Losing motivation because of injuries

[Davidtrains]

I am started to lose my motivation because of injuries. I get them, I let them heal, I get them again etc..

Now I need to focus entirely on not getting injuries to be able to stay active, so I have these questions:

* Can you still increase muscle mass without pushing yourself to your limit?
* Should I do higher reps instead of lower reps to decrease the chance of injury?
* Should I increase reps instead of weight (More often) to decrease the chance of injury?

Any other suggestions to stay injury free? Learn the exercises yes. I don't think that I have gotten any injury yet because of that though, except for one.

Tennis elbow.. I am not sure but I guess overload from bench press.
Back pain, I used my back to push with instead of my stomach in abdominal crunch. (Healed).
Left shoulder pain, from lat pulldown. I think overload, because this one is hard to mess up. I do it slow without using any momentum, and I don't move my legs/ass. (Healed).


EDIT 1:

This might be a reason for my injuries:

How long should a person wait between sets? / is there a standard time frame?

"In most cases, a time frame of 2-3 minutes is recommended between heavy sets, such as the bench, RDL, Incline, Lat pull down and squat. During isolation exercises, the waiting time is generally ranging from 30-60 seconds on reverse flies, curls, and triceps press downs. In the case of super sets, there is no waiting time as they are done back to back."

I usually only wait 30-45 seconds no matter the exercise. I will stop doing that immediately, and wait for the time recommended.

[ChangeOfStyle]

Don't lose motivation because of an injury mate, I understand it's a set-back but it's just another reason for you to reach that level of strength and beyond it once again and recovering from an injury and strengthening upon in will be the foundation to create a strong mentality so always think about the positive.

You might be getting injured from going too heavy to the point where your form is critically hurting your joints, muscles and tendons or you're not getting the required recovery needed after your workout.

You can still gain muscle through hypertrophy training which is just stretching the muscle fibres instead of purely strengthening them and that entails you to actually do high reps of low weights.

Just focus on your form regarding the actual exercise and go at your own pace. It's your choice on whether or not you want to go heavy on compounds but make sure you're on the ball about how to correctly do the exercise to avoid injury and definitely don't ego-lift.

Regarding the wait time between sets, if it's usually a heavy compound then I wait the 3-5 minute mark but for isolation exercises of light weight with high reps, I mostly just wait about 45 seconds to a minute max.

Also, consumption of oils such as cold-pressed virgin olive oil twice a day just with a teaspoon will work wonders on your joints and body in general. You also want to make sure your consuming the healthy fats and also make sure you stretch before your workout, will definitely help with your injury cycle.

You'll get there mate, all it takes is time, no need to rush the journey as I always say. Best of luck

[BromanianDL]

You are not thinking about injuries the right way. Taking 2-3 minutes between sets is good, but won't reduce injury. Really being mindful of what is causing the pain is what helped me most. For example, if I use a wide grip pulldown, my shoulders hurt, so I switched to a narrow grip and that is working. If you are going for one rep maxes, your form will suffer and can lead to injury. If you are working out too frequently, or doing too many sets, it can lead to overuse injuries like tennis elbow. Experiment with bench grip width to see what works for you, and there are even people that use an underhand grip because it is easier on their joints. Take your time to warm up your joints and do several warm up sets on each exercise. Good luck.

[Davidtrains]

You are not thinking about injuries the right way. Taking 2-3 minutes between sets is good, but won't reduce injury. Really being mindful of what is causing the pain is what helped me most. For example, if I use a wide grip pulldown, my shoulders hurt, so I switched to a narrow grip and that is working. If you are going for one rep maxes, your form will suffer and can lead to injury. If you are working out too frequently, or doing too many sets, it can lead to overuse injuries like tennis elbow. Experiment with bench grip width to see what works for you, and there are even people that use an underhand grip because it is easier on their joints. Take your time to warm up your joints and do several warm up sets on each exercise. Good luck.

I don't understand how taking more time between the sets won't reduce injury, as every time when you take a break you let your muscles "calm down".

But yea, this is what I am going to do to attempt to reduce injury:

1. Warm up (Stretch).
2. Take long pauses (3 min) between the sets
3. Increase with 1 rep each week instead of adding on weight to make sure that I don't add on to quickly

I won't speak too soon, but today I don't have any elbow pain after doing chest press. I did the above things. However, I'll see for sure after a few weeks.

I did try with a wide grip, as well as a small one, and none of them made a difference when it came to elbow pain to me.