Most of us have been there. You are having the best training run you have ever had. You’re feeling strong. You’re hitting lifts that you never thought you would hit. You have competitions lined up that you’re excited for and you’re loving your training more and more everyday.

Then… BAM! Just when everything is going so well – you get hit with an injury that stops you dead in your tracks. This is exactly what happened to me recently when an old knee injury flared up.

As much as injuries hurt and take a long time to recover from physically, I think most athletes out there will agree that it’s the mental effect of injuries that take the longest to recover from.

The psychological and emotional stress of injuries are not commonly talked about. We’re tough CrossFitters and we don’t talk about our feelings. But, it should be the main thing we talk about. Our injury might take 6 weeks to heal but if we don’t rehab our mind it might take months to get back in the game.

So, why is this? Why do injuries affect our mental state so much? 

When I injured myself the first thing that hit me was anger. If you know me, you would know that I hardly ever get angry, if at all. So, as you can imagine, this was a very weird feeling for me. I was angry because this was an injury that could have been prevented with better care of my body.

This anger quickly turned into depression and sadness. Most athletes will experience at least one, if not all three, of these negative emotions. I mean lets face it, thanks to your injury you are now unable to do something that you love and spend countless hours a day doing. It is so bloody frustrating, that you can’t help but be angry, sad or depressed.

Then there is the isolation. Most athletes train in a training group and undoubtedly the people in your training group also are some of your closest friends. I train regularly with my 3 closest girl friends and we would talk about how we were going, how awesome (yet tough) the session was, and constantly encourage each other to push ourselves just that little more.

When I got injured, I couldn’t train with them any more. I would see them laughing and having fun in their session and I couldn’t help but feel isolated from that. As their coach I was so excited to see them train but just missed being apart of that. This obviously made me even sadder and also brought on another negative emotion… ENVY….

Watching my amazing friends continue training, smash PBs, work on their gymnastics and just getting stronger at everything, started to make me feel envious. I was jealous that they could train and I couldn’t.

This was another emotion that I was not used to feeling and I hated it! Instead of celebrating with them I was now keeping my distance. Instead of feeling happy for them when they smashed their goals, I was feeling jealous and resentful – which yet again is so not me!

I got fed up of being this negative person. It just wasn’t me. I was the only person that could change this. No one else could change my mood for me. I had to take control of the situation. Obviously, I couldn’t make my knee miraculously better over night, but I could take control of my emotions. I didn’t have to let this injury get the better of me. I had to make a decision – should I let it get to me or should I learn from this experience and come out stronger in the end?

Well, like any strong-minded athlete, I am going to dust myself off and aim to lift another day!  

I’ve decided to use this time positively. Injuries can and should be used to your advantage, as a time to sit back, re-asses your situation, not only in training but in life as well.

Here are FOUR important tools that I used to help my mental rehab:

1. Learn about your injury

The first thing you need to do is learn about your injury. What is it? How did it happen? Was there anything you could have done to prevent it? If it was an overuse injury, what steps do you need to take make sure it doesn’t happen again? If it was an accident, was there a reason why it happened? Were you having a stressful day and not paying attention to what you were doing?

Whatever it was, learning about your injury gives you a great chance to learn about your body and how it all works. More importantly, it gives you the opportunity to learn about yourself.   Self-reflection should be a crucial tool for any athlete, injured or not This self-reflection will allow you to identify and target behaviours that may be limiting you and preventing you from taking your training to the next level.

2. Re-adjust your goals

Secondly, you need to sit down and re-adjust your goals. You are now on a different road, the road to recovery, which will actually turn out to be the best thing you have ever done for your training, I know it sounds crazy but its true!

Injuries tend to make you slow down a little bit, so it will also give you a chance to focus on your weakness. Identify your weakness and make that a priority. Focus on mobility and stability, not only for the injured area but also the other areas of your body too.

3. Utilise your support network

Turn to your family, friends and training partners for support. Another thing us strong minded athletes tend to all have in common is our ‘I can do this on my own’ attitude. However, it is important to remember that you have a massive amount of people around you that are willing and able to help get you through this.

Whether you discuss your new and exciting goals with them, head out to do something active other than CrossFit, or even just get a comforting hug. Knowing that you have a strong support network is one of the best healing remedies any athlete could ever ask for!

4.    Positive self-talk

Finally, start working on your POSITIVE SELF-TALK. Turn your thoughts of “I can’t do that anymore” into “I can and I will!” Positive self-talk is a very powerful tool, not only for your mind but for your body too. If you work on keeping your mind feeling good, your body will surely follow.

Start celebrating the little improvements that will happen with your injury. You might notice new strength gainzzz you are getting from working on your rehab. You might notice your weaknesses turn into strengths as you focus more attention on them during this recovery period.   Practice this positive mind-set and once you are at full training, your body and your mind will feel stronger and better than ever.

Injuries can be a dark place. They can lead you into feeling things that you never felt before and it’s very easy to get caught up. However, with the right mind-set, an injury can end up being the best thing that has ever happened to you.

 

Being injured can give you an opportunity to learn about yourself, your body and your training. By the time you get the ‘go ahead’ from your physio to go back to full training you will feel like a stronger athlete both mentally and physically and be ready to tackle any challenge that comes your way!

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The Paleo Diet, Defined
Let’s start by defining the Paleo diet. According to Loren Cordain, the founder of the Paleo diet, eating Paleo is “based upon eating wholesome, contemporary foods from the food groups that our hunter-gatherer ancestors would have thrived on during the Paleolithic era” (thepaleodiet.com).
By wholesome, Cordain means unprocessed meats, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, oils, and fats. Dairy, processed grains and sugar, juices and legumes were not consumed by our Paleolithic ancestors, which means, according to Cordain, that we shouldn’t consume them either. Humans have not adapted to consuming these foods, which means that our bodies react negatively when we do eat them.
If you’ve ever suffered from lactose intolerance, inflamed joints, headaches, stomach aches, or IBS, for example, then you’ve more than likely eaten a lot of something that you shouldn’t have.
Making the decision to follow the Paleo diet, or simply deciding to cut out processed grains, sugars, and dairy from your diet can be daunting, mostly because it sounds really boring. Most people ask very similar questions when they first learn about the Paleo diet: What can you actually eat? What about chocolate? How do you get your carbohydrates if you don’t eat bread?
These are all valid questions (especially the one about chocolate). The Paleo diet seems fairly restrictive, but that’s only because we humans are bombarded daily with a mind- boggling number of packaged food choices that trick us into thinking we have a variety of foods to eat.
But if you read the labels of most packaged or processed goods closely, the illusion of variety will fade quite quickly. Different variations of sugar appear on just about every single label. Corn syrup? Sugar. Barley malt? Sugar. Dextrose, fructose, fruit juice concentrate, lactose, maltose, sucrose, sorbitol? All sugars.
The natural world offers an incredible variety of whole, healthy foods that humans have been consuming for years. And the good news for those new to the Paleo diet is that those who’ve come before you have gotten really creative with those foods! Paleo pancakes, bread, caramel, cookies, dips, and sauces are quite common, and many of them are far more delicious than the non-Paleo versions.
One of the best ways to learn more about the Paleo diet and get started on it yourself is by consulting a list of foods that are ‘Paleo-approved,’ and a list of those that are not. The Ultimate Paleo Guide, an online Paleo food blog, has put together a great list: http://ultimatepaleoguide.com/paleo-diet-food-list/
If you’re looking for a simpler rule to live by, though, just remember this: if man made it, don’t eat it.

Customizing the Paleo Diet
While the Paleo diet is a great template for eating wholesome, healthy foods, it’s still incredibly important to customize the diet for your needs in much the same way that you would scale a CrossFit WOD.
Depending upon how active you are, you will need fewer or more carbohydrates, natural sugar, healthy fats, and grams of protein.
Some people react poorly to dairy, while other people thrive on getting their carbohydrates from milk. Rice works well as a source of energy for some, but is tough to digest for others.
The best thing that you can do is start out with a relatively strict Paleo diet template, and adjust the servings of Paleo foods- or maybe add in a few that aren’t if your body is asking for them- to suit your needs.
Pay attention to your body, and realize that how you feel and how you perform are directly related to what kind of fuel you’ve given your body. If you eat well, expect to perform well. Alternatively, if you find that you’re lacking energy or strength, eat more. Every body is different, so no one ‘blanket diet’ will work for everyone, but the Paleo diet cuts out all the crap and leaves you with a way forward in clean eating.

Feb Fast
For the entire month of February, CrossFit Victoria will be participating in Feb Fast. During Feb Fast, fasters give up alcohol, sugar, or caffeine to raise money for charity. This is a fantastic time to get started on the Paleo diet as well, as you’ll have plenty of friends who can’t go out for a drink or a coffee.
If you really want to make a change, give yourself thirty days. Eat clean, healthy, Paleo foods for thirty days, and document the changes in your mood, energy levels, and physical appearance.
If you love it, stick to it. If you don’t love it, tweak the diet a bit, but don’t give it up. You’ll never get the most out of your body if you’re not putting the best foods into it.
If you need more convincing, bacon is Paleo-approved. If that still hasn’t made your decision for you, browse through these resources for more information and opinions:

http://thepaleodiet.com/http://robbwolf.com/

http://robbwolf.com/podcast/

http://ultimatepaleoguide.com/

http://www.fitsugar.com/Other-Names-Sugar-Appear-Labels-810571

http://www.tnation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/paleo_nutrition_improved

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/20/paleo-diet-healthy_n_1898529.html

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A new year, a new Athlete of the Month! CrossFit Victoria’s Athlete of the Month for December is The Tall Laura- or, if you’re coach Chris Lilley, Normal Height Laura- Laura McDougall!
If you’ve never woken up in time for a 6 or 7 AM class, you may not know Laura. But she’s definitely someone worth getting to know! A special breed of person trains early in the morning, and according to coach Chris Lilley, Laura McDougall epitomizes the early morning CrossFit enthusiast who shows up, rain, hail, or shine, and tries her best every morning while encouraging others to do the same.
Laura always turns up to class with enthusiasm and a smile, which both coaches and other athletes genuinely appreciate. Her positivity and dedication have allowed her to make tremendous improvements to her lifting technique, as well as noticeable improvements in her speed and endurance during class WODs.
Laura is also the newest recipient of CrossFit Victoria’s Golden Sledgehammer, an award given to athletes who have been “smashing it” at the gym. She and coach Scott Waugh worked together to create a WOD in her honor, which everyone will tackle during one of the Friday classes this month.
Scott Waugh, ever the shorty, nicknamed Laura McDougall ‘The Tall Laura,’ but Chris Lilley, towering over the rest of the gym in long-legged glory, calls her ‘Normal Height Laura.’ Her WOD will be called “NHL” for Normal Height Laura. Here it is:

“NHL”
3 rounds for time of:
50 double unders
30 Russian KB Swings (24/16 kg)
10 burpee box jumps (24”/20”)
Half Gasser

Coach Chris Lilley’s comment: “Laura turns up to class with enthusiasm and a smile. She always has time for a laugh and a chat, and there is no doubt that she tries her best every morning and encourages others to do the same. Since taking on the AM classes, I have seen Laura training consistently, rain, hail or shine, and I have seen her getting fitter and stronger every week!
She is an attribute to the gym and the community – well done Laura!”

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Just kidding. Well, sort of. He just thinks that you- and everyone else, really- sucks at moving. And he probably thinks that your technique sucks too. But he only feels that way because he cares.
Do I know that from personal experience? Of course not!
But that’s the gist of an excellent article from breakingmuscle.com that I stumbled upon while researching movement and mobility for this week’s blog post. The title of the article caught my eye immediately: “How Kelly Starrett’s Mobility Seminar Ruined Me” (http://breakingmuscle.com/mobility-recovery/how-kelly-starrett-s-mobility-seminar-ruined-me).
Here’s a tidy summary of that article, written by fitness columnist Danette Rivera. Kelly Starrett is somewhat of a celebrity in the global CrossFit community. He’s a doctor of physical therapy, and his book, Becoming a Supple Leopard, is either available in or taught to just about every CrossFit box in the world.
He’s a movement and mobility master, and is the man to whom most CrossFit athletes turn to “fix our shit,” as Rivera so delicately puts it. Rivera was lucky enough to attend one of Starrett’s CrossFit Movement and Mobility training courses, after which she felt completely ruined.
During the course, Starrett picked apart and analyzed all kinds of human movement. (Spoiler: CrossFit comprises only a pathetically small fraction of the broad range of human movement.) He destroyed Rich Froning’s muscle-up technique, made participants do burpees if they got up off the floor incorrectly, and painfully rearranged everyone’s elbows into the ‘true’ front rack position.
After just one hour, Rivera says, participants were afraid that they weren’t even holding their pens correctly while taking notes.

CrossFit Movement and Mobility
For many athletes, devoting more time and attention to their movement and mobility means two things. First, and arguably most importantly, improving your movement and mobility prevents injury.
But, as Rivera says, injury shminjury. Most athletes care about their movement and mobility because correct, efficient technique drastically improves athletic performance. We all want to lift more, move faster, and ultimately look fitter.
According to Starrett, however, the notion that we should fix injuries, not prevent them, is deeply embedded in our athletic culture. He believes that human beings can and ought to perform regular maintenance on themselves in order to prevent injuries entirely.
Starrett combines CrossFit training with physical therapy mobility to work toward an ‘injury-free’ body. His philosophy for obtaining an injury-free body is simple: stretch and mobilize your entire body, even when things don’t hurt, to make sure that they never hurt.

Improving Your Mobility to Improve Your Performance
In a fascinating interview with Greatist (http://greatist.com/fitness/kelly-starrett-mobility-injury-free), Starrett says that too many athletes confuse having a lack of pain with performing at peak efficiency. We may not have an injury, but we’re probably performing at 90%- or less!- of our potential efficiency because we don’t move well.
Starrett’s advice for improving your movement, mobility, and efficiency as an athlete is to mobilize, stretch, and care for every joint and muscle in your body before adding heavier and heavier weights. In a CrossFit gym, the temptation to add more weight while ignoring your technique can be overwhelming, especially when you see other athletes busting out reps of your PB weight.
There is no shame in backing off weight and relearning the basics. By improving your movement and mobility, you can and will prevent injury, and you can and will improve your athletic performance.
Even starting with something simple- say, relearning to back squat- will drastically improve your efficiency in that movement, increase your awareness of your movement patterns in general, and will make you a stronger, more capable athlete.
If you’re looking for some more information, visit the websites below, and be sure to check out Becoming a Supple Leopard and MobilityWOD.com for daily mobility advice!

http://www.mobilitywod.com/
http://gymnasticswod.com/ (A website with a philosophy similar to Starrett’s. Excellent mobility WODS and progressions!)
http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/importance-gymnastics-3939.html
http://breakingmuscle.com/mobility-recovery/preventing-common-bjj-and-crossfit-injuries
http://therxreview.com/the-idiots-guide-to-preventing-crossfit-injuries/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lonZ0aI9o0 (A fantastic podcast from Barbell Shrugged!)

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