Pivoting Through Injury: The Psychology Behind a Resilient Fitness Journey
By Kelan Ern Last updated: 12/05/2025
One of the biggest challenges in fitness is dealing with injuries – and everyone’s response is different, whether it’s:
Impatience with recovery
Frustration of being held back
Fear of re-injury
Or drive to come back stronger
That’s where exercise science professor Leslie Podlog has some enlightening perspective:
During high school he was a competitive wrestler and then kept his athletic career going when he scored a college scholarship. But in the “big leagues” the wear-and-tear was too much for his body. He needed shoulder surgery. Then not one. Not two. But three knee reconstructions to keep playing, which was enough for even his friendly neighborhood surgeon to finally tell him: “I don’t tell people to retire but maybe consider something more cerebral”
That’s when Leslie decided to hang up his singlet and study the mental game instead. So he got his doctorate in sports and exercise psychology – with an emphasis on how to mentally return to activity.
His knee-jerk (his poor knees…) response to an injury was always to “build back better, stronger, faster and more capable than before.” However, it dawned on him sometimes there’s a disconnect between expectations and reality. Sometimes the recovery timeline is further out in the future (and sometimes may require a pivot in activity)
Whatever the situation he observed one of the most effective strategies is…
Accept the changes to the body
Find greater meaning through those changes
Many people struggle with #1 and either give up being active altogether or “pull the batteries out of the smoke alarm” and ignore their pain.
When I played football in high school, I had recurring heel pain that wouldn’t go away. So I spent many hours sitting in ice baths and standing on the sidelines. One grizzled defensive line coach noticed and said, “I’ve known people with open-heart surgery recover faster than you!” Finally, I got fed up with being held back and decided to ignore the pain and start running, blocking and sprinting again. Bad move. The pain got even worse and derailed the rest of my football season.
Some people hate accepting injuries because they don’t want to be held back or “admit defeat”. But accepting your body doesn’t mean complacency. It means giving it compassion so that you can listen to “what it needs” and more intelligently navigate ahead.
(Instead of fighting with yourself)
One example is Tom Rauscher, a retired computer systems executive, who deadlifted 275 pounds this year… at age 79.
How’d he get started?
He pole-vaulted for exercise up until his mid-forties. Then his arthritic knees started screaming at him. So he retired from the sport and tried weight-lifting where he noticed his knees felt great. He could squat and deadlift and do intense circuit training with no trouble. Then in his 70’s he decided to start competitive powerlifting.
His advice for those at this “body screaming” fork-in-the-road: "Even though you can't do the things that you could do when you were younger, you can still do quite a bit."
What would it look like to embrace your body as it is right now? What if this setback is actually a setup for a breakthrough?