Tip: Recovering? Reset your PR's Search Skip to content Menu Menu follow us Store Articles Community Loyal-T Club Loyal-T Points Rewards Subscribe to Save Search Search The World s Trusted Source & Community for Elite Fitness Training Tip Recovering Reset your PR s Getting back into the gym after being injured Here' s how you need to think about personal records by Lee Boyce September 11, 2018August 18, 2019 Tags Powerlifting & Strength, Tips, Training Are you a banged-up lifter? Maybe just getting back into things or recovering from an injury? Here's some advice from someone who's been there. If you're still trying to match your double bodyweight, wobbly-legged PR squat that you hit back when you were 24, it's time to put that goal to bed and train smart. You've been injured. You can't move right. Your range of motion sucks. Your joints may hurt. Place PR's on the backburner and focus instead on hard work, the training effect, and steering clear of re-injury. Use a smarter lifting tempo – slow down the negative component of your reps. Not only will that improve your eccentric strength, it'll also make an honest lifter out of you. Most PR's take a big hit when you have to control the lowering phase for 4 seconds and pause before lifting. If you used to squat 405, but can only squat 275 with that tempo, guess what your new PR is? That's right, 275. Here's an example of me doing a narrow-stance squat with a controlled negative and a pause at the bottom: You may also have to come to terms with the fact that you're force feeding a movement or pattern that your body no longer agrees with, or never agreed with in the first place. Things like barbell deadlifts, low-bar squats, power cleans from the floor, and barbell bench presses can easily be replaced with trap bar deadlifts, high-bar squats, hang power cleans, and football bar or dumbbell bench presses. You're not any less of a lifter just because you're not including powerlifting moves exactly as they're seen in contests. Oh, and for the record, powerlifters are often broken too. Get The T Nation Newsletters Don' t Miss Out Expert Insights To Get Stronger, Gain Muscle Faster, And Take Your Lifting To The Next Level related posts Training Tip Floss Your Shoulder Pain Away Fixing your shoulder issues can even make your upper back and triceps feel better. Here's why and how to do it. It Hurts Fix It, Mobility, Shoulders, Tips, Training Dr John Rusin May 23 Training The One-Arm a Day Arm Cure Has anyone out there tried "The One-Day Arm Cure" by Charles Poliquin? Or am I the only nut who spent an entire day devoted to training arms? Training George A Baselice February 8 Training Tip Build Glutes with Accommodating Resistance Smoke that butt with these two banded exercise variations. Bodybuilding, For Women, Glutes, Tips, Training Brianna Alexander February 17 Training Tip The Best Way to Do Flyes Make this exercise work even better for pecs. Here's how. Bodybuilding, Chest, Exercise Coaching, Tips Paul Carter August 19