It’s been no secret that I have had my fair share of injuries. I think all javelin throwers would agree it’s not a very forgiving event. Trying to be the best in your sport often leaves us feeling aches and pains that we didn’t hope to feel until we were much older. It’s the price we pay for what we love. But it isn’t all bad.

Below (in no particular order) are my top 10 things you learn while being injured.

1. You aren’t Invincible

When we are young we go through so much. Things that should kill us, or at least hurt us. But oddly we come out unscathed. But then we have our first injury and we finally realize we aren’t invincible. We need be careful, maybe even stop doing stupid things that could get us hurt.

Before being injured we were probably unstoppable in our sport, always the best, always winning, but injuries can be the exact wakeup call we need to let us know we can be stopped, and that there are other athletes out there that can beat us if we don’t train smart.

2. You are more capable than you think

This may sound stupid, since injuries normally define our limits, but when you get injured you have two options, quit or try again. No matter what we choose we doubt our ability, and wonder if we will ever be able to compete the same again. But when we choose to try again and we overcome our injuries, we find out that better after it. We realize we can overcome almost anything and that we are capable of great things. Trust me, that first great competition after coming back from injury will be so satisfying!

3. You have a lot to learn

There is always more to learn in everyone’s sport. When injured, things tend to slow down, you are on crutches, in a wheelchair, in a sling, or just not in the fast paced world of competing/training. When things are slow you tend to see a lot more. It puts things in perspective, and you realize there is a lot to learn in your sport. You can become a student of your sport and be a lot better off after an injury.

4. Fundamentals

After being sidelined from an injury we have to start back at square one. We have to retouch on fundamentals that we otherwise would have never done. And when we focus on fundamentals we often learn the obvious problems with our game, or as I like to call it the elephant in our technique.

Without injuries we can become ok with problems in our technique. Why fix what isn’t broken? But when it’s broken we finally have the chance to fix our most major problems.

When I was in college a professor once told me,

“Never become too happy with your work, or you will never have the balls to make the necessary changes to make it better.”

I think about this phrase in almost everything I do. Never be complacent with who you are.

5. Finding strength

Sometimes after an injury we have nothing to do besides hit the weight room. And for half of us, myself being one of them, I was lacking in the strength department. Hitting the weight room can be one of the fundamental things we need to work on. And with a hurt leg we can build our upper body or vice versa. Strength is one pillar of our athletic ability. It needs to be worked on just as much as anything else. What better day to start than now?

6. Anatomy and Biomechanics

When we are injured the doctors tell us a lot of problems with our body and we are often left wondering what he was talking about. One of the greatest things is that we get a little down time to learn more about our bodies, how they work, and how they heal. A quick google search and we can learn a lot about our anatomy. And soon enough we are learning proper biomechanics of our event and becoming better athletes because of it. Know your injuries and know your body. You will not be sorry.

7. Your weaknesses

Obviously we found one major weakness in our event. Otherwise we wouldn’t be injured. But we don’t want to get hurt again. So what other weaknesses do we have? Injuries get us thinking about the weaknesses in our body and our technique. Spotting our weaknesses early can keep us from getting injured again.

It’s important that when we find our weaknesses that we aren’t developing fears, rather we should be developing an awareness of how to train and compete smarter. Fears stands for “False Evidence Appearing Real”. So don’t develop fears that lead to hesitation and more injury. Develop awareness so that you don’t need to fear.

8. Technique

Sometimes being injured can force us to stop training completely. But as we start training again we can focus on the little technical things we never had a chance to work on. With a hurt hand you may not be able to shoot hoops but you sure can work on your sprint technique.

9. Pacing yourself

There is a good chance we got hurt because we were going to hard, pushing our limits and we found them. Getting injured can be a blessing in disguise and help us slow down and pace ourselves. We need to slow down sometimes. We need to have more intentional training. Have purpose with each rep. And focus on quality training over quantity. Rest is just as important to the body as training. Learn to pace yourself.

10. Character

Without a doubt I would not be who I am today without the injuries I have had. They have made me who I am today. I have developed so much because of my injuries and more than anything we develop character from our misfortunes. I prayed to God so many times that he would use a different method to teach me what he is trying to teach me. But I can say I proud of who I have become from what I have gone through.

Without opposition we could never see our potential, or learn to strive to new heights. It is when we are at our lowest points in our life where we can learn the most about ourselves.

 

So as you can see there is so much to be gained from injuries. So don’t get down next time you get injured. Look for the silver lining. Find your strength and learn from it. Become a better person for it. And remember you will be even better once you overcome it!

 

#Ready4Rio #TrainBIG