How to Deal with Sports Related Injuries

If you train hard in any sport at some point in time you will most likely get an injury, and if you have never gotten an injury then perhaps you aren't trying hard enough ;) I say that jokingly but there is some truth in it since there is a fine line in between going hard and going too hard...

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor nor do I have anything other than my personal experiences with injuries and training while injured to go by so don't listen to me since I am obviously under-qualified in this area at least from a medical standpoint.

Be sure to watch my video on the subject of working out while injured since I go into much more detail than here in this written article where for the most part I will be summarizing.

Ouch - I think I hurt something?
The first thing you need to consider is how serious is the injury sustained. If you are unsure of the severity then go see your doctor. If you feel the injury is not too serious then give yourself a day or two to feel the injury out before you train that part of the body since more harm can be done if the injury is worse then initially thought. Of course treat the area with ice and/or heat to bring down any inflammation. Work on mobility and range of motion during this time doing some light stretching and easy use. Within 2-3 days you should get a pretty good idea if the injury is minor or something more serious.

I did something but I think I'm going to be OK!
Once you have established that the injury is not too severe, you can start to ease into things again but keep in mind, a small injury can get much worse if you overdo it so go easy when training around injured areas. Don't forget if you have one area of you body with an injury, often times you can train other areas just as hard as normal so take this time to focus on other non-injured areas.

Work arounds when training an injury:
When you do start to work the injured area again, make sure to start with much lighter resistance than usual, do higher reps and make sure to do extra stretching and warming up to lubricate the area. Play around with using different machines that take the strain off of supporting muscles since often times they are the muscle areas that get injured the most. Try using different grips and limited range of motion to find an exercise where you can hit the area that is recovering while not aggravating it even more. A general rule of thumb is if it hurts when you do it then stop doing it.

No pain no gain!
Most doctors are going to tell you to stop training for a couple of weeks and it's probably good advice but if you are like me then you are generally willing to deal with a longer recovery time by continuing to train the aggravated area to some degree rather than lose all your gains. Yes it will hurt a bit while training but again keep it limited and use work abounds. Your recovery is also going to take longer so either deal with it or go on your doctors advice and take a vacation.

Yes there have been times when I had to lay off an injured area completely for several weeks but these where pretty major injuries. I have trained through tones of minor injuries and if you listen to your body you can usually find good work abounds that will get you through the recovery process and keep your strength up along the way.

Know your limits:
The best advice I can give you is to know your limits and always stay on the healthy side of them. Sure it's great to get one rep PR's but sure enough, that's when many of those more serious injuries can take place. If you're not a power lifter then perhaps keep your reps to 5-8+ per set and stay out of the danger zone. An injury is a sure fire way to reduce your PR or "personal bests" so keep that in mind...

Whistler Ziptrek Eagle Tour Zipline Ecotour

If you love amazing wilderness scenery, crazy speed and you don't mind high places then you need to try the Ziptrek Eagle Tour Zipline Ecotour in beautiful Whistler BC Canada.

Now I have to admit I am a bit afraid of heights and on this zipline tour there where a few moments where I was wondering what I got myself into! Especially when we where waving around on a wooden platform attached to a single tree (a big one mind you) waving around from the wind... And the only way on and off was using plank suspension bridges. I was happy when that part of the trip was over :)

To be honest most of it was not so scary, the hard part is stepping off of the platform and trusting the line and harness are going to hold. Once you are zipping down that line at 80-90 km/h, the fear has been replaced with a rush and a grin!

On this Whistler Ziptrek Eagle Tour Zipline Ecotour, there where five ziplines in total two of them are around 2500 feet in length and one zipline drops 30 stories in total from start to finish. You can get up to speeds as high as 90 km/h on some of the faster ziplines and the highest point you are 350 feet off the ground! The trees zipping by really enhances the speed, it's hard to take it all in the first time around, I am going to have to go back again some day and try there newly planned to open (July of 2015) 7000 foot Blackcomb to Whistler dual side by side zipline that sets you as high as 600 feet above the ground...

Watch my Multi-Camera video of this gravity and adrenaline powered thrill ride!

Whistler Peak 2 Peak 360 Sight Seeing Experience

A few days ago I got the opportunity to experience the Whistler Peak 2 Peak 360 Sight Seeing Tour with some friends of mine. We where up in Whistler on a stag for three nights. By the way we also did some Ziplining which I shot some video of and will be making another separate video in a few days.

The Whistler Peak 2 Peak 360 Sight Seeing Experience was really amazing, Whistler had just received a light covering of snow (well at least up in the higher elevations) and it made for a really beautiful sight to see.

The Peak 2 Peak Gondola is the worlds longest and highest Gondola joining Whistler and Blackcomb Ski mountains. The Peak 2 Peak Gondola spans 4.4km (2.73 miles) taking 11 minutes to complete. At it's highest point you are 436 meters (1427 feet) from the ground.

Pictures and Video really explain the experience the best so enjoy my still shots and video:

473 Pounds x3 Reps Dead Lift Personal Best - 46 Years Old at 192 Pounds

Watch this video and notice how hard the first rep was for me... It came off the ground super slow and I was shaking all the way up. What makes the difference between getting stronger and lifting more weight is determination and willpower! Sure I could have stopped at one rep but I already did a single rep at about the same weight a few months ago so it was time to step up my game a little!

I forgot to mention that I am still suffering from the tail end of a flue, presently cutting weight eating a no carb diet, and I am down about 7-8 pounds from a month ago. No excuses, just get the job done!

• You can see how this workout of mostly low rep heavy load Dead Lifts effected my heart rate and how many calories I burned by clicking on this link. 

How to Build and Define Your Arms

For illustrations on How to Build and Define Your Arms, make sure to watch the video located at the bottom of the page.

Before I go out and make all kinds of promises, there is one thing that needs to be understood. Muscle growth is determined on a few factors and one very important factor is Genetics! Genetics will determine how quick it will grow, how large a muscle will grow, and which muscles on your body will respond to training better than others.

That's right, when we workout and even if we train everything equally, some muscles will grow faster than others and some will outright grow larger than others. So if you see a person with really well built arms compared to the rest of their body, it may not be because all they do is train arms all day long. They may simply have the right type of genetics for building well developed arms.

That's the beauty of body building, you are a work in progress that requires constant reworking to achieve the best results for you. And sadly even with the best training program and diligence, your arms may never be what you inspire them to be. And that goes for every body part, my personal challenge is building wide shoulders as my frame is not wide, on the other hand I have good thickness through my chest! Remember, base your expectations on what is realistic for your body type, not on other peoples builds because you are built differently and believe me they have their own areas of muscle development to deal with.

So now that we all understand what to expect, how do you go about building those well developed arms? There are three main muscles to consider when training arms, the Biceps, the Triceps, and the Forearms. The Bicep is the round ball shaped muscle on the front of your arm between your elbow and front shoulder. Many people think that large Biceps equals large arms! The reality is that the Triceps, located on the back of the arm between the elbow and rear shoulder is actual a naturally larger muscle than the Bicep and contributes to about two thirds of your upper arm. So don't forget to put the time in and get your Triceps up to par.

It's pretty obvious where the Forearm muscles are located but for those that are at a loss, the Forearm is located between your elbow and wrist. To be honest, unless you are planning on getting super huge, often enough you don't really need to work your Forearms all that much since they are brought into use every time you grab and hold a weight, and perform a pull or press. But again if you have genetically small Forearms then you may want to train them additionally.

I personally only train my arm muscles once per week because I genetically have decent arm development. I also find that performing many traditional compound movements like bench press, shoulder press, pull-ups and rows hit the Biceps and Triceps pretty well already. Since on back day I do a lot of pulling and work my Biceps along the way, I generally end my workout with a few Bicep exercises to finish them off. Likewise When I have my chest workout day, my Triceps are already fairly exhausted so hitting them at the end with some sets of Triceps exercises gets them fully worked out.

The best way to educate you on what exercises work best for hitting your arms is to show you in a video so again, make sure to watch the below video where I talk about some of the concepts in this article and also show you some of my favorite Arm building exercises like:

Triceps: 

• Seated Dumbbell Tricep Extension
• Standing Cable Tricep Extension (With Bar or Rope)
• V-Dumbbell Narrow Tricep Pushup
• Narrow Barbell Tricep Extensions (Free Weights or Smith Machine)
• Standing Tricep Kickbacks
• Bench Tricep Kickbacks

Biceps: 

• Barbell Bicep Curls (Free Weights or Smith Machine)
• Standing Dumbbell Bicep Curls
• Seated Dumbbell Bicep Curls
• Standing Bicep Curls with Cable System
• Dumbbell Bicep Curls Using Bench For Isolation

Forearms:

• Wrist Forearm Curls Palm Down
• Wrist Forearm Curls Palm Up