Coming back from an injury. Help?

Hello Kayla,
Injuries can be extremely frustrating in particular when you were doing really well and it feels like you have to start from scratch. It can be quite upsetting and it's important to keep the ego in check as otherwise it's easy to re-aggravate injuries which have only just healed. I had a hip alignment issue which took months to come right and really limited my running, so much so that I had to go back to run-walking after having comfortably run half-marathon distances. Sometimes I would not limit myself and just push it and give myself problems again, so I learned the hard way. Last year I got adhesive capsulitis in my right arm (they call it "frozen shoulder") and that took two steroid injections and physio before it got better and I had to be so careful not to aggravate it because it would be three steps forward and two steps back. So for me that meant no weight training, no squash... Sometimes keeping the ego in check and being kind to yourself and not beating yourself up over what you can't do is the hardest thing. Just be patient. x

I constantly have feet issues and have come back from multiple surgeries, very very frustrating. As I've gotten older and wiser (I hope that's what this is) I've learned that you don't need to push the limits 5+ days a week. For strength training, if you focus on exercises that are compound lifts (squats, deadlifts, bench press, shoulder presses, pull ups) pretty much anything that uses a barbell instead of dumbbells, you can easily get away with 3 x 45 minute sessions a week, and if you feel the need for cardio, you can throw in 30 - 40 minutes a couple times a week. For lifting, start with very light weights and moderate reps and just add 5 lbs to each lift each session. Do a google search on the 5 x 5 lifting program, a lot of good effective guidance there. Listen to your body and you will heal and get stronger.