Using The Belt Squat to Train Around Pain.
Using The Belt Squat to Train Around Pain
After @erinaliciaguiney1 suffered an upper body injury we had to get creative to find a way to load her without stressing her right arm. The ‘belt squat’ is a great lateralization for someone who in unable to hold a load with the upper body.
Here we simply used a couple 12” boxes and a chin up belt to hang a kettlebell between the legs. I particularly love exercises like this because it’s a great reminder that there are so many creative ways to train around pain. An injury only represents a small portion of the whole athlete. Being injured does not mean training needs to stop. Consistent, pain-free training can have numerous humoral, hormonal and psychological benefits that support healing
There is ample research showing that training the unaffected limbs during injury can expedite the healing and retraining process on the injured limb. Just two weeks of inactivity with an immobilized limb, can lead to a 33% loss in strength. Conversely, training the opposite limb during immobilization has been shown to improve strength on the untrained limb by 7-11%.
Injury in one area shouldn’t mean atrophy everywhere else. If something is injured, don’t just jump on the shelf. Get creative and find effective, pain free ways to to train. Maintaining your fitness is too important for your overall health and you can actually help your injured side heal faster!