The story-
I busted my left ankle in November, took 6 weeks off from using my left foot and started working out again with resistance training(squats, deads etc). I played no sports for fear of rehurting my ankle.
Now, body is all out of wack.
When I squat, I use my right leg much more then my left. As a result, my right quad is significantly tighter then my hamstring, and when I walk or stand, I lock out my right knee. By locking out, I place pressure on my right hip, which leads up to my back, which is why I have lower back problems.
My body feels like its falling apart, and I feel like lifting wont help it. I am leaning towards going towards sports, running, and back workouts and thats it.
Any thoughts? Anyone else been in a similar situation?
Relax man. Don’t sound so depressed. Why not try stretching out the muscles that are too tight and doing unilateral exercises. 1 legged squats, db deadlifts, split squats, step ups, etc. Start with the weak side, do the reps with a given weight and then move to the stronger side but don’t use anymore weight or reps that you did with the weak side. Eventually they’ll catch up.
Playing sports is not going to fix your problem, if anything it could make it worse. The unpredictable nature of sport makes it of higher risk and your more likely to compensate with your strong side in that environment than if you were doing unilateral work in the gym to balance it out. Also, often time the force on the joints from running and jumping far exceed the force placed on the joints by doing exercises in the gym. Best of luck, and most of all stay positive.
-MAtt
I would also suggest seeing a professional of some sorts. But, take it slow getting back in.
-MAtt
Subconsciously, you’re still afraid to put pressure on that ankle.
Unilateral exercises, like Matt suggested, will give you the confidence you need to put that ankle back to work.
Hindu squats, hindu pushups and bridging will help you get over the injury and get you back in shape:
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459922
My left arm was weaker then my right(and much smaller)so when I did db curls i went 10lbs heavier and 5 reps more on my left,2 months later my were arms are withn 5lbs of each other.Just dont push your stronger side as much,you might lose some strength but you can always get it back
Keep going to the gym. Your body is not falling apart. You can fight back from injury but you can’t win in two weeks or even six months. Take it one day at a time and one rep at a time. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself to get your ankle back to before the injury just focus on getting back into the swing of working out, stretching, eating, your ankle and your mind will thank you.
Just my some of my advice that I should listen to but never do.
Good luck,
Hawk