If you’ve spent months or years building fitness and then get injured, your primary goal should be to minimize how much fitness you lose as you allow your injured tissues to heal.
If you’ve just started your fitness journey, the last thing we want is for an injury to be the exit ramp that gets you out of the gym instead of continuing to see the life-changing impacts that happen in CrossFit affiliates.
Regardless of your fitness level, “just rest” is rarely the best advice following an injury. While research shows CrossFit isn’t more dangerous than other fitness activities, injuries can happen. This article provides strategies to help you stay active in the gym, minimize fitness loss, and combat the long-term consequences of inactivity.
Assuming the injury isn’t catastrophic and doesn’t impact multiple areas of your body, implement the following three strategies as you heal.
Vary Your Exercises
A simple way to train around an injury is to use a variation of the affected movement pattern. For instance, slight adjustments in squat variations, as shown below, can significantly change body positioning.
If you have hip pain, switching from back squats to front squats may allow for heavier loading without aggravating symptoms because of the more upright torso position that challenges hip mobility less.
Similarly, swapping equipment — using dumbbells or kettlebells instead of a barbell — can offer greater flexibility in movement. For example, during an overhead press, dumbbells enable you to adjust hand position and arm angles to find pain-free ranges of motion compared to a barbell that puts you in a more fixed position.
Adjust Your Range of Motion
Another effective approach is limiting your range of motion to avoid painful positions. While training through a full range of motion is ideal when healthy, partial-range training remains valuable when necessary.
For example, instead of performing a bench press, which involves significant shoulder extension, you could try a floor press. This alternative eliminates the bottom range of motion, reducing strain while still building pressing strength. Over time, this can help maintain or rebuild your full bench press capacity.
If you experience pain at just the top portions of an overhead press, substituting for a landmine press will allow you to get a vertical pressing stimulus that respects your body’s current capabilities.
Change the Tempo
Adjusting lifting speed can increase training intensity without using heavier weights. If you can’t tolerate maximal loads, slowing down the tempo can make lighter weights more challenging. This approach also allows you to refine your technique and identify form adjustments to reduce discomfort.
While this works best during strength training, it may not be ideal for conditioning workouts (met-cons), as it alters metabolic demands. Be sure to work closely with your coaches to find the best options for you during these types of workouts.
When Your Injury is Significant
For more severe injuries, additional modifications may be necessary. These three strategies will help prevent further issues while supporting your long-term recovery and performance.
#1 – Train Neighboring Muscles
When a muscle or joint needs complete rest, neighboring muscles can still be strengthened to prevent deconditioning. For instance:
- After a hamstring strain, deadlifts may be too painful, but hip thrusts can maintain glute strength without stressing the hamstring.
- With a strained pectoral muscle, focusing on tricep exercises like press-downs or skull crushers can help maintain upper-body strength.
#2 – Keep Your Heart Pumping
If loading the affected area isn’t feasible, focus on improving your cardiovascular fitness. According to CrossFit’s Theoretical Hierarchy of Development, metabolic conditioning takes precedence over gymnastics, weightlifting, and sport. To stay active, use low-impact equipment like a bike erg, air bike, or rower.
Example Workouts:
- 45 minutes of steady state2 cardio (sustainable effort where you can hold a conversation)
- 4 rounds of 500-meter row with 3:1 rest intervals
- Every 3 minutes for 10 rounds: 20-second max-calorie row
#4 – Practice Contralateral Side Training
This final strategy applies when a muscle or joint can’t be used at all. For example, after an orthopedic surgery or fracture. Some research suggests that strength training on the uninjured side helps athletes maintain more strength on the injured limb than if they didn’t train at all.
While this may sound like a recipe for becoming muscularly imbalanced, the opposite appears to be true. This is likely because strength gains come from larger muscles (hypertrophy) and our nervous system’s ability to coordinate muscles to work together (neural adaptations). By continuing to train the uninjured side, you’ll continue to build your neuromuscular coordination, which will pay off significantly when you’re fully recovered.
At my practice, we often say, “Use the gym … don’t leave the gym.” You’ve worked hard to build your fitness, and an injury doesn’t have to mean stepping away from progress. Use these strategies to stay active, maintain your health, and continue improving without further aggravating your injury.
About the Author
Zach Long is a Doctor of Physical Therapy at Onward Physical Therapy, the founder of TheBarbellPhysio.com, and co-founder of PerformancePlusProgramming.com. He specializes in mobility, strength, and prehab programming for fitness athletes. He is passionate about helping athletes optimize performance and prevent injury through evidence-based strategies and expert coaching.
Training Through Injury: Smart Strategies to Stay Fit and Recover Faster