Get fit they say. Stop smoking they say. Lose weight they say.

If you want someone to tell you what you should do, you'll find an abundance of people who advise things like, do more exercise, lose some weight, maybe quit smoking.

All good advice.

But, there is another type of advice that is much more rare until after its too late. Advice like, don't train too much because you can cause yourself permanent injury without any warning. Or, if you smoke, there's a chance you'll get out of breath and have to stop before busting something, but if you quit smoking, you'll find it far easier to over work your muscles and tendons and damage them.

But anyway. Here's me. Fitter than I've been in at least 20 years, but carrying a number of tendon injuries that have developed steadily over time. I'm told things can just snap, but usually they start off as nothing more than a slight twinge and gradually get worse.

So here's the catch. This is where I'm hoping for some advice and opinions.

Some of my injuries would recover faster if I were 3 stone lighter. Basically, I'd be putting less load on injured tendons. But, to speed recovery, the injuries need spare protein. If I go into calorie deficit to lose weight, most of the protein in my diet will simply be turned into carbs to fuel me.

So how do you combine weight loss with still getting the nutrition needed to repair long term injury?

 

We have a drink supplement here called Boost. It has a selection that are high protein, low calorie.

I bought some recently on a recommendation from the medical staff, for my 74 year old friend in the home to help heal pressure sores.

Hopefully something this exists over there to help you.

Then chat with the man in the mirror a bit about what really works the best for you and those wonderful children of yours looking to you for a role model.

Do it until your damaged...... please stop hurting your body.

Grambo has spoken

 

I am at my lightest for over 20 years, I follow a low carb high fat diet, lots of protein.

 

Only a suggestion but it might be worth investing in a little professional advice from say your local gym. More often than not they will have fitness trainers who should be qualified to advise you on what types of exercises to do and how often/best diet to achieve what you want etc.
I was (very much the accent on the was!) a professional tennis player and was constantly trying to get the balance right between being very fit/strong and not over doing it and getting injured. In my day you didn't have personal trainers who travelled around with you to tournaments as they do nowadays. Everybody is different so I'd be loathed to recommend the various powdered protein supplements/dietary aids that are out there.
You suggest that you have already managed to damage yourself by perhaps doing too much/not the right exercises for the stage you are at. Yes to get improvement you have to push things but not to the extent of tearing muscles badly or pulling tendons which if badly pulled never really recover 100% (bit like knicker elastic, stretched too far it never recovers!)
I know my daughter who is very very fit had a few sessions with a personal trainer who diagnosed a problem with her shoulders (caused by years and years of riding horses). Within about a month of doing the exercises prescribed her shoulders are dramatically better, so money well spent. The gym she goes to caters for all ages and sizes, not just the pretty young people! If you don't know of a good gym or have friends who might know, perhaps you might ask at your doctors? They might be able to suggest the right 1 to go to which is a proper gym, not a posing palace!

 

My theory, everything in moderation☺

 

I hear what you're all saying. But here's the problem.

I was on a slippery downhill slope before I started training. Training has actually helped reduce or eliminate many of my niggles and concerns. So I know it is doing a lot of good.

I train in an environment where others before me have made mistakes, learned from them, and now try to prevent others, including me, from making the same mistakes. Ironically I now find myself pulling up less experienced students for bad form that will lead to injury.

So I have all the support in place. I've drastically changed my approach to training to aid recovery and reduce load. It's now just a matter of finding the balance between weight reduction and getting enough nutrition to repair the damage. I know it will take months. I'm at ease with that.

 

Then all I'll say to that is stick with it

 

Any extreme sport will take it's toll over time.
Your body pains(tendons) are trying to tell you something.

 

True. But I'm not really participating in extreme sports.

I practice a martial art style that is similar to karate. About 90% of it is no more energetic or strenuous than something you'd find in any council leisure centre like boxercise or zumba. In fact for the most part, those things are probably more intensive as much of our training focuses on posture and movement more than throwing bodies around.

Everyone knows that martial arts training carries a risk of injury. But what is less obvious up front is the types and causes of injury. People think they might accidentally get kicked or thrown too hard. They might. It's rare. More likely a slight error in a technique leads to an unhealthy distribution of force through the various joints and muscles. Just like the risk of carpal tunnel syndrome from using a keyboard, these minor, unnoticeable errors lead to a build up of fatigue, leading to gradual injury.

For the first 2 years of my training, my attitude was to go hell for leather. Speed and power over style. That's why I'm broken. Now I pay constant attention to technique. Even if that makes me slower. This way forces are correctly distributed through the body in the way the body was designed to take it. It's helping and I am improving. I'm now on a mission of constant improvement in terms of technique, rest cycles, nutrition etc. It takes time.

 

I love that quote. Shame the pic shows a master of the modern korean art of hapkido teaching the ancient Chinese art of kung fu to a kid in a film named after the relatively modern Japanese art of karate

But the quote is good (as is Jackie Chan). I also like, a black belt is just a white belt that never gave up, and a journey of 1000 miles begins beneath your feet.

 

Clueless, apparently, 3 hours gardening is the equivelent of a 1 hour intensive workout in a gym.