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- 4 speed bumps from the past decade
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Welcome to The Movement Memo, a bi-weekly newsletter where I share actionable tips to help you live your best day ever, every day.
Today's Programming
Movement: Chipper
Quote: Aurelius on injury
Lesson: 4 speed bumps from the past decade (and what I learned from them)
Optimization: Why I use red light therapy
Today's Movement
Compete for time:
50 GHD sit-ups
40 front squat
30 burpees box jump over
20 strict press
10 strict pull-ups
♀ 105 lb
♂ 135 lb
2021 Speed Bump
Today's Quote
“Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.
Doing anything at a high level means you are constantly flirting with injury.
It’s the dark side of sport.
Athletes are delusional; we inherently know injury is a very realistic possibility, yet we trick ourselves into thinking it won’t happen to us.
But, do anything at a high level long enough, and you will experience setbacks.
The trick to overcoming injury is focusing on what you can control.
Take ownership of your actions. Find new ways to improve and recover.
Today's Lesson Learned
Social media rarely tells the full story.
Most people only share highlight moments and it creates a false narrative of what life is like.
Over the past 10 years, I’ve experienced 4 major setbacks that significantly derailed my progress.
I call these “speed bumps”.
My 2013 Speed Bump:
I had been training for years with the singular goal of competing at the Kona Ironman World Championships. 10 days before my qualifying race in Lake Placid, I crashed going 25 mph on my triathlon bike. I slid 15 meters on the asphalt, spilling my face wide open, and ended up needing 23 stitches in my chin and countless more in my hand.
10 days later, I toed the starting line, against my doctor’s orders.
I had trained for years for this moment; there was no f’ing way I was going to miss my chance to compete. I completed the open water, was barely able to grip my handlebars on the 112-mile bike, and stumbled through the 26.2-mile run.
I ended up qualifying for Kona (barely), but my finger ended up getting infected from the open-water swim, and it’s never fully healed.2016 Speed Bump
When I first started training CrossFit, I was naive and trying to maintain the same volume as I would for endurance training. I was training 5+ hours a day… And I paid for it.
I tore my MCL on a routine box jump because I was overtrained and not allowing my body to recover.
This turned into a year-long rehabilitation process…
During this time I focused on the only exercise I could really complete on one leg, and built up a 2.5-hour session on the Ski Erg.
I took 2 lessons from this speed bump:Do not focus on what you can’t control; even if you're injured you can still find ways to be active.
Listen to the signals your body is telling you; you need to fully recover.
2021 Speed Bump
45 minutes into a mountain bike training session in Bentonville, Arkansas I lost control and crashed. I tore the skin on my forearm down to the bone and had to be rushed to the hospital. A few hours later, I walked out with 25 staples and stitches holding my arm together.
I couldn’t train for months.
(P.S. I still need to head back to get redemption on the trails out there!)2023 Speed Bump
Last summer I was racing down a descent in Colorado and crashed on my mountain bike (again). I destroyed the ligaments in my left shoulder and severely strained my AC joint. For the next 150 days, I couldn’t complete a single overhead squat, muscle up, pull-up, toes 2 bar, or snatch.
This was right at the start of my “off-season”, when I was supposed to be working to build all of these weaknesses to qualify for the 2024 CrossFit Games. (*age group).
I wanted to share these “Speed Bumps” today because everyone has obstacles that derail their progress.
The key to overcoming Speed Bumps is a simple reframe:
Focus on what you can still do, not on what you can no longer do.
Stay positive. And remember these moments will pass.
My Favorite Pre-Hab/ Re-Hab Routines:
Over the years, I’ve had my fair share of injuries, sprains, and strains. Below are 6 recovery tools I have adopted to stay healthy and recover from injuries faster:
Daily Contrast Therapy Sessions: My typical routine is 3 rounds of 20 minutes in the SISU Sauna at 200’F followed by 3 minutes in the Ice Barrel at 38‘F.
Dry needling, cupping, and deep tissue massage (for injured areas, and inflammation) every 2 weeks.
Chiropractic Care every week (and Physical Therapy for strains when they arise)
Hyperbaric Oxygen Chambers (for open wounds that aren't healing)
Kineon Red Light Therapy (for injured areas, and inflammation)
PlayOn pain relief spray (I always keep this in my gym bag)
Today's Optimization
Since my Ironman years, I have been training 2-4 hours a day six to seven days a week. With this much volume, muscle tweaks and strains are a constant issue. One of the most impactful additions to my recovery has been the Move+ by Kineon Labs. It has helped me recover faster from pain that used to take me out of the gym for days or weeks.
I researched these red light devices heavily and had several friends in their thirties, forties, and fifties who had been recommending Move+ by Kineon Labs to me. Over the past year since I started using it, I have noticed that I have been able to immediately address slight tweaks and minor injuries that result from training. I keep a Move+ in my car and at my desk so that I can multi-task and make the most efficient use of my time. When I am driving to the gym or sitting on a call, I will put the device to get a 20-minute prehab/rehab session during the day.
Today Kineon Labs is offering Movement Memo subscribers a deal: 10% off using code “EHINMAN”.
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Publisher: Eric Hinman
Editor-in-chief: Bobby Ryan