Thriving Through Injury

Hey Brothers,

Welcome back to the LenDentonThrive Letter!

I’m publishing today’s edition of the LDT Letter on July 4th! So, Happy 250th Birthday to the greatest nation on Earth. (Yes, I AM biased! And, I hope you are, too!)

This week, I want to talk about how to thrive through injury. 

Injury is the enemy of your fit and healthy lifestyle! But if you’ve been involved in fitness for a while, you’ll know that injury is a common occurrence. When it happens, it could result in a temporary interruption of your fitness activities, or it could result in a total shutdown!

So let’s talk about how to injury-proof your fitness strategies; and how to thrive through an injury when it does happen.

Injury-Proofing Your Workouts

We’ve all heard the euphemisms:

No pain, no gain!

Go big or go home!

If it doesn’t hurt, you’re not doing it right!

Pain is just weakness leaving the body!  (This one is my personal favorite!)

We live in a fitness culture that demands and celebrates over-exertion! How many of us have known that guy who injured-out during the first week of a new gym membership trying to do more than he should? (I’ve actually been that guy!)

A lot of the guys on social media who are exhorting you to push harder and do more are typically pros. They make their living working in gyms or selling coaching online. They might make it look easy, but they’ve typically spent hundreds of hours in the gym to get where they are now.

Nobody wants short-term fitness. I’ve found that the key to long-term fitness is small, steady, stackable gains over time. By stackable, I mean that the gains compound on each other over time - like compound interest. Fitness done right has a similar kind of pay-back that compound interest provides. And just like with compound interest, the key is to NOT interrupt the compounding!

I call it consistency over intensity. 

I’ll take 1% improvements week after week instead of trying to achieve some kind of stretch goal, like a 25% improvement in a month. 

So, what does all of this mean for your fitness program? Here are three easy -to-implement design tips to injury-proof your workouts:

1- Respect Your Limits - Don’t push yourself beyond your current limits. Grow your limits gradually over time. 

2- Know What You’re Doing - Whatever your chosen exercise (lifting, running, rowing, cycling, etc.) know how to properly do the exercise. Get the training or support you need before going full speed with a new activity. Most injuries occur due to bad form or over-exertion. This is especially true in the gym where bad form can produce injuries that can take months to recover from. (Experience speaking here!)   

3- Don’t Ignore Pain - Pain is a distress signal. We ignore it at our own peril. When you start experiencing pain, dial back. It’s your body talking to you. It’s telling you it’s not quite ready for that level of effort…yet! 

Instead, rely on those stackable gains I mentioned above to help you get past this current limit without damaging your body. Remember - consistency over intensity!

Thriving Through Injury

So, what if you have experienced an injury? What then?

Hustle culture would exort you to drive through the injury!  But, I’m going to be counter-culture and tell you to thrive through your injury instead. 

I’ve experienced a non-workout-related leg injury (a badly-strained calf muscle) about 10 months ago. Here’s what’s helped me to keep thriving in spite of the injury:

1- Diet really matters - my ThriveLife approach to food (e.g. eating mostly Green Zone foods while avoiding the Red Zone Trap) has helped me keep my weight in check. 

2- Keep Moving - my exercise strategy is based on power walking, with a goal of 10,000+ daily steps in Zone 2 cardio. Immediately after the injury, I was limited in my ability to do the usual amount of daily steps. But, using the stackable gains approach, I was able to get back to my 10,000+ daily steps over a period of about 3 months. Now, 10 months later, I’m back to my normal step-count and pace while allowing the injury to heal. 

3- Get Help - At the time of the injury, it was apparent to me that I needed medical support to ensure that I’d be able to get back to my fitness activity without a big delay. My doctor prescribed physical therapy and anti-inflammaotory meds. I was able to get back on track within the 3 months I mentioned above. 

Here’s the take-away: Most guys will do anything to avoid visiting the doctor. Don’t be that guy! Let your pain be your guide. If it hurts too much to work-out, get it checked out by your doctor. 

Get better… then get back to work… in that order! 

As I noted in the beginning, injury is the enemy of your fitness program. These strategies I’ve shared here can help you create your own injury-proof fitness approach. But, if you experience an injury, they can also help you get through it as quickly and painlessly as possible.

Smarter, Not Harder!

Remember, building sustainable health and fitness (for you or your family) isn’t about sheer willpower or perfection. It’s about consistency and making smarter choices. 

You don’t need crazy diets or killer workouts. Your ThriveLife is built on a few smart daily habits that fit into your life and that you’ll actually enjoy doing. 

Here are two ways I can help you build your own ThriveLife:

1 - Subscribe to the LDT Letter for weekly tips and strategies

2 - Join the wait list for my upcoming new book ThriveLife Transformation, where I’ll show you how to build a healthier version of YOU with 6 Smart Daily Habits that you can do in 30 minutes a day. 

To join the waitlist, just reply to this newsletter and say “Sign me up!” I’ll send you an email when the book is available.

Thanks for reading today.

And remember, God loves us. He wants us to thrive. 

All the best… Len

Healthy dads raise healthy families!

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