Injury prevention

When I first started doing crossfit, I had a bum knee, thanks to years of military wear and tear combined
with a knee surgery. I have always been an athlete, and I learned to work through injuries. Now that
my body is getting older and more worn out, I couldn’t recover as quickly as before. All the physical
therapist I went to focused on strengthening the injured joint to the point of normalcy, but I never
did anything beyond that for injury prevention. Therefore, my knee continued to give me problems
for years. When I began crossfit, I saw the potential for injury prevention. By strengthening my body,
and building muscle and mobility around my joints, I have been able to avoid any knee injuries for an
extended period of time. The key to achieving this was mobility and technique. With the assistance of
my wonderful strength coach, Richard Largo, I began to see the importance of proper technique when
exercising. So many people want to be in shape, and want to get stronger, but many times it is the
fear of injury that keeps us from optimal performance. I had always worked out, but never with proper
technique. I am 30 years old now, and I am in the best shape of my life. In addition, I have my parents
doing crossfit now, and they love it. Like most people, they thought they were too old and broken to do
something so intense, but they see what it has done for me, and they see the injury free life I have now.
If any of you out there have doubts about crossfit and the potential for injury, all I can say is this: Trust
your coaches, use proper technique, ask questions, and strive to be more flexible. Bad joints and bad
knees will always be an issue, but if you surround those joints with flexible, powerful muscle tissue, you
can avoid further injury.

By: David Lyman
Published by:Richard Largo