Day 753: sadboi

fitness

current status: INJURED

the recent forearm splint ended up being the initial domino that has led to several other injuries:

  • sprained the A2 pulley in my right ring finger while climbing today
  • the outside of my left elbow is aching
  • outside of my left wrist was hurting when i made a fist (comes and goes)
  • and of course, the forearm splint in my left arm

thankfully none of these are severe, but i am still bummed that my body is breaking down in so many ways so quickly. let’s go through them one by one:

pulley sprain

not sure what happened, but the proximal phalanx on my ring finger started hurting while climbing with frank today. i was a bit iffy about climbing today given that i did hangboard training two days ago (you usually want two full days of rest between climbing/training sessions if you’re hangboarding) but i figured it wouldn’t be that bad. well, i was wrong.

looked up information on pulley injuries and it turns out that injuring the A2 pulley on the ring finger is the most common injury for climbers, and surprise surprise, that’s exactly where it hurts.

now here’s the fun part: the recommended time to return to full climbing activities for a pulley sprain is… 6 weeks.

six. weeks.

the recommendation does say that you can start easy climbing after 4 weeks but that before that, you should be doing functional exercises.

my initial reaction reading that was: “there is no way in heck that i’m taking 4-6 weeks off from climbing.” and even when i step back to try to look at my injury more objectively (impossible to do but i’m trying), it doesn’t seem like this injury is bad enough to merit taking that much time off. there’s slight tenderness, but i still have full range of motion. it seems like a very small partial tear.

but there’s also this: i may be a sadboi now, but i’m going to be devastated boi if i actually injure it further and need to take months off

so here’s the plan: take a full week off from climbing while i learn more about how pulleys work and proper treatment

  • maybe i can do drills that only involve my left hand?
  • oh god, taking a full week off from both planche and climbing with the likelihood of needing to take off more time makes me sad but remember dk, it’s only january. drop the ego and optimize for the long-term

tennis elbow

this one’s surprising because climbers typically get golfer’s elbow (tendonitis on the inside of the elbow) rather than tennis elbow (tendonitis on the outside of the elbow). but for whatever reason, the outside of my elbow is aching.

not clear to me what is causing this, but i am doing a lot of straight arm work (planche, lever) so maybe that’s related?

not sure how to address this one and what to let off of so just gonna watch it closely

wrist pain

after doing some handstand drills this morning (which made my forearm splint flare up a tiny bit but it was a dull ache rather than a sharp pain), i noticed that the outside of my left wrist hurt when i made a fist. it seemed to go away after doing some rice bucket drills. going to just keep an eye out for this

forearm splint

avoiding planche work for now, but wondering whether i should cut out all activities that put pressure on the wrists (pike pushups, handstand drills). also not sure exactly what rehab is useful here because some sources say you should strengthen flexion while others say you should strengthen extension so i’m just going to do both. hoping i don’t injure myself more going too hard on the rehab…?

overall thoughts

okay, obviously having my body crumble like this is no fun but i can see a very clear silver lining here. all of these injuries feel fairly minor, and it’s great motivation to learn more about these injuries and how to prevent them in the future. i’d rather have these close calls now and learn to bulletproof my body rather than suffer a major injury later and actually be out for several months.

which makes me wonder: what areas have i not injured yet that is commonly injured in the activities i do? SHOULDERS. even though my shoulders feel fine, i’m going to devote more time to learning to strengthen and increase mobility in the shoulders to prevent injury there as well.

the big takeaway: i’ve clearly been overtraining. i’ve been working out every single day, and although i tried to program my routine in a way where i’m providing rest days between working the same muscle groups and movements, my recovery is not at a place where my body can keep up with the load i’m placing on it.

this is also due in part to the fact that i’ve been on a 500 calorie deficit to try to lose a pound a week (which hasn’t even been working well recently — i think my metabolism has slowed down or my body has adapted in other ways because i stopped losing weight even while limiting myself to 1500-1600 calories).

i’m training hard and not giving my body enough nutrients to support itself. of course i’m getting injured.

so let’s do this right.

  • until i feel 100% again, i’m going to stop my cut and eat around maintenance to promote healing

  • i’m going to research the heck out of all these injuries and put together a routine to prevent them in the future / strengthen my weak links

  • i’m going to scale back my training intensity to go very slowly rather than pushing myself in every workout

    • also considering going back to body by rings (hypertrophy routine) for the time being while i better learn to ease into skill work

i’m hoping that in a month, i’ll feel 100% and be better equipped both in terms of knowledge and physical ability to continue with my training in a more sustainable and injury-free way. the idea of “losing” a month feels painful, but it’s also a great opportunity to invest in other areas like mobility and injury prevention that will serve me for the rest of my life

marathon, not a sprint

drop the ego and train for the long-term!