low calorie diet and injury recovery

[SpiderB]

Hi,

My brother used to do weight training but had to stop due to inflammation of elbow ligaments, due to injury caused by overtraining.

My question is, he is not recovering after doing every type of treatment there is and being seen by an sports medic.

He has been on a very low calorie diet for years, although he was doing very heavy sessions.

I am starting to think that he may not be recovering due to his diet.

He is on a very low calorie diet. He is not overweight but he does have a bit of fat on his abdomen.

Is the delay in his recovery a consequence of the low calorie diet? Should he increase his food intake to recover from the injury?

Thank you.

[mjl0302]

the answer is: it depends. i'm not familiar with his diagnosis, but i would (this is based on the little info you provided) that he need to back down the weight and increase the cals to recovery fully. granted there are many other factors that would change this answer though; however, if he wants to heal the inflamation in the joints won't disapate until the stress on them is taken away and inflamation subsides. the diet is not so much a factor but it does play a more important role in recovery/avoiding injury if he continues to lift heavy on a very restricted diet.

[|ceman]

the answer is: it depends. i'm not familiar with his diagnosis, but i would (this is based on the little info you provided) that he need to back down the weight and increase the cals to recovery fully. granted there are many other factors that would change this answer though; however, if he wants to heal the inflamation in the joints won't disapate until the stress on them is taken away and inflamation subsides. the diet is not so much a factor but it does play a more important role in recovery/avoiding injury if he continues to lift heavy on a very restricted diet.

Agree with above. Increase calories to help body recover. If he still wants to train, try higher reps (10-12 range) with short rest between sets (30-60 seconds max) and higher sets (4-8). This will result in lower weight being used, increased cardiovascular activity to help burn calories and increased blood flow to help with recovery.

I am out of rep juice for today, but owe reps to mjl0302.