Welcome to Built For Life, the twice-weekly newsletter designed to help you look, feel and perform better every day. If you're dealing with an injury right now, this one's for you.
Getting injured is brutal.
There's no way around it. The past nine weeks have been a mental roller coaster. I've been reminded how easy it is to fall off track when injury strikes, no matter how small or big it is.
But here's what I've learned: there's always something you can do.
May 5th. That's when it happened. An ankle avulsion fracture with a grade 2/3 ATFL tear. The first two weeks were rough.
I was in a boot pretty much full-time. Hopping around on crutches. Couldn't weight bear at all. Couldn't do much of anything physically. It felt like my world had stopped.
And honestly, that's when the mental battle starts. You go from training hard, hitting PRs, feeling strong to not being able to walk without crutches. Or help your kids in and out of the bath. Nothing more humbling than needing your wife's assistance for bathtime.
A lot of people stop here. They throw in the towel completely. No training. No nutrition focus. No sleep discipline. Just... give up.
And that's exactly when you need to tighten up the most.
While I couldn't train my lower body, I trained my upper body with extra focus. Three times a week in the gym. Chin-ups, dips, machines. Anything that didn't involve my ankle.
My mum actually said, “You're filling out your t-shirts again,” Good sign I was regaining some upper body size after having running as the top priority for months 😅
Because I didn't focus on what I couldn't do. I focused on what I could do.
Between weeks two and three, things started accelerating. I could start hobbling around more. Moving my foot. Introducing light balance work, calf raises.
This is where proper rehab started to kick in.
By week five, I saw Rushabh, a physio friend. That's when I went from self-guided band work to a real plan. I asked him: "Give me whatever the optimal plan is if time wasn't an issue."
Three 45-minute physio sessions per week. Ankle work, calf work, footwork. Daily stuff that took 10-15 minutes.
Then I added in pool work. Three times a week with low-level plyometrics gradually introduced (think hopping in progressively shallower water).
The point: I was doing whatever it took to get back to normal. The idea of prolonging this longer than necessary was not an option.
Training the injured area obviously matters. But what I realized moved the needle most was:
Sleep. I reset my sleep schedule completely. Bed by 10pm. Nothing good happens after 10pm when you're trying to recover and you've got little ones anyway. This was massive.
Nutrition. Didn't get sloppy. A lot of people throw their hands up and eat garbage when injured. Then they gain weight, get more inflamed, and recovery gets harder. I stayed disciplined.
Mindset. This might be the biggest one. The moment I shifted from "Ah, I'm injured, this sucks" to "I'm going to do everything in my power to get back as fast and as safely as possible," my day-to-day completely changed.
When you're injury-free, you're chasing goals. When you're injured, your only goal is to get healthy again.
Around week five, I started hearing about peptides from unexpected places. Not just gym bros saying "bro, just get on peptides, you'll be back in two weeks."
But physios and private doctors. They were saying they'd been trying it with their patients and seeing success in recovery.
That made me think: why not?
I'm doing everything else right. Rehab. Nutrition. Sleep. Training. Why not try the icing on the cake?
I started on BPC-157 + TB-500, what people call the "Wolverine stack." 12 units daily of a pre-mixed version. 30-day supply.
Do I know if it's working? There’s no A/B test, so it's impossible to say. But the anecdotal evidence I'm hearing from practitioners across the board is strong. And there's no downside, so you may as well try if you're doing everything else right.
Nine weeks and three days in. I've progressed from walking to walk/jog combinations. Three sessions in so far - with yesterday’s being 6 rounds of 2 minutes jog off 1 minute walk recovery.
Next two weeks: build up the walk/jog ratio. End of July or early August: hopefully back to continuous running.
The ankle feels good. Little swelling. No aggravation. Ligaments stable.
But here's the thing: I wouldn't be here without the mindset shift.
I see so many people completely let go of all their habits when injury strikes.
They stop training (understandable). But they also stop controlling their nutrition, prioritizing sleep, doing any rehab, or taking their recovery seriously.
And then they gain 5-10kg. They get inflamed. Recovery takes twice as long. It becomes this vicious cycle.
The mental toll gets worse too. They feel helpless. Out of control. And that compounds the injury.
Stop focusing on what you can't do. Focus on what you can do.
Can't train legs? Train upper body.
Can't do intense cardio? Do rehab work.
Can't do much? Control your nutrition, sleep, and hydration.
The truth is, your nutrition, sleep, and recovery habits are often MORE important during injury than during normal training. Because your body is trying to heal. It needs the best conditions to do that.
When you approach injury with that mindset, "What's in my control? What can I do to optimize recovery?" everything shifts.
You go from feeling like a victim to feeling like you're actively managing your situation. And that mental shift changes everything.
Injuries suck. There's no getting around that.
But they don't have to derail your progress or your life. They're actually a test of character.
Are you going to fall apart? Or are you going to focus on what you can do and come back stronger?
I chose the latter. And even though these nine weeks have been tough, I'm coming back healthier, stronger mentally, and with better habits (sleep, for one).
If you're dealing with an injury right now, hear this: you're capable of more than you think.
Focus on the things you can control. Rehab. Nutrition. Sleep. Upper body training. Whatever it is that keeps you moving forward.
The injury is temporary. The strength you build during recovery? That lasts.
See you Tuesday.
— Akash
