Breaking Past Your Plateau 101

Everyone reading this will undoubtedly go - if they hadn’t already - through a plateau. What’s a plateau, you ask? Simply when you hit a period of time where you current exercise/nutrition routine just stopped producing the effects it used to deliver at the beginning. You’re not losing weight, you’re not gaining muscle, you’re not dropping fat and you’re flat out about to lose it.

As time goes by, you’ll find that plateaus are a natural part of your fitness journey. They’re merely an indicator that it’s time to switch things up. The human body is exceptionally adept at getting used to physical stimulus, so you always want to keep things hot and spicy. Don’t treat your body like you treat your significant other. You deserve better. The thing is about plateaus is that they will only get significantly tougher with time as you continue to make your routines more challenging in order to break out of the previous plateau. This post will discuss training methods exclusively in terms of dealing with plateaus as dedicating a single post to both exercise and nutrition on this subject would mean I quit my day job and dedicate myself full time to writing this crap. I am going to assume you’re in charge of your nutrition and know how to tweak it in order to complement your current fitness regimen and goals.

All of this can seem rather daunting, but it’s really a matter of efficient mixing and switching. It’s about changing up all the different variables in your training and nutrition, the different training methods to employ and surpassing one’s genetic limitations.

image source: www.bodybuilding.com

Let’s start with a simple matter of prioritization.

We all have different muscle groups which respond differently to exercise. Some people have chests that seem to build themselves, legs that barely need a workout to look like plump oak tree stumps, and at the same time, their triceps seem unresponsive or just able to keep up. I for one am blessed with trapezius muscles that seem to be on a self-sustaining growth spur without the need of any direct stimuli while my forearms are dead set on never changing. Despite your best efforts, sometimes those smaller muscle groups just aren’t playing ball, and that’s when prioritizing muscle groups comes in handy.

First of, you need to identify which muscles or muscle groups are lagging behind. This will help you with the planning of your entire week/workouts. You can dedicate the beginning of your week after you’ve become well rested to those lagging muscles to make sure you hit them with all you’ve got. You can also target the weaker muscles at the beginning of your exercise if you’re training different muscle groups on the same day. At the same time, you can also start progressively increasing the workload on those lagging muscles while reducing or maintaining the workload on your other superior muscle groups in order to prompt more growth in the lagging parts. I realize about 10 guys reading this just shat out their pre-workouts as they read the word “reducing” but I can assure you that despite how much of a step back that may seem, maintenance of muscles is much easier than building them in the first place!

image source: www.bodybuilding.com

Another issue seems to be that most people perform their workouts in the 8 - 12 reps range. While that’s all good and dandy, your body can become too used to this set up to influence any drastic changes. I hereby bring you…...the pyramid sets!

The beauty of pyramid sets is an amazing mixture of low, mid and high-repetition training which will leave your muscles in tears - and primed for growth! You can employ pyramid sets with virtually any kind of workout that requires resistance. There are three kinds of pyramid sets which one can incorporate into their workout routine to invigorate their training and push their body to new and uncharted limits to break out of that plateau.

The ascending pyramid set for instance relies on the premise of you increasing the weight with each set. Suppose you’re performing four sets of barbell chest presses or squats. On the initial set, you’ll dish it out using a weight that will enable you to hit 16 repetitions. On the second set, you’ll add more weight but only aim to dish out 12 repetitions this time around. By the third set your weight should progressively increase and aim for 8 repetitions and by your last and fourth set, you should be lifting at your maximal capacity and aiming to hit 4 repetitions - at full functional range and perfect form of course! Conversely, the descending pyramid set works the other way around with you starting out with the heaviest weight and lesser reps and working your way down from there. The third type is the full pyramid which is mostly restricted to more seasoned veterans or experienced bodybuilders and this one sees an average 6 - 10 sets per exercise with a split that’ll look something like 16-12-8-4-8-12-16 in terms of repetitions with weights changing as your reps change.

image source: www.bodybuilding.com

Another trick in the book is using one’s near-maximal workloads when lifting weights. What does that mumbo jumbo mean? Basically that you should lift way heavier than you normally would, and that the weight should be challenging enough that your maximum reps - ensuring perfect form - could not surpass 2 to 5 repetitions. The majority of your muscles are composed of fast twitch muscle fibers which I’ve written about before. These fibers react best and are most recruited with heavy loads. That doesn’t mean that your other muscle fiber types are neglected with these lifts, on the contrary, they are most definitely involved, but since the majority of your muscles are made of the earlier type and you’re aiming for speedy growth, heavy lifts can definitely be a big game changer for you. Obviously this isn’t something you should do day in day out every day for weeks but rather something to incorporate for lagging muscles every now and then to break through the plateau.

And finally, let us not forget everyone’s favorite pastime event - cardiovascular training. 90% of us probably perform the usual run for 30-60 minutes on the treadmill or use the stationary bike using the same speed/resistance for the entire period of time. While this is all fun and dandy, it can become quite tedious and in fact counterproductive if carried on for a long enough period of time. The above constitutes as LISS cardio. Low Intensity Steady State cardio or LISS for short, labors under a simple premise; steadiness. Basically, to get a specific rate going and hold on to it for prolonged periods of time. Example: Perform 5-minutes of brisk walking to get your muscles warmed up and ready for what’s to come. Then, finding a suitable jogging speed (usually between 6-9 km/hr for most people) maintain this for a period of 30-45 minutes followed by 5 minutes of brisk walking for cool down.

What you need to be bringing to the table is some HIIT or High Intensity Interval Training if you like longer conversations at your local gym. HIIT focuses on something else entirely; intervals. After a nice 5-minute warm up brisk walk to get your muscles ready for what’s to come, alternate walking/sprinting speeds in set periods of time. Example: Sprint for 30-60 seconds followed by 2 minutes of brisk walking/jogging and repeat these intervals for 15-20 minutes followed by 5 minutes of brisk walking for cool down. You can apply that same basic premise to virtually any cardio activity, be it running, cycling, swimming, rowing the EFX machine, the treadmill, stair-master or otherwise. HIIT can even be applied to weight lifting where you dish out a set of 10-12 reps followed by 20-30 seconds on the stationary bike. The weight lifting bit is technically the slower interval here so you get the basic gist of it.

“Breaking your plateau can also mean that you’re getting closer to taking more instagram selfies with significantly lesser clothes”

image source: www.bodybuilding.com

HIIT has the benefit of triggering a hormonal response which sheds body fat as well as adds on muscle. It’s preferable not to perform HIIT exercises more than three times a week (and always AFTER your weight lifting routine) with rest days in between as it has an impact on your muscles. You should avoid performing HIIT workouts on an empty stomach as it depletes your carbohydrates stores rather quickly.

Rest assured, plateaus are a very natural part of the fitness life. Your body will get used to what you do. You have to continuously give it something new, keep it guessing and challenge it and set new limits. If you keep doing what you’ve always done, nothing will change.

There you have it folks, some tips and tricks and classic lifehacks which can trigger your body into breaking out of a fitness plateau. Worst case scenario, you’re stuck in a plateau, nothing is working for you, rob a bank, get plastic surgery, bang a stranger, become an alcoholic, develop a festering ecosystem of yet to be discovered STDs in your genitals, become a scientific success story, die a happy yet unapproachable celebrity figure.

Bending Vs. Breaking the Rules: Living Healthy Like a Real Person

Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat. You’re not a movie star. You’re not a sponsored athlete. You don’t make a living being a runway model. You’re not paid to look good. You likely lead a 9 to 5 - or a 4:30 to 11 if you’re me - kind of life. You have work, school, university, kids, responsibilities, bills, and Cairo traffic to go through. You’re a bonafide honest to God real person. And it’s fucking frustrating.

Ideally we’d all like to be paid to look like that, sadly, we can’t

You see, because of the media saturation we’re exposed to on a daily basis, we’ve gotten to a point where we think that unless we look like chiseled Greek gods, then whatever the hell we’re doing just isn’t quite cutting it. That’s why you find people cutting corners on plastic surgery, quick fat loss schemes, dangerous supplements and more. The pressure on us is just too much. But this is when you need to realize that those people who look the way they do in all those magazines and movies only look like that because they’re paid to do that. That’s their life. They don’t have a 9 to 5 job. They have someone else taking care of their kids. They have someone filling up their fridges and plates. Their bills are taken care of. They’re not you. They’re not most of us.

You NEED cheat meals in your life

I think realizing that is arguably one of the most important mental blocks one can bypass when it comes to fitness and health. How you can be the best possible - and healthiest - version of yourself while still adhering to the realities of your life with all the responsibilities that come along with it. This bring us to the topic of today’s blog post, and that’s dealing with the rules of the fitness games.

I go by a very simple rule in my life, if you’re good 80% of the time, the other 20% will not be the one to bring your progress down. That’s not to say you should indulge in those 20% either, on the contrary, you ought to view it as a reward or a treat seeing how good you were with your nutrition and exercise. Take nutrition for instance, many people, myself included, can be a bit hardheaded with their nutrition especially if they have a history of being a bit on the heavy side of the scale. They go through these phases where they fear carbs and fats and live like bunnies that regularly feast on tuna and grilled chicken. That’s not a healthy way to be. You need balance in your nutrition just as you do with everything else.

You can stray off the track, so long as you get back on it right away

You need cheat meals. Yes, need. I’ve explained it in length over previous posts regarding the hormonal and chemical effects of cheat meals. But they’re more than just mechanisms by which you can boost your metabolism, they’re mental breaks that give you a sense of freedom. Wholesome nutrition shouldn’t be restrictive so much as as it ought to be selective. You should eat better quality ingredients, with as much organically grown produce/meats/dairy as possible. It’s about feeding your body the best quality fuels in order to get the best possible results. If you’re eating right 80% of the time, the 20% when you’re improvising will not be detrimental so long as it’s not pure junk food. If you’re craving a burger, by all means, have one! Just don’t go for the McDonald’s option - because that’s about as much of a burger as my cat’s got killer instinct (he failed at killing an ant one).

Breaking the rules is when you go completely rogue. Breaking the rules is when you assume that just because you’re on vacation in the States for two weeks, you can gorge on low-quality foods like a little piglet and neglect your exercise altogether. Bending the rules is about finding that delicate balance in order to stave off madness. It’s about knowing that even though you don’t feel up to running 5 KM today or dishing out a legs day workout, or if you feel like eating a pizza, that tomorrow, you’ll get out of bed and kick ass again.

10 Tips To Help You Shred Off Blubber

Instead of the classic article/feature style I usually bestow upon you I figured that since 99% of my readers are probably inflicted with ADD it’s perhaps best if I switch to a bullet point format every now and then so your feeble minds can keep up.

Today I’ll be dishing out 10 tips for the average fitness rookie in terms of nutrition that can help you actively be on your way to torch off your body’s stored fat reserves. Keep in mind this is all supplemented by an active lifestyle which includes regular physical training at least three times a week for no less than 30 minutes per session. Here goes…

1. Organic Vs. Factory Produce

Yes they maybe a bit heavier on your wallet but not all foods are created equal. Mass produced meat, dairy and even veggies/fruits often undergo processes which aim to cut down on the time it takes for them to reach levels at which they’re ready for sale. This usually means cutting corners as well as the liberal tampering with genetics in order to produce more faster. Organic foods often contain substantially higher amounts of healthy micronutrients, more vitamins, and more goodness. Organic meat means that the bovines from which it was produced were probably grass-fed, had space to walk around and exercise their muscles - resulting in better meat that actually contains up to 70% more Omega-3 fatty acids. As long as you can pay the rent, feed the cat and still have enough change to go to the movies on weekends, your switch to organic bought food won’t be as financially detrimental as you think. Sources for organic foods in Cairo include Gourmet, Makar Farms and interestingly enough, Army outlets (they produce veggies/fruits/dairy/meats all of which is organically grown!)

2. Go For the Complex Carbs

I’ve discussed before the benefit of complex carbs over simple ones. Simple carbs trigger a spike in your insulin hormone, which is the main hormone responsible for regulating fat storage in the body. Get your insulin levels peaking beyond a certain point, and BAM, all those lovely carbs you’re gorging on were just instructed by your body to be transformed into fat for storage. Complex carbs on the other hand are excellent pre-workout food choices due to their ability to deliver energy in a sustainable manner throughout your workout and not leading to a spike in insulin and in so, avoiding the crash! Complex Carbs include sweet potatoes, potatoes, whole grains (bread/rice/pasta), legumes, oatmeals and a wide variety of vegetables. Drop the croissant and munch on that sweet potato buddy!

3. Egg it Up

Various research studies have proven that the consumption of eggs in your breakfast meal lowers your overall caloric intake throughout the day. And they’re goddamn right at it too! Eggs are one of the most complete-protein foods out there, meaning they contain all the essential amino acids required by the body for the building of muscle tissue as well as promoting satiation and curbing hunger. You can have it boiled, scrambled, sunny side up or benedit - just skip the butter!

4. Gorge On Blubber (the good kind!)

It may seem counterproductive at first, but it’s vital for you to understand that not all fat is created equal. There is good fat and bad fat just like there are good carbs and bad carbs. Good fats are usually monounsaturated and are commonly not stored in the body but used for energy instead. Those can be found in damn near every fish in the sea (think salmon!), avocados, extra virgin olive oil, peanut butter and nuts among other sources. So long as you keep your overall fat intake under 30% of your overall caloric intake (unless you’re a powerlifter), ingesting good fats as an integral part of your diet can actually help you burn off stored fat.

5. The Only Way to Go is Pro

Pro for Protein. As discussed up there with the eggs bit, protein is one macronutrient that promotes satiation, meaning that it curbs hunger and makes you - and your filthy brain - feeling fuller for longer. Ingesting a high protein diet (think 40% of overall intake) puts your body in a hypertrophy mode (muscle building) which in turns burns fat for energy. The increased consumption of protein has been directly linked with the increase in specific hormones that actively control hunger levels. Just make sure you’re ingesting quality protein from varied sources which include poultry, beef (although not as often), fish, legumes, nuts and dairy. Avoid the canned stuff, it’s low quality over-salted mass produced shit. And no, hot dogs are not proper protein. Neither are nuggets. 

6. Green Doesn’t Always Stand for the Environment

Vegetables ought to be a much bigger part of your life. You know how many ingredients go into my average salad? 17. That doesn’t even count the protein or spices/condiments I add on there. There is certainly no shortage of diversity of vegetables in Egypt. We’re blessed with the fact that in 2014, street vendors are still ferrying off the produce from local farms as opposed to trucks unloading it into supermarkets from mass production plantations. Make sure a large percentage of your carbohydrate intake comes from vegetables to reap the benefit of complex carbs, fibers, minerals and vitamins. A salad ought to resemble a painting, an explosion of color and a celebration of life, and then drizzle some balsamic vinegar on that bitch!

7. Going Nuts Doesn’t Always Mean You’re Going Crazy

Nuts are notable high in fat. But it’s good fat! That being said, that doesn’t mean you’re free to consume a kilogram of almonds undeterred. They’re still quite high in calories but they do make exceptionally good snacks/meal additives and can help curb off hunger just as much as protein can. Think a handful (dozen) mixed nuts with a side of fruit/dairy as a midday snack between meals or a dozen nuts sprinkled atop your salad for some added protein. Try and go for the raw unsalted variety which you can purchase at nuts stores (I buy mine from مقلة صلاح الدين  on Merghani st. next to Seif Pharmacy for instance and they carry raw unsalted almonds, raw unsalted cashews, unsalted roasted peanuts and unsalted roast walnuts among other things)

8. Drop The Sweets

Seems like the obvious thing to do but don’t be thinking generic candy here. Your fancy ass latte from Starbucks which you slam against your face before work can be easily adding 200-400 calories to your day and you’re not even aware of it. For some reason, most of us don’t consider liquids as containing calories, perhaps because we drink water - which has zero calories - so we assume that applies to anything else that’s not a solid. On that note, milk is not a goddamn beverage it’s a fucking meal item. Easy on that shit son.

9. Turn Your Insides Into a Swimming Pool

I ain’t talking about that eight cups of water a day shit. I’m talking three to five liters of water every day. Despite you feeling otherwise, you’re mostly water. Water that can walk and talk. So sort of like a reverse thing from what Jesus did, except not at all the same, but I digress. My point being, you ought to be drinking water every hour on the hour as long as you’re awake. Yes, that will mean a trip to the little girls’ room every 30 minutes or so, but your kidneys, brain, digestion, immunity and muscle repair functions will be eternally grateful. Consuming water 30 minutes before your meals can also facilitate digestion and lessen your overall caloric intake. Always leave your home with a nice 1.5 liters bottle at hand and whenever you’re out, skip the Pepsi and go for some H2O.

10. Spice! Spice baby!

Spice your damn food! Don’t be a flavorless fool! Look ma’ I made rhymes! I’m not talking about your pathetic salt and pepper shakers either. I’m talking chili powder, ginger powder, cumin, cinnamon, paprika, oregano, thyme, black seeds, crushed mint, mustard seeds, mixed spices and anything else you want to thrown on there. Spices that actively regulate your hormones, help increase your body’s ability to blast belly fat as well as make something as inedible as tuna become delicious!

Bonus Tip: An Apple A Day...

The old adage didn’t come out of thin air you know, apples are really a superfood, as they contain chemicals known as polyphenols which have been found to boost muscle strength, endurance, and even fat loss, especially around the abdominal region. But apples alone can get a bit boring, fruits ought to be as much a part of your diet as vegetables and protein are. Grapefruit, banana, strawberries, pears, grapes, cantaloupe, kiwis, dates and many more (although not all at once you bad boy you!) can provide your body with a steady stream of fibers, minerals, vitamins and a healthy sugar rush!

I hope this has been somewhat helpful for you, if anything to give you some basic pointers about what you should be doing and what you should be avoiding. Bonne chance!

Got Legs? Leg Workouts for Beginners

This one needn’t be long or complicated. It is after all, for beginners.

So a lot of you are new to the whole fitness game thing. That’s cool. Welcome to what could be the best self-loathing addiction of a lifetime you’ve ever signed up for.

I’m going to save you a whole heap of trouble right now and let you know that if your newbie ass is skipping on legs workout for the purpose of focusing solely on upper body development, then congratulations, you are royally fucking yourself. Do you want to end up as Johnny Bravo? Good as his hair looks, you may or may not have actually noticed the fact he never actually gets the girl. Guess why? Chicken bitch ass legs. That’s why.

That seems sexist in retrospect. As though all my readers are teenage males. They probably are. But for political correctness’ sake let’s assume you’re a reader of the female variety. That’s right, a vagina owner. Reading this. Right now. On my blog. I knew it would happen if I waited long enough! I gotta call my mom and let her know!

So ladies, did you know that in order to get that crazy ass Brazilian booty, then exercises such as squats are your new BFFs? Weight lifting creates muscles, which in turn stretches your skin, burns fat and gets that booty poppin’ and those legs rockin’!

Keep in mind, this post isn’t a biblical text on all things legs. Merely an introduction to the most basic (yet most influential) exercises to perform to build a solid foundation. Now that we’ve given you reason and motif, let’s get down to business!

Squats = Booty + Strength + Shape + Glory

Hands down, there is no single compound exercise that delivers more impact all over your lower body than your classic squats. As a compound exercise, it activates multiple muscle groups simultaneously, resulting in the release of Growth Hormone [GH] (famous for its ability to torch stored fat and add muscle mass). Squats trigger your quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, hip flexors, calves and even your core into action. As one of the classic compound workouts, it’s also a classic mass gainer. If you have a flabby ass or shabby legs, this is the exercise to perform to counteract that.

The exercise can be performed with your very own body weight (with numerous variations) or free weights using a barbell (front or back) or dumbbells. You can also use the smith machine or the leg press machines for the same results (albeit with less impact on your stabilizer muscles and core)

Squats are all about the perfect form:

1. Make sure your feet are shoulder width if you’re performing a classic squat (especially if you’re going heavy with the weights).
2. Make sure your knees never extend beyond your feet on your way down.
3. Make sure to inhale going down and exhale going up.
4. Make sure that the motion is coming from your hips and that you’re squeezing your glutes to get back up.
5. Make sure you don’t over-extend beyond the 90 degrees angle on your way down.
6. Make sure to trigger your core into action by focusing on using it for stabilization when using free weights.

Lunges = Definition + Loud cursing + More Glory

At first glance, lunges may appear ridiculous, like they’re meant as some sort of warm up exercise or a stretch. Do not be mistaken youngling, this exercise will give you a run for your money. Big time.

This one is also a compound exercise with arguably more localized focus on the hamstrings and glutes than anything else but it still activates muscle fibers all over your legs. This exercise is notable among gym goers and Leg day addicts for the “cuts” or definition it brings about one’s legs. Squats may add the size, but lunges give it the tone!

Lunges are - like all exercises ought to be - all about that right form. Getting both your legs in the 90 degrees angle is crucial to both maximize the benefit of the exercise as well as to stave off possible injury or imbalances. That being said, some experts argue that changing your angle of descent (by expanding or narrowing how far apart your legs are from each other) can impact your individual muscles differently with narrow descents focusing more on the quads and hamstrings while the wider strides give your glutes the workout of a lifetime.

If you’ve always skipped legs day or just never saw the purpose behind those workouts, I hope the above has managed to persuade you to at least give it a shot sometime this week.

Let me know how it goes, and above all, perform everything in perfect form, have an experienced lifter show you how it’s done, and stay safe!

Cheat Meals: What’s the deal yo?

You’ll notice that the title reads “Cheat MEALS” not “Cheat Days”. If you hadn’t, you are now acutely aware of it.

Nutrition is 80% of this whole fitness thing, in case you didn’t know that already. Exercise is merely the trigger, but the actual outcome is shaped largely by the foods you eat. Cheat meals ought to be a planned part of your nutrition and diet plan. The trick with utilizing cheat meals, in addition to the psychological benefit of gorging, is understanding how they really work and how they can actually be a positive aid in your fitness regime.

Let’s do some quick sciencing for your young minds first shall we?

Fact: You have a hormone in your body known as “Leptin” which has an integral role in regulating energy intake and expenditure. Leptin is largely fueled by the influx of sugars and carbohydrates into the bloodstream and directly boosts metabolism and fat burning in the body. Now that I mention that, it’s important to get back to the original point of it being a cheat meal rather than a cheat day. Leptin is a hormone that takes a single meal to spike its levels in the body and can take up to a week to drop; meaning that’s it’s easy to boost and remains with you for a while. Leptin is so important in fact, that people (or animals) who are unable to produce it or build up a tolerance to it are more likely to be obese!

This is Leptin. Say Hi Leptin! [Image source: Wikipedia]

You see, your nutrition should be clean 90% of the time in order to really supply your body with quality ingredients that end up producing desired results on account of your fitness regimen. Eating too much “junk” food would however result in a spiked insulin that can lead to increased fat storage and a heap of other ailments which can include diabetes on the long run. That’s the real trick in relation to cheat meals, it’s about giving it a boost every now and then so that you’re not constantly causing a spike in Leptin which would only result in increased tolerance and decreased efficiency.

Cheat meals, a once a day - once or twice a week - occurrence on the other hand, end up regulating your Leptin levels - which can take up to a week to drop - by raising them almost instantly. So this should be part of your nutrition arsenal, once or twice a week, in one of your day’s four to five meals, you should include something sinful, but don’t get too excited.

You see, a cheat meal, while a moment of indulgence that puts your mind at ease as much as it does your Leptin levels, does not necessarily have to mean that’s junk food. The trick with cheat meals is eating stuff that still provide some nutritional benefit of sorts. Think burgers, pizza or shawerma, just make sure it ticks off all the boxes in terms of the proteins, carbs and fats ratios so that you’re not just stuffing your face with a chocolate cake that - while absolutely delicious - isn’t doing you much benefit past the indulgence bit. Another thing to take into consideration is the quality of your cheat meal, have your burger, absolutely, but you should skip out on the fries. This ties back to the concept of benefit I just mentioned. French fries serve little nutritional benefit, I’d rather you eat sweet potato fries - but do try and skip on fried foods altogether is possible or at least make them yourself instead of going out to eat them or using processed pre-packaged versions.

[Image source: Twitter]

Plan your cheat meals ahead. Make them a joyous occasion. They are a reward for the mind as much as they are for the body. Two weeks ago, my cheat meal was a double burger from Mince with a side of sweet potato and a salad. The week after it was two shawerma sandwiches, this week it was 450 grams of sirloin steak with similar sides. Next week I’m planning to make tacos with shredded chicken and the whole Mexican shebang!

Cheal meals can be a powerful weapon in your arsenal, suffice that you understand how they work, their psychological and biological importance, and how you can utilize them for your benefit.

Oh, and do try and place them on the day of the week you’re actually working out you tub of lard.

The Flipside of the Fitness Coin: Dealing with Exercise-related Injuries

Let’s get one thing real fucking straight here. You are not invincible. It may feel otherwise at times, especially after dishing out an exercise you never thought yourself incapable of completing, but trust me when I say, the human body is a fragile and weak sack of liquid filled flesh. You are weaksauce.

That being said, a lot of us don’t really know what do in terms of tackling an injury brought about by exercise. It can be a twisted ankle, a stubbed toe, a fractured wrist, a torn muscle or lower back pain. It can be anything, and therein lies the biggest risk.

The majority of injuries at the gym result from performing an exercise in poor form or loading too much weight too soon. But dealing with an injury is more about taming your ego above all else. Many of us will feel that the injury is not severe enough and that we can “man up” and “push through the pain” and that it’ll be better in a few days. Some of us shrug off the injury altogether and refuse to admit we’re even affected. And let me tell you, you’re setting yourself up for a lovely main course of “fucking yourself up” with a side of “are you fucking kidding me?”

The most important thing to do is to identify the injury. Identify the affected body part and ideally have a general idea about what caused it. The key to tackling any injury is knowing once it’s happened and being very honest with yourself about it. Depending on the severity, you may need to pay your local physician a visit if it requires such a drastic intervention.

Next up is the aforementioned taming. You need to realize - now that you’ve identified your injury and its cause - that you may be out for a few weeks. But it’s not necessarily all darkness and woes. If it’s your arm that’s injured, your legs are very much capable of giving you leg, abdominal and cardiovascular training to keep you in shape while your arms recover to whisk you back into working on your upper body. If, alternatively, your lower body is affected by an injury then it might be a good time to switch to upper body workouts for a while to keep moving and not let the momentum go to waste.

Obviously this only applies to minor injuries such as a twisted ankle or wrist. If your doctor advises you against any form of exercise then you fucking listen. Some injuries can be drastic enough to require surgical intervention and subsequent months of physio-therapy to rehabilitate the affected body part. If your doctor says you have to put your leg or your arm in a cast, you fucking do it. If he says you should rub this lotion on there, you do it. If he says you should take suppositories for your injury, you ask your mother for help.

Leave your goddamn ego at the door when it comes to injuries. It won’t do you any good being proud and clinging hard onto your gains. So what if you lose some muscle mass or gain some fat or compromise some strenght? You’ll get it back when you’re up and running again. One of the most beautiful things about the human body is its ability to adapt rapidly. You’ll be back where you left off, and you’ll exceed it.