed up sleep habits/patterns because of this. The stress of dealing with worker's compensation didn't help much either. I ended up gaining 40 lbs as a result--which I am now working on trying to lose.

owswixie

Many ortho and sport medicine docs consider swimming very hard on the body. In my 6 years swimming on a competitive level I injured my back, my shoulder, my knee and my hip. At one point I had 5 compressed nerves in my spine.

Anything repetitively done to the joints carries the risk of injury - including hefting around excess body weight and that is not something you can stop doing for a few weeks to recover. You can just do your best to learn proper mechanics and learn when your body has had enough. What I learned is it is harder to repair a broken spirit than it is to repair and overcome injuries. The 8 years I did not exercise were the worst of my life.

Graelwyn75

Only accident I had so far was as a result of the store overinflating my tyre, which burst as I cycled along a main road, and went butt over handlebars into the middle of the road with the bike on top of me. Nothing broken, just bruised and a bit nervous of going out again.

Doesn't that make a sound?! First time I heard a road inner tube burst I thought someone had fired a gun! DH had one burst in his car while he was driving...I woulda shat my pants!

Haha yes, there was a loud noise, but I had never had it happen before, and I kept trying to pedal, and it all sort of happened rather quickly, haha. I did a nice somersault over the handlebars, and luckily, the car right behind me had obviously seen or somesuch as it was a busy, 2 lane road. I was not wearing a helmet either.