Injuries in Strength Training: Two Rules That Change Everything

Injuries, niggles, and setbacks are part of the process.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re new to the gym or competing at a high level if you train consistently, at some point, something will flare up.

Over the years of coaching both everyday lifters and elite strength athletes, I’ve found most people don’t struggle because they’re injured…

They struggle because of how they respond to it.

There are two principles I come back to time and time again:

When something starts to hurt, the natural reaction is to focus on it.

You stretch it.
You twist it.
You test it.
You keep checking if it still hurts.

But all you’re doing is keeping it irritated.

Think of it like this if something is inflamed, constantly prodding it isn’t helping it settle. It’s keeping it alive.

Now, that doesn’t mean you do nothing.

Rehab is important. Movement is important.

But it has to be intentional.

The right exercise.
The right load.
The right amount.

Not constant attention.

One of the biggest mistakes I see is people overdoing the “fixing” phase. Too much stretching, too much testing, too much focus.

Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is step back, reduce the aggravation, and allow things to calm down.

This is where most people get stuck.

Pain shows up.
They rehab the painful area.
It settles.
Then a few weeks later… it’s back again.

So they think: “It’s triggered again.”

In reality, it was never fully resolved.

Because the pain isn’t always the problem—it’s the signal.

If you only focus on where it hurts, you’re missing the bigger picture.

You need to look at:

• How you’re moving 
• What you’re loading 
• Your training volume and intensity 
• Your recovery habits 
• Your technique under fatigue 

In many cases, the root cause sits somewhere else entirely.

Until you identify and address that, you’ll stay stuck in the cycle of:
flare up → rehab → repeat

This is where experience matters.

Having someone who can step back, assess properly, and guide you toward the actual issue not just the symptom can be the difference between short-term relief and long-term progress.

Injuries aren’t just physical they’re behavioural.

How you respond will dictate how quickly (and how well) you come back.

So if you take anything from this, let it be this:

Don’t poke the bear.
Stop constantly aggravating what needs to settle.

Treat the cause, not the symptoms.
Fix the reason it happened—not just where it hurts.

Because real strength isn’t just about what you can lift…

It’s about staying healthy enough to keep progressing.