In the last year, I have had 3 injuries- nothing broken, but enough to put me out for 2 months- including my most recent one to date.

I was upset and cried. I enjoy being active and having to eliminate or reduce this was difficult.

Trying to change this negative to a positive, I started to think of activities and tasks I could do while I can’t be training and wanted to share:

• Watch your old sparring and fight videos to see your progress and make note of areas you need to work on
• Using your notes of areas to work on; create an action plan for how to improve in those areas
• 5 minutes of meditation and breathing everyday to help release bad energy (even momentarily)
• Watch professional fights to observe and learn tactics, strategies and technique
• Write down 3 goals you want to achieve when you do get back to training (don’t need to be big, can be small!)
• Go for a walk or cross train if you are able. Do some physical exercise (again if you’re able) for your mental health
• On the topic of mental health. Use this time to strength your mental game. Boxing is a physical sport, but it also requires a strong mental performance. Journaling could be a form of building your confidence, giving yourself a mantra that you write down or say out loud often, and/or doing word puzzles to get mental stimulation
• If retail therapy will help, maybe buying a new gym outfit that you can wear when you can go back to training
• Lastly do not miss out on your prescribed medication, ice and/or heat as prescribed, and stretching. The more pro-active you are with your treatment the better off you are to recover in the prescribed time from your therapist
• SLEEP; now more than ever, try and give yourself enough rest as this will help with recovery as much as possible

Have you had an injury that put you out? What strategies have you used to help you get through it? Any other suggestions you can contribute in the comments?