16 August,2026 10:35 AM IST | Mumbai | Arpika Bhosale
Getting back to workout post injury is not easy. Pic/iStock
Back in 2023, a vertebra in my neck moved out of alignment, and ended up throwing my fitness journey out of whack too.
Before that, regular workouts and a healthy diet had helped me drop 28 kg and get to my fittest. But the injury left me helpless even after six months of physiotherapy. I could tolerate a bit of swimming, but even a 2.5 kg dumbbell with reverse fly would put me out of commission.
Hence, picking up a dumbbell felt traumatic for the longest time, and I gave up lifting altogether. By late 2025, I had begun to amp up my swims, but the lack of weight training was showing. My strength was not like before, and even grabbing on to the pole while getting into a train would cause pain.
Then I learnt about kettlebell training. It was recommended because you can use both hands, so one arm does not take all the stress, and the momentum of the weight also helps.
At first, all I could pick up was 2 kg, which became 6 kg after a few months, and then 8 kg. Now, when I enter the gym, I find that even 5 kg dumbbells are relatively okay on my body. But I am very aware of my body and don't take it for granted anymore. So, I train slower than the average gym-goer. The pace can get frustrating, but you really have to commit.
This frustration was also felt by Imran Khan, a Kurla resident whose story is what many Indians are facing today. After nine years of building gains, Khan went from a toned and muscular 49-year-old body that even 20-year-olds dream of, to a near complete stop after suffering a heart attack in May.
"They told me I had a 95 per cent block in my left artery; it's termed as a âwidow maker'. I only survived because I was fit and my heart could take it - the muscles were strong because of my fitness routine," he said.
Now, Khan has finally been given the green signal to go to the gym again, but things have definitely changed, "My trainer and I have sat down and planned going back in a very phased manner," he adds. "The first thing I did was I started to walk at a normal pace, I did not go to the gym directly. Recovery started at a snail's pace; from 15-minute walks to strength training at a tenth to a third of the weight I used to lift. Now, three months in, I am back to 70 to 80 per cent of the weights I used to lift once."
In the next one-and-a-half-months, the target is to get back to his full strength.
For gym trainer Saurabh Patki, fitness is his bread and butter. In 2021, he hd a freak injury and tore a ligament in his right ankle. "It had swollen to the size of a small melon," he says. "For around two months, I had to use a walker, and only then slowly started to put weight on my ankle. Finally, after maybe six to eight months, I began light training," he says.
Patki feels that if you have ever been an athlete, it's easier to summon the mental strength for the recovery process. "For me, and most of my clients who are into sports, the mental recovery is not easy, but I would say it's not as hard as it is on those who began working out later in life," he says.
But even the latter group can make a comeback, he assures, "They require a bit of coaching so that they don't give up. Once they get over that hump, they understand their body better."
Dr Mansi Thukral is a physiotherapist who works with athletes and those with desk jobs as well. She says rehab is very specific to the person and their injury. "One has to assess the kind of mobility that their joints have in order to take up an exercise. It's very important to assess whether they have the desired mobility to pick up an exercise form. There has to be good joint mobility for one to take up resistance training. And both can be trained side by side," she says. This advice does bring some assurance to gymmers who often refuse to meet a doctor post injury for fear of being told to stop working out.
It is also very heartening to see that gyms are getting more and more equipment that work with rehab as well. "Fortunately, now with the advancement, there are so many machine-based exercises. We can put them on exercises which are slightly supported while you're helping them build some small, tiny, deeper muscles that help them stabilise the body," she adds.
