Many people will experience an injury or irritation at least once in their lives. What is the best thing to do? Do you stop training, take it easier or only train other muscle groups? In this article you can read more about certain training techniques to promote your recovery and still be able to train. If the injury does not go away, or the training still hurts too much, it is best to visit a specialist such as your GP or a physiotherapist.

BFR stands for “Blood Restricted Training”, which means that you restrict the blood flow in a limb by means of a BFR band. The blood then flows into the muscle, but can then no longer leave. Because the blood flow is restricted, there is a case of oxygen-poor blood and waste products such as lactate build up in the muscle group itself.
This will feel like a big burning pump. Our body will then use more type-II muscle fibers to continue the movement. This normally happens with heavy loads (high working weights). By maintaining this way of training, a lot of metabolic stress will arise, which in turn ensures more muscle growth.

• Still causing muscle damage with lower weights
• Joints are less stressed
• Faster recovery
• Train more frequently

It is advisable to always apply this if you have trained with heavy working weights for a longer period. This gives your joints the rest to fully recover and prevents injuries that can occur after prolonged training with heavy weights.

To train this way you need BFR bands. You can buy them on the  HIgh End website.

Depending on which joint is causing the irritation, you will pinch at a certain point.

At the elbow and wrist joint you will pinch under the armpit/shoulder.

In the case of the knee, ankle or hip joint, you will experience pinching at the hip/groin.

On a scale of 1-10, aim for a 7-8 for your legs, a 4-5 for your calves, and around a 6 for your arms. If you experience pain during training, a tingling sensation, or your fingers or toes start to discolor, the band is too tight. If
you don't experience a big pump, the band is too loose.

Exercises
When training BFR it is important to use isolation exercises.

Legs

• Leg extensions
• Leg press
• Leg curls 

Calves

• Seated calf raises
• Standing calf raises
• Calf presses (leg press)

Arms

• Preacher curls
• Bicep curls
• Tricep extensions

Weight

With this form of training you use a low working weight (30-50% 1RM).
These are exercises with which you can do about 20-30 repetitions. Determine in your first training what weight this is for you and adjust where necessary.

Sets

Do 4 sets to reach a minimum total reps of 60 to 100.

Rest
Rest for 20 to 30 seconds between sets. The bands remain in place during the rest.

Resume:

• Choose isolation exercises
• Use a weight for 20-30 repetitions (30-50% 1 RM)
• Rest for 20-30 seconds between sets
• Do 4 sets (60-100 reps total)

Elbow and knee

Because elbows and knees have roughly the same function, they also usually suffer from the same type of injuries. Tendinosis is the most common injury. The cause of this injury is almost always related to overuse.
Therefore, switch to a selection of exercises that do not cause you pain. You can take the following guidelines into account:

 Elbow

1. The wrist should always remain above the elbow to minimize stress on the joint. Bringing the elbows behind the body is also very stressful on the elbows.
2. Choose an exercise where the forearm can move in the most natural way. Exercises with dumbbells are preferred, because with a bar you bring your wrists into a fixed position and remove the rotation from your elbow.
3. By squeezing the dumbbells harder, the tension goes into your muscles instead of the joint, creating more forearm stability.
4. Wear a sleeve all day and night for support. 

Knee

1. When squatting, make sure your knees don't come too far forward. This puts a lot of pressure on the knee joint. Squatting is done from your heel and hips. A heel raiser is definitely not recommended.
2. It is better to switch to the leg extension, because it puts less pressure on the knee joint. The leg extension activates the quadriceps in a different way.
3. Make sure your knees don't fall inward when squatting.
4. Wear a sleeve all day and night for support.

Shoulders Shoulder
impingement is one of the most common injuries in the shoulder joint. One cause of this can be related to the acromion bone. This bone determines how much space your shoulder has to function properly. If this space is minimal, impingement quickly occurs. However, most shoulder complaints are caused by poor technique. Therefore, pay extra attention to your technique and have a professional take a look with you. To prevent shoulder complaints, you can take the following guidelines into account:

1. When performing pressing movements, keep your elbows at a 40-45 degree angle and do not bring your elbows outwards.
2. Do not lock your shoulder blades during a pushing movement such as a dumbbell press.
3. Make sure that your arms are at a 90 degree angle at the bottom of a push movement. This way your biceps and triceps provide more stability in the shoulder and elbow joint.

Back

As with the shoulders, most back problems are caused by poor hold or execution. To prevent back problems, you can take into account the following guidelines:

1. Rounding or arching the lower back, or tilting the pelvis, places significant stress on the SI joint.
2. Lower back pain often occurs in the middle of a sticking point (90-110 degrees hip flexion). A deadlift can damage both the SI joint and the lumbar spine. Therefore, make sure that the bar does not touch the ground, but provide a slight elevation by means of a step or a weight or something similar
3. The spine is more susceptible to stress in the morning than in the afternoon or evening. If you train in the morning, do it lighter than usual.

Cooling slows down your immune system response to an injury. So with an active injury that is getting worse you can cool. With a stable injury it is better not to because you sabotage the recovery. That is why you should cool at the moment of onset or with increasing swelling.

Heat treatment (alternating between hot and cold) and massage accelerate blood flow and do the opposite of cooling. The accelerated blood flow removes waste products faster and supplies building materials.

When swelling occurs and increases, cool and then add heat treatment.

Haya Labs
Dosage: 3×1 capsule per day.

Omega-3
Dosage: Take 1 capsule per day with a meal.

Quamtrax Glucosamine
Dosage: 3 tablets per day

Do not take painkillers to suppress the pain during training. This can cause more damage. In the interest of your stomach, you can take Paracetamol outside of training instead of Ibuprofen (NSAIDs). The body uses the inflammation process to allow recovery to take place and with anti-inflammatories you do not give the body a chance to solve it itself.