Are You Really Fighting to Take a Few Weeks Off From Training? Why?

By: Brian Carroll

There really is no such thing as training ‘around’ an injury in powerlifting. You can put a band-aid on it or mitigate it but nothing works quite like time off to heal. And by time off – Complete time off is key.  Keep this in mind.

First of all – I can speak with authority on the subject as I’ve put my time in and been banged up more than once, injured and really hurt a few times. I’ve done things correctly but I’ve also many times done things completely wrong. I’ve been an impatient child thinking that the world was going to end taking a month or two off from lifting.  In the big picture, what is a couple months off?

I get it, you are hungry to make progress in training and time away is like the worst thing in the world, like ever right? I know this as well as anyone lifting pretty much – I’ve dealt with the ups and downs of the powerlifting grind. I also have outlasted most all lifters who ‘came up’ with me in the early 2000’s in the Multi-ply game. Some of this has been luck (genetics) but a lot of it is listening to my body and not being afraid of taking time off.

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I know many people say this (and it gets old hearing it trust me I know) but many medical professionals said I WAS done, and one of them is very important. Now here is the difference – any normal doctor with common sense will tell you this with just a torn muscle or a herniated disc or 2. STOP LIFTING BLAH BLAH –and they aren’t wrong. They are supposed to tell you this.  Even better, they will tell you this even before you start lifting or while you’re 100% injury free. No way would they ever suggest getting to 5% bodyfat or squat 1200lb. It’s just not what they do. In my case – I was told by the foremost low back expert in the world (one that understands the spine and performance the best) that I was pretty much used up and had nothing left athletic wise in my spine from years of use and abuse. The only guy that could potentially fix me told me this, keep this in mind.  “Well, I’ll be honest with you, you’re about there right now (retirement)”.

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So, when I hear people going crazy and crying about having to take a little bit of time off to get better from a strained bicep or sore back, with a very short recovery and potentially avoid devastating consequences, I have zero empathy, especially if it’s something very minor and something of little significance in the big picture.

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But, I won’t say it’s always easy, I lived it. It’s not easy but it is simply part of growing and maturing. If you play, you pay.

Prior to maturing a bit and gaining an understanding/realizing what is most important in life (I was forced to do all of this, not asked), I breathed, lived, ate, shit and slept powerlifting – the squat, bench, dead and total. This was at its peak about 10 (2006) years as I was hitting my first official squat over 1000 in comp in the 220 weight class and had the biggest squat in history in the 220 class with 1030. I wasn’t going to slow down.  No way, I was in a hurry. But the question is –what was I in a hurry for? Where was I going? I can tell you now where I was heading…

I was 25 – rest? What do you mean time off? Why? I must seize the moment!

Well, instead of rest and downtime, I pushed harder than coming off my best meet at 220 in November 2006 where I went tied for first at the WPC Worlds/ WPO Semis with a 2376 total at 220 (Frankl and I tied). I took a week or two of downtime and then prior to the 2007 Arnold and destroyed myself, crashed and burned. I was training ‘around’ (there’s really no such thing) an upper back injury that happened during a big squat in training prior to the WPC Worlds. It got so bad that before every training session, I had someone inject my rhomboids/traps with different lidocaines (and other stuff) both short and fast acting to dull the pain from just putting a squat bar on my back. Yes, I really did this.  What was I actually doing (aside from the obvious) I was destroying the injured area even more. Just masking the pain and treating the symptoms, not the injured area.

What am I getting at?

The bottom line is you need to take rest before you are forced to. Just like you don’t wait to change your oil until after your head gasket blows, you want(need) to take care of it (anything) before it’s too late. Recently,  I saw a prominent figure in the strength world crying about lifters posting about time off and deloads. I’m sorry, but no nutrition, rest, drugs or perfect training program will substitute for simply resting and taking downtime. Keep in mind –  This was coming from NOT ONLY one of the most Platform underachieving gurus ever but also one if not the most beat up and wrecked, physically. I think the mentality goes well with his physical damage, but what do I know?

Here is something most don’t think about – Taking time off is PART OF ANY GOOD TRAINING PROGRAM—–

Why do people freak the F out when they are told to take a few weeks off? I don’t get it. This is an investment in YOUR body so you can not only feel better, SO YOU CAN PERFORM BETTER, Last more than a year or two at your best etc. This is to benefit you, not to ruin your life. I get that training is an outlet for a lot of people but you have to control YOURSELF when things are out of YOUR control.  Do you get it?  You are in control of your thoughts and what you do with them. If this is a weakness (like one of mine in the past) it’s time to get mentally stronger and sharpen your mind in the interim.  Your sharper mind will benefit you when your body catches up.

Training around an injury – my thoughts – you are not hardcore.

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You know by now that I had to take close to a year off when it was all said and done to come back properly and hit the numbers that I wanted.  It was very hard to do but with my initial comeback from severe back injury – recovery for my BACK was the most important thing for me. Not my bench (I didn’t bench at all for five months or more) not my arm size or strength and certainly not my leg size and strength —  Why? None of that mattered if I didn’t recover properly so all the focus was on that very issue. Being pain-free in life was #1.

The only way to ensure proper healing is to take the time off necessary and listen to your medical professional as far as the way you proceed. If you don’t trust your medical professional, then when in the world did you see them in the first place. Find someone who deals with similar cases as yours.

I see people all over social media who are post-surgery and coming back very fast. Too fast – as I pose above – what is the RUSH?? Do you feel like people are going to forget about you? The best way to prevent this is to kill it when you return while being 100%.

What about the ones who bench with one arm,  deadlift with one hand/arm or squat with no hands or insert what you have seen here with a tow strap on social. When you are in a weakened state (if you are going through rehab, post-surgery basically just not 100%) it’s more than just a good idea to let your body rest.  Chances are, you are susceptible to even more injury(s).

Recently, I was talking with the guys (Adam, Keith, Byrd, and others) the other day and it comes down to (my) two reasons as to why rushing back or doing movements with restrictions is not necessary.  This isn’t even about hurting yourself during the process, it’s about reality. Some don’t seem to try to live in this one.

  1. If you are at the level where you feel you need to push it hard no matter if you just got off the surgeon’s table and have to maintain your ‘strength levels” then you DO have the ability to come back quickly because chances are you not only need this rest but will COME BACK STRONGER. If you have put in the time, it always comes back fast.
  2. If you aren’t the above example and aren’t at a certain level from years of being in the mix, then you have ZERO business doing any of that monkey shit anyway. You haven’t put in enough time or effort to lose anything substantial anyway and have no true reason to be doing any of the sorts.
  3. I’m not even going to go into the imbalance issues and liability of tearing something else off while hyper compensating for doing something that is not really ideal nor are you used to while in a weakened state.

 

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With that said, I understand as much as anyone wanting to come back as fast as possible and wanting to bring up weaknesses but you have to use your brain. Is the juice worth the squeeze? Are you setting yourself back in the long run because you’re impatient? Can you cause yourself more injury? A new injury? Are you holding your body back from healing properly due to stressing it during its weakened and recovering state?

These questions are something you must ask yourself when coming back from an injury. Injuries do suck, but nothing is a life sentence, except for stupidity. That will end you.

Want to know more about 10/20/Life? Get the e-book HERE.

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Brian Carroll

Owner and Founder at PowerRackStrength.com
Brian is a retired world-class powerlifter with over two decades of world-class powerlifting. From 1999 to 2020, Brian Carroll was a competitive powerlifter, one of the most accomplished lifters in the sport's history. Brian started off competing in bench press competitions 'raw,' then, shortly into the journey, he gravitated toward equipped lifting as there were no "raw" categories then. You only had to choose from single-ply (USPF) and Multi-ply (APF/WPC). Brian went on to total 2730 at 275 and 2651 at 242 with more than ten times his body weight in three different classes (220, 242, 275), and both bench pressed and deadlifted over 800 pounds in two other weight classes. He's totaled 2600 over 20 times in 2 different weight classes in his career. With 60 squats of 1000lbs or more officially, this is the most in powerlifting history, regardless of weight class or federation, by anyone not named David Hoff. Brian realized many ups and downs during his 20+ years competing. After ten years of high-level powerlifting competition and an all-time World Record squat at 220 with 1030, in 2009, Brian was competing for a Police academy scholarship. On a hot and humid July morning, Brian, hurdling over a barricade at 275lbs, landed on, fell, and hurt his back. After years of back pain and failed therapy, Brian met with world-renowned back specialist Prof McGill in 2013, which changed his trajectory more than he could have imagined. In 2017, Brian Carroll and Prof McGill authored the best-selling book about Brian's triumphant comeback to powerlifting in Gift of Injury. Most recently (10.3.20) -Brian set the highest squat of all time (regardless of weight class) with 1306 lbs – being the first man to break the 1300lb squat barrier at a bodyweight of 303 lbs.
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