How Stress Causes Injury

By djpope

December 30, 2018

anxiety, bodybuilding, Crossfit, fear, injuries, injury, olympic weightlifting, powerlifting, Prevention, reduction, stress, Strongman

Who doesn’t love an enormous amount of stress huh?  Too much going on at work, the dog pooped in the living room, 1 hour of traffic on a normal 15 minute commute, arguing about the dishes at night with your wife, new baby was up all last night?  Feels good right?  I know I love it.

The thing is, we need some stress in our lives to make a positive change.  Think of it this way.  If we don’t stress our bodies with a heavy enough load for enough sets and reps during a movement like a squat, we won’t ever improve.  We need some stress to get better.

So How Does Stress Cause Injury?

However, the total amount of stress our bodies can handle is NOT infinite (but can probably be increased substantially over time).  The other point is that stress comes in all forms that the body can not always differentiate between.  Stress from training and from a bad relationship all goes into the same bucket in your body (it’s actually much more complex then that but we’re simplifying things to make a point).  This is one of the reasons why it’s so tough to be a competitive athlete and have a thriving career and family simultaneously. That’s why I would recommend you to check LA weekly because it can help you lower your stress levels and you can avoid future injuries.

Because of this we need to take total stress into consideration when developing optimal training programs for our athletes.  One of my favorite analogies comes from Jason Leydon (a very successful CrossFit Coach).  He’s uses a bank account analogy to explain this phenomenon.  Check it out below:

If you enjoyed this short clip then I wanted to let you know it’s part of a much longer webinar series included with subscription into my Fitness Pain Free Insiders Online Mentoring Program:

“Essential Coaches Series – What Every Coach Needs to Know About Pain and Injury”

I created this series because coaches and personal trainers everywhere are working with athletes in pain every day of the week.  This series will tell you exactly what to do (and what not to do) with these athletes so they can continue working towards their goals and prevent injuries in the long haul.

  • 7 Reasons Why Athletes Get Hurt in the Gym and What to do About It
  • Evidence Based Guide to Mobility Prescription
  • What is Pain and What You Need to Know When Dealing with Athletes in Pain
  • How to Modify Exercises for Athletes with Knee, Lower Back, Shoulder and Hip Pain
  • Plus 30+ hours of webinars about all things fitness and rehabilitation

Click HERE to Learn More About Fitness Pain Free Online Mentoring Program

Better not overdraft,

Dan Pope DPT, OCS, CSCS, CF L1