The 2 Best Things to Train When You’re Injured

The 2 Best Things to Train When You’re Injured

Today, we're going to talk about why the BEST thing to do when you're injured is to train these 2 things: 

1) Areas that are NOT injured

2) Movements that you genuinely enjoy

Here's why.

When you’re injured, or even just dealing with ongoing persistent pain, one thought tends to dominate everything else:

“I know for a fact I can’t do that.”

That movement might be your squat. Your deadlift. Your overhead press. Maybe it’s running, jumping, or getting into the bottom of a snatch. Whatever it is, the moment pain shows up, your brain highlights the limitation in bold.

And once that happens, a cascade of other thoughts follows. Usually, it’s actually unconscious! 

• How long should I rest?
• Maybe I shouldn’t be doing that other lift either…
• I’m afraid to load this — what if I make it worse?
• How long is this going to take to heal?
• Is this something serious?
• Am I losing all my progress right now?
• Should I just take a few weeks off?
• What if this never feels the same again?

We know that injuries affect tissues… but, what we don’t realize, is that it’s not affecting the tissues NEARLY as much as it’s affecting our confidence, mood, and identity in our sport. 

The question most people don’t know how to answer is this:

What should I still be doing? What would be most helpful, productive, and safe right now?

What Most People Do, And Why It Backfires

In the absence of clarity in how we should train during injury, most people default to avoidance.

They stop squatting — which might make sense temporarily…. But then they stop deadlifting, even if deadlift wasn’t the problem… Then they start second-guessing other movements, before finally deciding “Maybe I should just take some time off.” And before long, they aren’t training at all.

They don’t even show up to the gym — not because they’re lazy or unmotivated — but because pain in one or two movements creates uncertainty around everything else.

Especially after an acute injury, that uncertainty can feel paralyzing. If you don’t know what’s safe, it feels safer to do nothing.

But here’s the problem: Complete rest rarely takes you from point A (injured) to point B (resilient and strong again). It may temporarily calm symptoms, but it doesn’t rebuild capacity.

The Best Thing You Can Do:

Train... specifically:

1) Areas that are not injured

2) Movements that you genuinely enjoy

That combination is incredibly powerful.

When you train uninjured regions, you maintain strength, muscle mass, coordination, and work capacity. You also preserve your identity as someone who trains — which matters more than most people realize.

When you train movements you enjoy, you maintain buy-in. You keep showing up. You prevent injury from becoming isolation.

A Real Example

I worked with an athlete who developed significant low back and hip pain. Our long-term goal – she needed to return to squatting confidently and without symptoms. But getting there wasn’t going to happen by staying home and “waiting it out.”

Instead, we shifted the focus temporarily. We offloaded the painful region while doubling down on other training she loved:

• Bench press
• Seated overhead press
• Farmer’s carries
• Upper-body hypertrophy work
• Controlled single-leg variations that didn’t aggravate symptoms

She kept training. She kept sweating. She kept progressing. And most importantly — she never disconnected from the process.

That consistency made the eventual reintroduction of squatting far smoother than if she had taken six weeks completely off.

Why This Works (It’s Not Just Mental)

There are real physiological reasons this approach matters.

1. Systemic Blood Flow
   Training increases circulation throughout the body, not just in the muscle you’re targeting. Improved blood flow supports tissue healing and nutrient delivery.
2. Nervous System Regulation
   Pain often heightens threat perception in the nervous system. Controlled, successful loading elsewhere in the body helps “teach” the system that movement is still safe. This can reduce global tension and protective guarding.
3. Endorphins and Mood
   Training releases endorphins and other neurochemicals that improve mood, reduce stress, and modulate pain perception. When you feel better emotionally, pain often feels more manageable.
4. Maintaining Load Tolerance
   If you stop loading your body entirely, your tolerance for load drops. When you eventually return, everything feels heavier, more foreign, and more threatening. Continuing to train prevents that steep drop-off.
5. Preserving Identity and Confidence
   This one is huge. When someone sees themselves as “injured,” behavior changes. When someone sees themselves as “an athlete modifying training,” behavior stays aligned with progress. 

It Doesn’t Matter What You Move — It Matters That You Move

The exact exercise selection is less important than the principle.

It could be sled pushes.
Upper-body work.
Tempo work.
Carries.
Machine work.
Single-leg strength.
Cycling.
Swimming.

What matters is that you are moving, loading something, creating successful reps, & building capacity somewhere.

Your body adapts to what you ask it to do. If you ask it to do nothing, it adapts to nothing.

So train other things! Back or lower body pain? Hit some bench press, seated press, rows, pullups, anything!

Shoulder pain when going overhead? Well, how do back squats feel? Lunges? Deadlifts, Dumbbell cycling movements?

Train. Adapt. Stay engaged.

Ready to learn more? Have specific pain problems that are limiting your performance goals? Czarbell is here to help. Reach out at [email protected], or schedule an appointment with me through the main page of this website, to learn more!