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How To Actually Enjoy Doing Your Rehab Exercises: The Ultimate Blueprint · Total Barnage

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to Total Barnage.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to another episode.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Today it is just me, Charlie, talking to you in your headphones, on your speaker, on the train.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you're, you know, putting this on loudspeaker so everyone can hear.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: But whatever you're listening to it, um, this is just going to be me chatting and giving a uh bit of an overview, a bit of a blueprint of how to do rehab exercises, how to come back from um from injury, uh, whether it be surgery or kind of a trauma blow or just you know any sort of aches and pains um that you're having.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: And basically, this is gonna be a blueprint of how you can get stuff done, and it's gonna be a little bit of a sequel to a really early episode that I did um back in January, episode five, when I kind of deep deep dive into talking about not just surviving through um through setbacks and uncertainty, um, but actually thriving through it and how we can make the most of these situations which are pretty difficult.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, any sort of, you know, if you've had an injury um or an illness or anything which is pretty much like it boils down to just a quite a stark change in circumstance, a stark change in contrast um to your actual life.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: And actually, what it comes down to is it's it's the main thing being taken away.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I've done an episode on that.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: If you'd like to listen to that before this or after this, I think they kind of work hand in hand.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: I might reference a few things I kind of go into into there.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: But this podcast episode is you know, for anyone of you listening, um, if you are training regularly, but you've been hit with an injury, this podcast is basically going to be it's gonna be an opportunity to question and analyze what it is exactly that allows you to train consistently and how you can make the most of that and how you can question and analyze how you train to then apply it to doing whatever you need to do to get back healthy from injury.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: And then on the flip side, if you're listening to this and you're not necessarily consistent with your training um, regardless of injury or not, then it's a good opportunity to look at how you kind of get things done when you are consistent, um, and maybe why you wouldn't do it when you are inconsistent.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I think the the main, the kind of the gold standard, um, I guess we'll start with just the minimum standard is to get the rehab exercises done.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and the biggest mistake actually that we we make, I feel like with treating kind of a rehab protocols, um, is that we treat it differently to how we normally train, and we think that rehab is something that is separate from just normal training because it is only really comes about when we're in a bad spot or when we've had an injury or some sort of external you know circumstance change.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that is the main thing.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: It is get rid of first thing is get rid of the framing um that everything that you do to get back from injury is rehab.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: The the problem with calling it um and labelling it as such is that first of all, we have terrible associations with any sort of rehab exercises, you know, like um if you are, I think most of the time, you know, if you have any sort of knee problems um or you know IT band stuff, it's like you're at you've got to do single-leg glute bridges or you've got to do side planks and lift your leg in the air.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like a lot of these exercises that are prescribed for the most part when someone's got injured, they're just hellishly boring.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: They are there's no two ways about it.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: There's nothing really exciting about it, they're not necessarily like a good challenging.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: They are just some of them are quite difficult.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's just putting yourself in a position, you're putting your body in a position where uh it's just quite it's quite tough, especially with body weight, um, and they're quite humbling exercises.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so we start to create this association between rehab exercises and either bad times or just being injured in general.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: And the problem with that, first of all, is that you end up uh not in not looking forward to anything about these exercise protocols that you should be doing that your physio has given you, and then which makes it a miserable experience, but then it means that you're so much more likely when you get back healthy.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: And let's say that you know, I'm probably gonna use today.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna use my last couple of months um of coming back from a tibial tubercle transfer surgery, which is where they've had some patella tracking problems the last couple of years, and they've realigned my shin bone, taken it out, um, moved it over, moved it down, and then screwed it back in about three months into that.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna kind of use that as an example, I hope you don't mind, uh, going through and using this just to make a lot of these theories and stuff a little bit more concrete.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so, yeah, the the issue of calling rehab exercises rehab exercises is that as soon as you get back, and for me, it's as soon as I get back running, I will if all I've been doing is rehab, as soon as I get back healthy, and I've done it in the past, is I will just get rid of all of the exercises that have any sort of association to rehabilitation.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: And the problem with that is that there is often a reason, has been a reason where I've got injured a lot in the past, and a lot of that comes down to a strength issue.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I haven't done enough strength training in my teens.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's been something that's I can't avoid now, and something which will probably end up becoming my strong suit rather than a weakness.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: But there's always a reason for the most part, unless it is a kind of trauma accident uh for getting injured, if it's your wear and tear, a lot of it is because there is some sort of weakness in either your training program, um the programming itself, maybe the load management, maybe you've got back into running or sport uh too quick, or you've increased your activity level too quick.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: But for the most part, for me, what it always was was I'd neglected the strength side of things, and I would be constantly in a cycle of getting injured, doing the rehab exercises, building enough strength so that I could do the running again, and then a few months down the line, because I stopped doing the strength exercises, because I just saw them as rehab exercises, and I could stop them as soon as I'm healthy, then I would get injured a few months down the line because I just stopped doing all the stuff that got me healthy again, and it sounds so obvious when you say it that well, yeah, like the reason why you're able to run is because you get strong, but then a couple of months later you're not strong, and so you're not able to run.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's pretty obvious, um, saying it out loud, of course.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: But the key there is you've got to see everything as either just what it takes for you to be able to do the thing that you love.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, this is just the buy-in and the maintenance, and sometimes it's a little bit more intense, it's a bit of a blitz.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: You do you know six weeks of exercises to get your strength back up to a decent level, and then you have a maintenance level, which is you know, it might be based on your um genetics, your anatomy, uh, or just the level that you want to compete or do your fitness at.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so getting rid of the word rehab is the biggest thing, even though I've said it so many times already.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, for me, the way that I approach everything going like after after surgery is these are just the exercises that I have to do to get back to doing the thing that I love, and that is as simple as that, and it means that I can transition and have been transitioning recently from things that are very specific to the early stages of um getting stronger and the early stages of building back a bit of mobility and uh healing and everything else that comes along with it to getting closer to being able to run, and the transition really for me is like I will continue doing the same sort of exercises, but just maybe in a different way going forward.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: So I think the first thing that is the first thing, so it's reframing it to just say that this is what it takes to get back, rather than putting it into a box that then gets left in the attic when your injury does at the same time.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: One of the main things, one of the main principles that I live by with injuries is just a thing called the next best alternative.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's a thing in a business when they're doing, you know, product design and stuff, and you're trying to think, right, what's the next best thing?
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: If we can't have the main thing, which is what we lose a lot of the times when we get injured or have these setbacks, what is the next best alternative?
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and really it's making and approaching the next best alternative, which could be some form of cross-training, some form of different exercises, different strength exercises, and mobility, or some alternative training methods that you're still able to do whilst you're whilst you're injured, and it is making that thing which is getting you back to the main thing, it's approaching that in the same way as the main thing itself, and having the same approach, the same consistent approach from when you're healthy to when you're injured, is one of the things that I've come to realise is the way that I can enjoy the process even more and not absolutely hate every single day of doing something.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Because once you start to compare your situation and have expectations about how it should feel, and always compare it to the ideal, and to compare it with being healthy when you are injured, you fall into a trap of just always being disappointed.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: Because really, and this is this is what I found, I think there is definitely a benefit from looking forward to have a glimpse of what it's like to motivate you.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if if you need a bit of motivation to to say, right, in a you know, in a few weeks or a few months, I'm gonna be able to get back and do what I love, so this is worth it in the moment, then I think it's a really good thing to use.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: But after a while, it ceases to become a good motivator to get things done.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's it can be a good motivator, but it can also just keep reminding you of that you want to be somewhere else, which is kind of the way it's not even injuries or in sport, it's just in life in general.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: That sort of comparison is the thief of joy, as they say.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: But this comparison is not a comparison with other people, you know, it might be brought on by that, you might be reminded that you know other people can do stuff that you were re you know recently or a while ago able to do.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: But it's that comparison of where you're at in the present moment with somewhere that you want to be in the future or thinking about being somewhere right now.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: So try your best, I guess, just to pay attention to exactly what are the things that are good motivators and what are the things that might have been good motivators in the past but don't serve you in the same way anymore.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: So, with the next best alternative, you want to have the same approach to uh the main thing that you did, you know, with the rehab stuff.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: So you've got to ask yourself some questions and it's really understanding the core kind of root of uh your main practice.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: So for me, it'll be running, right?
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't run for and actually kind of walked pain-free for a couple of years now, and what I did when I this was my one of the first injuries and one of the string of injuries that I had when I moved out to America to train was I had a nervicular stress fracture in my left foot.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I came, had this Achilles problem uh before, had a few months of that, uh, was able to run healthily-ish, pretty much healthily for like two weeks after that Achilles problem.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um I was coming off these anti-inflammatories that I've been prescribed out in the States, and as they wore off, I started feeling a pain in my foot, and I got a navicular stress fracture.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: I actually ran a couple of races on that back-to-back weekends and ran pretty fast, uh, but it really didn't mean a hell of a lot because I spent the summer then in a boot on my uh left side, and actually this is what I wrote in my journal to uncover really what was the what do I really get out of running?
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: And this is a I started using a method called the fivefold why.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: And this is all it is, it's really simple, is you start off asking yourself something like, you know, why do I enjoy running?
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think, oh well, I enjoy it's because I enjoy competing, and then I ask myself why again.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's like okay, I enjoy competing because I enjoy getting the most out of myself on the day.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, why does it, why do I enjoy getting the most out of myself?
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I say, well, I earn my self-respect when I get the most out of myself.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's like okay, why do I you know why do I feel that way?
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, well, I feel most alive when I'm getting the most out of myself and I feel respected.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: And coming down to a core root design, let's say for like running for me would be how I just drop into the present as seamlessly and as easy as possible.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's then the thing that would drive me to try and apply that to other aspects of maybe cross-training or other aspects of my um recovery protocols.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: And we shall call them rehab for the moment, we'll call them rehab.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I did write down other things why I enjoyed running on the 19th of June 2024.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: So here were just a few things.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so if you could kind of resonate with any of these, uh take them, pocket them, use them, and then apply them in another aspect of life.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: The first thing I wrote down was about showing up every day, which gave me a really strong purpose.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the good thing about the first thing that I wrote down was that it doesn't really have much to do with running, it's not specific to running, uh, pretty much, and I can then apply it to something else.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: The next bit, as I mentioned, kind of self-self-respect, and I think that's kind of come along with the showing up every day.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: Another one is the physical challenge and then the mental challenge.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: The next is escapism, but actually, what I understood this to be was not necessarily escaping from anything, it's more that that is the activity, and that when I do it, I drop so seamlessly, as I mentioned, into the present moment, and it's where I can uh almost you know dissolve the ego and just be part of the experience, and there's nowhere else that I would rather be.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, to quote uh Jess Glynn.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: Next one is creativity.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: I always found that when I was running, that was when my mind had the most creativity, the most ideas.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: I had a loose grip on a lot of maybe my um my problems or the ways that I thought about things, and I wasn't so rigid in my thinking, and so I'd always come up with some of my best ideas when I was running.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then that's thinking, well, okay, what can I do with the creativity?
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: How can I uh what's the next best alternative for for running, for creativity?
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: I guess walking is probably your next bet because a lot of cross-training exercises are very rigid and static.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: But alas, next one is a playground for mental models.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: My what I use running for a lot of the time, and it goes along with the physical and the mental challenges, um, particularly the mental challenges, is I would always use it to test theories or ideas that I have kind of heard, learnt, read, um, spoken to, you know, from and about other people, and see if they work for me and just experiment with those.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: Another thing is being part of a team.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: See, I just come back from America at Clemson University, and we had a really, really good team going on, and the the team atmosphere for running was something that I hadn't really experienced before because running is quite an individual sport.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but there was something about the identity out in the States, and I see it a lot more now with um, especially with the club that I'm gonna go back and train at, my club that I trained at pretty much my whole life, which is Tunbridge, and seeing the the team develop over the last you know few few years and seeing previous generations have that team spirit and just have a purpose greater than yourself.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: So have like an internal purpose, a self-respect purpose of showing up every day as a kind of uh an individual one, but then being part of a team, having a purpose greater than myself is is another one.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a two a two-way thing there.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the next one is a high performance environment.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: I running for me at the level that I was able to kind of compete at and will hope to compete at in the future, allows me to be around people that I always be learning from.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: So, how can I put myself in situations where I'm constantly learning and evolving and being challenged about my previous ways of doing things?
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: Basically, how how can I get humbled as quickly as possible and make myself feel as uncomfortable as possible in the short term?
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: The next one is it simply feels like that's what I should do with my life, and that is the dropping into the present.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: They're probably uh they're probably linked in some way, and it is when I if I wanted to do anything, what would I do?
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: And running would be that thing, you know.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, when I'm when I'll be out there, I'm not thinking, oh, I would rather be, you know, literally anywhere else.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I'm not gonna call out uh any friends or anyone that I want to spend time with, uh, but it's it's that that level for me of of peace and what it gives me that that is all there is.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: The present moment is all there is, and nothing else really matters there.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: The next one is this is a long list, by the way.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: I went down and I wrote down every single thing, but I think it's really important just anything that comes into your mind, even if it's a a snippet, a glimpse of an emotion that you did have during that activity, and it's kind of a difficult one because it's probably a really good thing, even if you're not injured at the moment and you're listening to this and you're like, well, okay, it's I've probably already turned off already.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're still if you're still listening and then you're not injured, it's a really good thing to have and to write down when things are going well, you know, what you're getting from the main pursuit, to prepare for if any setbacks arise, and then you can look back.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: And because you don't have access to it at the moment, like for me, I'm looking over a few of these and I'm thinking, wow, yeah, I haven't kind of forgot that that's what running gave me.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I will, from an emotional point of view and from a felt sense of the experience of running, I will only really fully reconnect with that once I get back, uh, pounding the tarmac and the trails around Tunbridge and and lie and pen first and and the like.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, that works one.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: It simply feels like that's what I should do with my life.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just an intrinsic purpose.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like, can you find something where you literally just want to do something for the sake of it?
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: The next one is it gives me energy.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: So this is the thing that will, if I am, if I'm lacking energy or you know, links with the creativity, I will go and do that and it will set me up for the day.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: So can I do something with else which can set me up for the day, or to give me uh to reignite that kind of fire within?
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: The next one is I enjoy being around my running self, and that can probably be broken down into a lot of other things, like you know, why is it that I enjoy being around myself when I'm running?
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's probably more so that you know I am I'm not thinking too much.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like the the monkey mind isn't going isn't going crazy, uh, it's it's that self-respect.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's the what is the next bit which might like which adds to it, which is a quick headspace change.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: So it's actually constantly reminding me how quickly my headspace and my emotions can change, and the running and other training, especially, like this is something which I get a lot from cross-training and a lot from strength training as well, and it's the constant understanding and uh kind of reminder that things change very quickly, our emotions change very quickly and they're very temporary.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: Some will stick around a lot longer than we'd like to, and a lot longer than others, but the being able to run every day or Do an activity every day, there is going to be many days where I don't want to do it, but I do it anyway, and then 10 minutes in, I'm feeling so much better for it already.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: And compare that to 10 minutes when you might be static or where you're convinced that your emotions won't change, and you are just going to be maybe just stuck in that mind mindset, that feeling for a while.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, getting out and having that constant reminder that things change pretty quickly is a really really good thing, especially when you do get into a bit of a rut and you need to remind yourself that it is temporary, um, and things either will get better or just different.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: So that is, yeah, quick headspace change and a good reminder that everything is changing in life.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: And the final one that I wrote down, which is transcendence, and this is something actually that I have it's really been the only the sole purpose for my last few months, uh, cross-training, sitting down, and uh yanking away at the strings of the ski erg that I do in the gym, and that is about dissolving the ego.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is a bit of a an interesting one.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it's it's it's something which I've come to to learn and to understand and to experience as a core um a core part of the experience for me with the intrinsic side of running and doing something just for its own sake, is that actually I feel most alive when I am at one with the experience of whatever I'm doing.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: And when I talk about the ego, it might be a it might come up by just thoughts, let's say.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: Thoughts about the experience takes me out of the present, um, and that will be the ego saying something, even if it's good, you know, it might be me being really motivated, uh, and me giving myself you know good um good little snippets of of phrases to keep me motoring on on the ski erg, but a lot of the times it's just being in a place where you are just flowing, you're getting into flow, and that's all there is.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: And looking back on on that and those things that I kind of I've written down a couple of years ago.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I actually, in the prep for this podcast, I went back because I knew that I wrote something down, but I actually haven't looked at that recently.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it's interesting, I think, as I've progressed over the last couple of years, a lot of setbacks, you you pick out certain things that you want to develop and you want to get better at.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so, yeah, look looking on those, I think the main things, we'll go through them and then we can see how we can apply them to a um more of an alternative training rehabilitation process.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: So, the one thing that's got nothing to do with running, as I mentioned, was showing up every day.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: So, for you, if you're listening to this and you are you're struggling to do your rehab exercises because you are just you're not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, or it's just a it's a really new experience, and you are just getting frustrated that you can't do the main thing.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: What you can still do, regardless of what it is, is you can show up every day and give yourself a purpose to do it and earn that self-respect for yourself and to build momentum and use this as, as the next point says, like a big like mental challenge, rehab, uh recovery from injury, all of that is not most of the time is not a physical challenge.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: There will obviously be certain parts that you know you are going to maybe failure on some exercises, uh, or your body will be feeling tired, or you are literally you know having pain.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: Fair enough, physical challenge.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: But most of it is the interpretation of that pain, it's the interpretation of the experience, it's the constant comparison to you know where you want to be, but a sense of hopelessness potentially and feeling a little bit trapped that you can't do even if you do everything today that you are supposed to do, you're not going to be able to get to where you want to be by tomorrow, and then it has to require a lot of patience.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: So use approach your uh rehab protocol, strengthening exercises for uh in the same way that you would do uh your main pursuit, which is just show up every day, contribute something.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: There is something from Bill Beswick, who is a sports psychologist, used to coach Derby County Football Club and also the uh England basketball team.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: And there was something that he said that really stuck with me, which was each morning you have a decision, you have a choice whether to be a fighter or a victim of your circumstances, and you get to make that choice every day, and you choose that whatever you face in that day, you can approach with a fighter mentality where you have agency, where you will do your best to you know give your best to that pursuit, give your best to that circumstance, uh, remind yourself that you are able to have agency over that, and you are able to not be swallowed up by the experience.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: You're allowed to, you know, you can stand strong.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: And rather than being a victim of the circumstances and being passive and let it consume you and try and convince yourself that there's nothing you can do.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that showing up for yourself every day and trying to be a fighter is a fantastic reminder.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of the times it is a choice, and it's setting the mind for the day so that when you do come across inevitably these downswings of motivation or these frustrations, seeing other people doing what you previously could do, or even just you having to do such a small snippet and such a patronizingly low level of activity than what you previously could do is a great approach to have.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: So that is the next best alternative.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that is the way that you do next best alternative to recap is whatever the main pursuit gives you, really go into a deep dive, maybe use the five-fold why.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: Start asking yourself why five times to find the kind of core, the root of your desire, and then you start to ask yourself and start to problem solve how can you integrate these experiences and what you can do whilst you're still injured.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there's always stuff you can do, and it's it's first about surviving, getting through and doing the doing the exercises, doing the stuff that you need to get back, but it's also using it as a massive learning experience and using it as an opportunity to really work against resistance so that when the resistance is lifted, it's only then that you realize how much you're up against it and actually how much you did to to really work through it.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then on the other side of that of that setback is even more growth.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: The next bit is really important.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: This is really important for uh if you found a routine, if you found a rhythm with doing the um doing the the fitness, the health goals, um, anything that you want to be doing at the moment with your life, be it running, training for a race, um playing a sport, or just getting back into the gym, getting out for walks, whatever it is, is looking at your routine and keeping the same routine when you're not able to do that stuff as when you are, and doing that as best as possible.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of whenever I would chat to my clients when they've picked up little injuries or little change in circumstance, something's a little bit different.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_00: The difficulty they always have is they feel like they're out of their routine.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: And being out of your routine then means that you're unstructured, and it's very difficult to have strong priorities because your priorities will be determined most of the time by your emotions in the moment rather than the emotions that you had when you were setting the structure and setting the goals and uh the the proper groundwork and the conditions for doing the things that you want to do.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: So keep the same routine whether you're injured or not.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: So you've got to ask yourself a question: what is it about your routine which makes it work?
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: What is it what is it about going to the gym early in the day that makes it work?
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we had a really good podcast, guy and I chatting to Harrison, one of the coaches at Barn from um from a year and a bit ago, and you know, Harrison was talking about training up, training early in the morning and getting up at 5.30 on the yacht that he was working at and just not even hitting snooze, just saying 3-2-1 and go.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: He has a coffee and then he goes and he works out.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: So take that as an example, right?
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: Does the routine for you work training early in the morning?
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because number one, you can get it out of the way and then not worry about it for the rest of the day.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, as one of the things from my running, is uh it gives me energy.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, is it part of the routine?
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: Because you know that you're you're in a rhythm and you know that internally, and you internalize the idea that it gives you energy for the day, and you notice if you don't have it, uh you definitely notice that you haven't been doing the stuff in that routine.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, what else would it be about your routine?
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: Is it the you know, is it the environment?
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: The environment and the associations are really important.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: So with your routine, like if are you are you training at the gym?
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because you know, once you get to the gym, you know that you're always going to complete a session or give a session a go.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: Compared to if you were to try and do it at home, there are a bit too many distractions.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_00: And despite the upfront cost and investment of driving to the gym and taking a bit more time out of your day to do that, it's going to be once you're in that environment, you respond to the environment of being in the gym.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_00: You have that association that when you are there, you're going to you are going to lift weights, you are going to try hard, you are already in that mindset, you've been primed by the constant habit of going there, and that state change comes really easily.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: Compare it to being in a little bit more of a um a conflicting space, let's say, like a living room or uh a bedroom, where you have associations of that place with something to do with rest, it's probably gonna be more difficult to add in the hard efforts to get yourself up for doing it because you're gonna have those conflicting associations.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, of course, if you just if that's all you have as your space and you don't have a gym membership and you do stuff you know in your bedroom, then it's not necessarily a thing with the environment in terms of place, it might be time.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: So for you, your bedroom in the morning might be might become your workout room, right?
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of time-based environment, and so you associate it with a certain time.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: You associate once you get back from work that you're gonna do the stuff that you said you were gonna do, or before work that you're gonna get it out of the way and do it and enjoy it and that sort of stuff.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_00: So think about the environment that you train in and then the associations that come with it.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think the one the main thing that I've noticed in the last couple of years, but especially in the last couple of months coming back from this surgery, is that you know, don't stop going to the gym just because you're injured, like don't stop turning up to the gym just because you're injured.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like, even and this is even if you don't need the equipment, uh, that's the biggest mistake.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_00: And because the gym provides so much more, or that space down the running track, or where you do your classes, or where you do, you know, where you go for your walks or anything like that, is they provide so much more than just the equipment that's there.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_00: Whenever we chat to say clients about uh you know what they what equipment they've got at home, and some of them might list off loads of equipment that they've got, which basically means that they can do exactly what we're doing in the workout, give or take maybe a couple of like big barbell movements or something like that.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: They've pretty much got everything they need at home, and then you ask them the question, you know, like you've got pretty much the same equipment, like why wouldn't you do it at home?
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: And to be fair, most of the time the answer is just I just won't do it, you know.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just not gonna be able to do it.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if it's you know, if it's an accountability, a lot of the time it's probably accountability, but actually, I I see it as just the association that you have with that place, and that is not the same as you know, even on the drive on the way there.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the getting out of your house, driving down to another location, that drive also you have associations of the only time that I do this drive is when I'm gonna go and work out.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I wonder what the sequence of thoughts and the sequence that my brain thinks that's gonna happen and the expectations that go with it.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_00: I wonder what it's gonna end up with doing, and it's like, yeah, you're gonna do some sort of workout.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_00: Your brain's almost gonna be really quite confused that you turn up to the gym, you get to the car park, and you turn around and go home, and it's like, hold up a second, you just put on your hyped tunes, you just get a bit of me time, and now you're saying that you're just gonna like tease the hell out of it.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like, no thanks.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: So a big mistake is thinking that just because you don't have uh need the equipment, like I say, the the exercises, a lot of rehab protocols will you'll do a lot of them because of the nature of the load and of the injuries.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: They will be lighter weight exercises, maybe building capacity with more reps, there'll be a lot more single-leg exercises to maybe target imbalances, and there will be certain movements where you will have isolated muscles that you haven't developed enough that are contributing to the pain that you're experiencing.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's still going to the gym, even if you don't have the equipment.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um and it's just that reminder, it's just that reminder, uh, and it will keep the adherence high.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_00: The next one that I'd like to talk about is the hidden blessing of injuries.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_00: So the hidden blessing of setbacks and having that uh having the main thing stripped from you a lot of the time is that you're forced to focus on the process.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_00: The results, you don't really get beginner gains with injuries.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_00: You don't you won't really see progress by doing the exercises to get you back healthy that quickly.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_00: There might be certain times where you are saying, Okay, this is working, like I'm getting positive feedback from it.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_00: That is the ideal world, is like you go to the physio and they prescribe you six weeks of exercises, you do the six weeks of exercises, and then you're cured.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: And like, you know, fantastic.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's that is if there is an ideal situation, obviously, ideal within a very non-ideal uh circumstance, that's great.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_00: Plain sailing, uh, progress is linear, six weeks, you're you're done.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_00: Give me that, let me go on my way.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_00: I can forget about everything else.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, don't keep doing the strengthening exercises.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_00: But that's perfect.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_00: But the realistic scenario is that there's a lot more uncertainty, there's not as much positive feedback, you're not actually it's gonna be a slow burner.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_00: Think about if you've had a if you've had lower back pain for for the most part, it's not gonna be just the last couple of weeks.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_00: If it's something that you've had on and off for the last few years, the it would be a little bit unreasonable to think that you are going to completely resolve that in a couple of weeks of just doing exercises, right?
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_00: So you might not have as much positive feedback, it might take a little bit longer.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_00: And the other thing which is really quite difficult with injuries most of the time, is that because you're there is a tendency, and you may not, you know, you may not think this way, but in my experience, it has been certainly the case of when you do get into that that comparison of where you want to be because it does give you the motivation to get back, uh, and it gives you that light at the end of the tunnel, is you end up having more of a fixation and a bit of a hyper-fixation on results, and let's say for the most part, like you don't you might not think about getting results in a like a week or two weeks.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_00: So you've gone, yeah, I'm gonna get results in like six weeks.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_00: As soon as you get injured, because you're so focused on the outcome and getting back as quickly as possible, you'll end up thinking that it's gonna be better, like day by day you'll see noticeable changes, and the expectation that comes with that extra fixation on the outcome and the results and trying to see positive change is can get you into a little bit of a hole with having those expectations too high.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_00: And being although you're kind of being positive about it and trying to get a good bit of feedback for motivation, uh, it might make you a little bit despondent.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, the the the blessing really is you're forced to focus on the the process itself, and that is the the best, you know, the best thing about injuries and setbacks and uncertainty is that you focus on the process, which is really the only thing that you can control, and it really simplifies everything once you start to let go of the outcome.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you if you really deeply understand and can internalise that you just control your input, and even if you give your give your best, the outcome isn't guaranteed, then the process will be enough on its own for you to be satisfied with the efforts that you put in.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_00: For example, I let's say that I've got a um I've got some leg exercises that I need to do, I need to do four sets of 15 quad extensions, and I need to do four sets of 15 calf raises every day for two weeks.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_00: Then all I'm going to focus on, not if I'm going to get the result that I need, which I'll get into in a sec, but it's can I just execute those as best as I can and tick them off and do them properly, and then after two weeks, let me have a look and see if anything's changed.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_00: This is predicated on the fact that you have to trust someone in the process to give you the right information, and this is the importance of I said in the last in the last episode that episode five that I talked about.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_00: You have to go and see a professional and follow their instructions, go and see a physio or an osteopath or a bio, I don't know why I was gonna say that word, kinest kinet kinesthetist, someone in bio kinetics or something like that, alright?
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_00: Someone can tell you how to how to move and if you're moving in the right way.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um you've got to trust someone, and once you trust someone, you have to trust their process.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_00: Because, and that's probably one of the difficult things with with the not getting the feedback, is a lot of trust comes on results, and trust comes on outcome.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_00: In this process, there's not the outcome, and so therefore the trust is a lot more difficult.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_00: So you've got to make a decision to consistently uh trust the process of the physio giving you, or whoever it is, medical professional giving you the exercises that will make it most likely, not guaranteed, most likely for you to get back based on the information and knowledge and expertise that they have and and the knowledge that they have about the injury and of you as a person.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_00: So professionals aren't gods, though.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we're thinking like next best alternative.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_00: We're thinking they are giving their best shot from what they know, you give it a go.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, you know, if it's it's if it's a simple strength issue, then nine times out of ten, most likely you will be back where you want to be within a time frame.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_00: But the problem comes when you're obsessing over a timeline that you want to get back for, and you're asking the physio about, you know, can I get back in in four weeks?
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_00: Can I I've got the I've got this race here, I've got uh got to do this race, I've signed up for it.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know, can I get back in in a month's time to be able to run?
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_00: And that might end up happening, you might end up being able to get back in a month, but.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: None of that is certain.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_00: And the the energy focus should be on do what you can, give yourself the best chance of coming back as quickly as possible without rushing it.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_00: So and it's worth mentioning that with injuries, there's a lot more at play than if you were training normally.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_00: And like the stuff that I've mentioned with hyperfixating on results, there's also if you were to have a certain trauma injury, there's obviously there's like a nervous system response.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, there is a a view of good pain and bad pain, and you might just have that alarm of the the pain sensor is just turned really, really sensitive, and everything feels like bad pain.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's worth asking yourself, asking well, asking the physio, asking the medical professional, what does what's bad pain?
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_00: When should I back off?
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_00: And what's good pain?
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_00: When should I push through?
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_00: What's what's part of the process?
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_00: And what's something which probably is actually something where you should chill out and and drop the message and say, Okay, actually, I felt this, I felt this twinge which didn't feel natural, but I understand that I am a little bit hesitant with this stuff.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_00: So is this something in your experience that is good and a natural part of the process that even though it does feel a little bit unnatural, or is it actually a bit of a cause for concern and do you need to um change, change tact?
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_00: Another stuff that's another thing that's at play is just stress.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_00: Managing stress is probably the one of the other really valuable things about going through uncertainty and setbacks, is there is there is constant uncertainty, and so you may um have to really focus on showing up and really being a fighter about uh stress and finding practices, whether it be meditation, whether it be talking to people, journaling, any other thing that works for you to de-stress in those situations when you might have more anxiety and hypothesizing about particular outcomes.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because that's what comes with uncertainty is you come with loads of thoughts thinking about how things are gonna go, and then you get into a spiral and then it ain't looking good.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so that's yeah, hypothesizing as well.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_00: But this is the main thing, it is expectation central with injuries.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_00: Expectations all about the outcome for the most part.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_00: There's expectations about the outcome, which is normally how quickly you can get back, or where you're going to be, or how you're supposed to feel at a certain time.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but there is also expectations about the process itself and how it should feel and how painful it is, let's say, you know, what's good pain and what's bad pain.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_00: So, with that, the solution really is to practice letting go of the outcome itself and dedicating your energy on the process.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, the best decision that I've made, and really it's most of the time it's actually I've been forced to make, is lengthening my time horizons.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_00: The more that I get set back with injuries, the more that I have to think more long term, and especially with uh I've been out for like two years now, and I'm not planning on racing this summer, I'll be planning to race next summer, most likely, maybe next winter.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see how see how things go.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_00: Who bloody knows?
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, who knows?
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_00: But the value about lengthening your time horizons rather than setting a really hard expectation, which again used to be and maybe previously was a good motivator, like a deadline that could move you towards it.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_00: But now, a fixed deadline is something that you actually can't control, it just means that you're rushing things, and it allows you to be a little bit more at peace with certain bits that you didn't think went to your expectations, like little setbacks along the way, or you know, it's going to be another another couple of days here, or you might back off on the run.
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_00: You set a date to go for a run, but it might need to be moved.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's a soft deadline that you might need to rejig, uh, and it just allows you to stop rushing towards the deadline.
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_00: When you focus so much on the result and the outcome, you largely forget the process, and the process is the thing which has the most value because it's the thing which contains the present moment, and as I was saying, the that that just experience, just the experience of doing the thing, even if it is you are torn between it being the the main thing or not, it is the thing that is happening at the moment.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you can't really predict, you can't predict how life is gonna go.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_00: There is infinitely many possibilities, um, permutations of things that could happen, and it if you can just be slightly more at peace with the present moment and letting go of all of the the fluff and the noise around it, then not only can you get through doing the the hard stuff, the hard yards during uncertain time periods, but you'll also be able to enjoy it for its own sake and be surprised about like how on earth am I able to get to a point where there are certain bits of this where I actually really enjoy like something that I previously hated, something that I previously dreaded.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_00: I saw it as rehab, I saw it as right, I'm just want to get this done, and or you even avoided it completely.
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_00: But you get to a point where you say, actually, there's something about this experience that is quite raw, and that is all there is.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um be stop rushing so much, is what I'd say.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's probably the advice I'd give to myself a couple of years back that may have got me into certain injuries um in the past is you know, just just take take your time and think more about the the long game because and this is a mindset shift that I've had since especially working with clients and not just being around people that are training for you know high-level stuff, Olympics and world champs and and stuff like that in the athletics side of things, is you go from having a a short timeline on like competing to just realising that health in general, like the priority really should be that you will get to a point in your life, there will there will always be a point in your life that you will be able to experience in the future, um, unless you know, unless you die before that.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_00: But as soon as long as you're alive, you will still be experiencing it, and as long as you're alive, you want hopefully want to be healthy.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_00: And for me, the the North Star with with all of this, I've lengthened the time horizons and just thought, you know, there will the time will come round.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_00: There'll be a time when I will be able to run again, there'll be a time that I'll the date that I'll have my surgery, all of those little kind of like uh exam feels like oh it's the day of the exam.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_00: Gosh, like that's come round, it's just come round, like it's it was previously was the future, now it's just come about, and that's the thing with life day to day that if you think of yourself maybe two, three, five, ten years' time, hopefully the aim will be to be healthy then and to just have the option of doing what you want to do.
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_00: Not necessarily you actually want to do it, you know, you might not want to go and crush marathons or ironmans or whatever silly stuff people are saying is baseline level like challenges at the moment.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_00: But it's just like if someone asked me to go and do this, if someone asked me to go and help them out with their garden and bend down and chop, you know, whatever it is that you do in the garden, I'm still kind of learning from um from Caroline, guy's mum, what the hell's going on in in the garden at the gym.
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, can can you say yes to those things?
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_00: Can you have the freedom of optionality?
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_00: Can you have the freedom to say yes to things uh in life?
• 52:49
  SPEAKER_00: And as long as you're alive, hopefully you want to be healthy, and it's just doing something that allows you to to expand the time horizons a little bit, like, yeah, it might be a really good motivation to get back really super quick and to do the things that you need to do, but try and use the time, make use of the time out to iron out loads of other different weaknesses.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's something that I've used and created over the last couple of months since coming back from this surgery.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, I've been given the advice from the physio with the the protocols, with the strength stuff, with the healing of the bone and everything else that comes with uh literally chopping my leg off and screwing it back in.
• 53:40
  SPEAKER_00: But actually, a load of what I do is rehab, what I see as rehab, um, strength exercises that are particular to other injuries that I've had previously.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's thinking what can I do between now and then to make myself as healthy as possible, and how can I really maximise the opportunity in the time period that I've got now, not just to think about fix on the current issue I've got at the moment, but is there anything else I've neglected?
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like, can I use this opportunity of being thrown off tracks as a nudge to start questioning other aspects of my life that might have maybe uh contributed to this to this injury or other previous injuries that I've been ignoring, doing the work to get back to?
• 54:33
  SPEAKER_00: So, the main bit about rushing is make sure you are deliberate and intentional with what you are doing, but don't rush.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_00: So be deliberate and intentional with the input and the process, enjoy the process, uh, even if it doesn't feel that enjoyable, try and see the value in it, be open to noticing how you feel during it and really what um what the emotions are and the experiences, but then also be patient for all the results.
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_00: The next thing that I'd like to talk about is ticking the box versus filling in the box.
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_00: This is a little principle that I noticed a couple of years ago, and it was most of it, it's always noticing because I am doing things wrong.
• 55:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, this is how I find out most things is that I do something wrong, uh, and then I go, okay, maybe I need to do it differently.
• 55:29
  SPEAKER_00: And this was one of the main shifts that I m I made, which was ticking in the box versus filling in the box.
• 55:36
  SPEAKER_00: So ticking in the box is basically doing something just so you said, just so you could say you did it.
• 55:43
  SPEAKER_00: So, oh, I did my um, you know, yeah, I did my glute bridges, I've done them, I did three sets of ten on each leg, I did my calf raises, I did my hip abduction, yeah, ticked it off, done, whatever.
• 55:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you might even have it on your on your training app.
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_00: You ticked it on, you've you've done the session, cool.
• 56:03
  SPEAKER_00: But did you really do it?
• 56:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm not questioning if you've done it completely, like at all.
• 56:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, I'm sure you've put your hips up into the air and they've gone down ten times, but are you just rushing through them going one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten?
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_00: Cool, done.
• 56:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, onto the other side, nice.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_00: All right, calves.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I'm gonna bounce up on my yeah, left side, quick, quick, quick, calves done, rush, uh, good, right.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_00: I've done it.
• 56:31
  SPEAKER_00: Nice, cool.
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_00: That is not going to get you the progress that you hopefully want to make, and it is a is a tough habit to get into because it was again, it's something that you know you just tick it, get it off your to-do list, and then it makes you feel better about it, and you and you've tamed the beast, you've done it in the morning, and then you can you can forget.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_00: But really, the difference is is that if you start to fill in the box, it's doing things properly to completion and getting the most out of the exercise.
• 57:08
  SPEAKER_00: So it's really focusing on the control.
• 57:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like, let's say that you know you have a knee, a knee injury, and you're one of the things that is maybe difficult, uh, you found is a problem with the knee injury, and it puts excess um pressure on your on the outside of your knee, let's say, is that your knee caves in a little bit and you need to make sure that it's in alignment during your exercises.
• 57:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know, are you making sure that you are having the right body position for the exercises and getting the most out of them with the right tempo, with the right intensity, and um with the right intentionality?
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_00: And could because you don't really let's let's be honest, like you probably don't even want to do these exercises, like you don't you don't feel the emotion of actually want to do them, they probably do feel like a chore.
• 57:58
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, after you know a couple of things that I've spoken about today, they won't feel like so much of a chore, but you want to get you want to get them done.
• 58:07
  SPEAKER_00: So, why are you getting them done without getting the results that you want from them?
• 58:12
  SPEAKER_00: Why are you rushing through it and probably like you're only saving maybe like 10 minutes or five minutes or even like 30 seconds sometimes, but you're doing the things you don't want to do, but you're not even gonna you're not even gonna get the results that you want.
• 58:28
  SPEAKER_00: So just you'll be better off really focusing on doing things properly and taking a couple of extra minutes or 10 minutes maybe a day to do them, and then hopefully you'll be able to see you see results, and you'll see results so much quicker than probably what is predicted.
• 58:48
  SPEAKER_00: Because what are the predictions based off of?
• 58:50
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's based off of the general population most of the time, or whoever's in your category, age category, uh performance category, anything like that, and they're probably not doing it properly.
• 59:01
  SPEAKER_00: I've I found out I saw my physio last third uh last when was it Monday, and we did some strength testing, and my symmetry and my strength with my with my legs like post-surger is you know, fortunately, like is way beyond kind of what where he doubted I would be at the uh at this mark three three months post-injury, and that's kind of you know saying to me that first of all, it is possible to beat these uh expectations, it's possible to do things quicker than someone said that they could do, even a professional.
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_00: But the way that you get there is not by trying to rush your way to the deadline, it is doing things properly so that the deadline moves closer to you.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's all about the process of doing those exercises, doing them properly, every single rep, focus on them, um, re-center when you you know, when you kind of lose track, lose attention, make sure you're giving your full attention at the task at hand.
• 1:00:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then once you've done it, you can properly tick it off and fill in the box, and then you can move on and be happy with the work that you've that you've done.
• 1:00:15
  SPEAKER_00: So ask your physio or whoever the medical profession is what you're trying to achieve with your exercises.
• 1:00:22
  SPEAKER_00: So that will help guide exactly why, like they might show you a little demo or there might be a video, but asking and really understanding, gaining a bit more knowledge about what the exercises are giving you means that you can also maybe experiment or put your body in different positions so that you can try and get to know a little bit more about what that exercise is providing you.
• 1:00:48
  SPEAKER_00: So one of the things I had coming out of the knee brace, um, it was all about building capacity and letting the knee heal.
• 1:00:56
  SPEAKER_00: So all of it was about getting as many reps in as frequently as possible, but not pushing it.
• 1:01:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so all I did then was this is the benefit of being thinking about the long term and just all focusing on consistency and doing things often, the more that you do your uh return from injury exercises, the more you stick to the the protocol and the the frequency that you do it, the more you afford yourself when you don't feel like doing it or your body is actually feeling a little bit, you know, a little bit off, the more you afford yourself to be able to take days off when you need to.
• 1:01:38
  SPEAKER_00: If you only do things twice a week, when you should be doing them every day, twice a day or every other day, then you only have two opportunities a week to really nail those exercises.
• 1:01:50
  SPEAKER_00: And if one of those days on the week you don't want to do it and then you don't do it, you just cut down your time of you know getting back from doing things twice a week when you should be doing them a little bit more to only once a week, and so consistency affords you a level of just being able to build up and back off when you need to, and across this whole process, your success will largely be determined by how you can keep putting in the work without getting a reward.
• 1:02:29
  SPEAKER_00: By focusing on the process, you will be more successful because you will be so much better at delayed gratification and overcoming uncertainty, and also hopefully it will give you once you've determined you know what you get from the main thing and you apply it to the next best alternative, but you approach it in the same way as the the main thing, then you might get a little bit of enjoyment from it as well, and use it as a personal experiment, use it as a a little playground for you to find out exactly why you enjoy doing things, and you don't have to just wait for the future to get back.
• 1:03:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I'm going to finish with a couple of really quick simple things.
• 1:03:25
  SPEAKER_00: If you've you know, first of all, if you listen this long uh and haven't necessarily been you know completely in the background and maybe taken a couple of tips from this, um, I really appreciate you.
• 1:03:36
  SPEAKER_00: Really appreciate you really appreciate you listening.
• 1:03:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then I am going to do a I really appreciate you listening, and this is gonna uh finish with what I did to schedule my exercises after surgery.
• 1:03:58
  SPEAKER_00: So, first of all, I prepared for it before.
• 1:04:01
  SPEAKER_00: So pre-op, strength training, working out the nutrition I needed, getting all the shopping in, and then buying like a leg cushion for my leg to be up, um, maybe buying some entertainment or whatever for those couple of weeks where I was just sat on the sofa, but preparing for the inevitable, doing some research, really understanding exactly how you can attack it and be intentional with um with the with the process.
• 1:04:28
  SPEAKER_00: The next thing is about non-judgmental awareness.
• 1:04:32
  SPEAKER_00: So, whenever I had really high levels of pain, obviously I had some painkillers, but it was always the first hour of the day that was kind of the worst.
• 1:04:40
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't try to judge how I was feeling and it being out of place of the process.
• 1:04:48
  SPEAKER_00: I felt how I felt, and because of the level of trust, or you know, what the uh what the surgeon might have said about how this is going to feel and understanding like what is the good pain, what's the bad pain, that a lot of the pain I was in was just part of the process.
• 1:05:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I am not judging it and thinking that it is that something is seriously wrong, it is just you know, someone's cut my leg open, and that's probably just how it's gonna feel.
• 1:05:14
  SPEAKER_00: So trying to cultivate and trying to have practices where you are just being aware and you're not judging the thoughts or the feelings that you are experiencing and just experiencing as they are is a massive superpower.
• 1:05:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the other one, which was is just it's actually something that Guy put out on our uh check-in forms for our PT clients.
• 1:05:36
  SPEAKER_00: And this is about you know what makes you productive in other aspects of your life uh to do the things that you want to do.
• 1:05:44
  SPEAKER_00: And one thing that I did for all of my exercises and everything that I needed to do to ice my knee or to move my kneecap to get it mobilized and things like that, is setting alarms for every single one of them.
• 1:05:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I pretty much had an alarm for Every hour of the day, I would say, for the first two weeks.
• 1:06:04
  SPEAKER_00: And as soon as you set alarms or you schedule things, what you can do is you then just give yourself the freedom, first of all, not to think about it.
• 1:06:15
  SPEAKER_00: You can still just be present where you're at, and you don't need to, especially if you know you have all these priorities.
• 1:06:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said at the start, that if you don't make it a priority and if you don't set an alarm or you don't schedule it in the way that things you schedule things that are important to you, and to actually get things done maybe at work or family commitments or anything that you are successful in scheduling and like carrying through with it, if you don't do that, then you are at the mercy of your emotions, and a lot of the time it's other people's schedules than your own, and it will be the priority of your emotions, not the priority of your values, which is going to be the thing that will guide you.
• 1:06:56
  SPEAKER_00: So setting alarms for rehab and doing them as soon as the alarm goes off.
• 1:07:02
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, like Harrison said, three, two, one, countdown, do it.
• 1:07:07
  SPEAKER_00: By the time you deliberated about doing it, you probably would have, you know, got to a stage of the rehab where you're either halfway through or you've actually got to that motivation stage and the state change to uh to actually carry carry through with it.
• 1:07:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the other thing is programming them like I program strength training.
• 1:07:26
  SPEAKER_00: So using a training app, we use Trainerize to create myself literally a workout for a leg day or a um preliminary exercise protocol or whatever, and tracking my weights, tracking the reps, getting them done, scheduling them, um, and just doing it like I do my normal training.
• 1:07:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I would also do everything at the gym.
• 1:07:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, obviously, the first couple of weeks I was at home, so I can't do that.
• 1:07:52
  SPEAKER_00: But I will rarely do any sort of rehab exercises at home because I just don't have that association with it.
• 1:07:58
  SPEAKER_00: I like to have a singular association with a lot of things so that it's automatic.
• 1:08:03
  SPEAKER_00: Once I get to that point, then the environment does all the work for me.
• 1:08:07
  SPEAKER_00: Another thing is asking, what is the priority if I have a time pressure?
• 1:08:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, what is the thing that's gonna move the needle enough if you can't do everything?
• 1:08:16
  SPEAKER_00: And that is something that you can either determine yourself if you are experienced in the process, or ask your physio these questions and say, right, you've given me five exercises, uh, and let's say, like, I'm gonna do my best, I'm gonna try and do them a few times a week, I'm gonna do them when you said, but let's say that I couldn't do it on a certain day because of whatever reason.
• 1:08:38
  SPEAKER_00: What should I do?
• 1:08:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know, think about plan B's.
• 1:08:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, should you, you know, which exercise is going to give you the most bang for your buck?
• 1:08:47
  SPEAKER_00: Then it is doing it properly and making the most out of every rep, like I said, filling in the box, otherwise, you're literally wasting your time, um, and you don't get any points from saying that you've done it.
• 1:08:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the uh the last thing is to wrap up, is you've got to give yourself an opportunity or a chance to come back better than before.
• 1:09:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, a lot of setbacks and uncertainty can be fantastic springboards to iron out issues that are actually holding you back before, and you can literally kind of come back stronger and in a different, you know, different body, a different mindset.
• 1:09:31
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to be open to change.
• 1:09:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like if you're doing something that you've never done before, don't be surprised when you are coming up against emotions and state changes and mindset shifts and kind of ego battles and identity challenges that you have never experienced before.
• 1:09:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it would be unreasonable to say that you could absolutely breeze through something brand new without having any sort of challenge in it.
• 1:09:58
  SPEAKER_00: So if you are going through an injury or a setback, um stick at it, keep going, keep focusing on what you can do, uh, feel the emotions of it completely and reach out if you need any uh you know any support.
• 1:10:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm always here, always here to uh to reach out to.
• 1:10:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um but thank you for listening.
• 1:10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's been a again a bit of a long one, but hopefully it's had a couple of a couple of beneficial tips and tricks, but mainly just uh a new approach to to the injury and set back experience.
• 1:10:39
  SPEAKER_00: So give us a like, a subscribe, a follow, share with a friend if you feel like this is something that they need, and we shall see you on the next episode.
• 1:10:50
  SPEAKER_00: Bye bye.