How To Train Around Injury
The Plan B Methodology
The numbers don't lie. Research shows powerlifting injury rates range from 1.0 to 4.4 injuries per 1000 hours of training. Raske and Norlin found powerlifters specifically experience 2.7 injuries per 1000 hours.
The most common trouble spots? Your lower back, shoulders, knees, elbows, and hips. For powerlifters, shoulder injuries happen even more often than in weightlifting, likely because of bench pressing with heavy weights and wide grips which places a lot of stress on the shoulder and it you have weakness around the rotator cuff (which I see a lot of) you will likely find yourself injured at some point.
These aren't career ending injuries requiring surgery. Most represent the price of chasing maximal strength, the inevitable consequence of repeatedly loading your body to its limits leading to Plan A being thrown out of the window.
The question isn't whether you'll deal with pain and dysfunction, it's how well you'll manage your training when these issues show up.
"If we cannot run, we do bike workouts to keep the chemistry going. If we cannot throw, we look at what we can do in the weight room to replace that." - Dan Pfaff
This is where Plan B training comes in. Developed by legendary track coach Dan Pfaff, who worked with 49+ Olympians and world record holders, this approach gives you a systematic way to maintain training stimulus when your main movements become compromised. His core principle: stay as close to Plan A as possible whilst working around whatever's trying to stop you.
The Pfaff Method: Why Plan B Works
Dan Pfaff's Plan B approach came from coaching elite sprinters who couldn't afford to stop training when injuries struck. Working with athletes like Donovan Bailey taught him three fundamental principles:
Neural Drive Preservation – Keep challenging your nervous system with heavy loads through alternative exercises
Movement Pattern Integrity – Maintain the fundamental patterns whilst changing how you load them
Strength Quality Focus – Train the adaptation, not the exercise
The most famous example happened during Bailey's 1996 Olympic preparation. When he injured his adductor three weeks before the Games, Pfaff didn't shut down training. They modified everything (therapy, movement patterns, loading strategies) whilst maintaining the neural drive and power output needed for world record sprinting.
"Stay as close to Plan A as possible whilst working around constraints." - Dan Pfaff
For powerlifters, this translates perfectly. Your nervous system doesn't really know the difference between a low bar back squat, box squat, pin sqaut or SSB squat. If we look through the lens of neural drive as long is they are causing you to give maximal intent but the bar speed slows enough due to the load you will recruit high threshold motor units.
The key insight here is we're not training exercises, we're training strength qualities. When back squats hurt, we find another way to challenge and develop maximal strength.
Let's be honest about who we're dealing with here. Powerlifters pursue maximal strength through repeated exposure to loads exceeding 90% of one rep max. The research shows most injuries happen during training, not competition. We're systematically loading our bodies to the breaking point, and sometimes things break (or get very close to breaking).
If an issue happens during training, the solution cannot be, leave the gym. We can't afford extended periods away from heavy loading because strength disappears quickly. Plan B training offers a better option: maintain training stimulus whilst letting injured tissues recover.
Pain as Your Programming Variable
Pain becomes your primary decision maker for exercise selection and loading. For powerlifters, pain signals the need for immediate programme changes whilst preserving the strength qualities that drive performance.
Your modified training needs to hit three targets:
Load Tolerance – The maximum weight you can handle through pain free ranges
Movement Quality – Keeping your technique a close as possible to the movements of the competiiton lift
Muscle Specificty – Try to train the same muscles in a similar tempo, rep range, and overall workload as previous
Plan B programming keeps you pain free whilst preserving training stimulus through smart exercise swaps. The barbell is just the tool, the load and rep ranges the stimulus. Nobody would deny that practicing the exact movements would be the gold standard but when that isn’t possible there needs to be a way to maintain the adaptations and continue growing as a lifter.
You have to play the long game.
Squat Solutions
Stance Adjustments That Actually Work
Changing your stance width can eliminate pain whilst maintaining the squat pattern. If wide stance squats aggravate your hips, try bringing your feet in. If narrow squats stress your knees, experiment with going wider.
These aren't different exercises, they're the same movement with adjusted leverage that might eliminate your pain point. Given that squat injuries often involve thigh muscles and surrounding structures, stance modifications can eliminate the specific joint angles that stress injured tissues whilst keeping your loading capacity high.
Box Squats for Controlled Loading
Box squats give you precise control over how deep you go, eliminating painful ranges whilst maintaining maximal loading. The knee will be the offloaded structure here, by encouraging a more neutrla shin angle the stress on the knee is reduced.
You can work to multiple different box heights, pause lengths and stance widths to acheive the desired outcome.
The natural pause at the bottom also provides controlled loading without the dynamic stress that often aggravates injured tissues.
Reverse Bands for Bottom Position Relief
Reverse bands provide maximum assistance where many squat injuries happen (the bottom) whilst maintaining heavy loading through your stronger ranges. This works particularly well for lower back issues or acute hip issues.
The bands reduce bottom position stress whilst preserving heavy neural stimulation through the top portion, maintaining the high threshold motor unit recruitment essential for strength development.
Bench Press Fixes
Partial Range Training
Board presses and pin presses eliminate the vulnerable bottom position where pec ruptures typically happen, whilst maintaining heavy loading through safer ranges.
1 board reduces range by about 2.5cm and eliminates bottom position stress
2 board reduces range by about 5cm and focuses on mid range strength
3 board reduces range by about 7.5cm and emphasises lockout strength
Pin presses offer similar benefits with more precise range control, letting you train exactly through the ranges that don't hurt.
Grip and Bar Modifications
Hand position changes significantly impact shoulder stress. The wider the grip the more stress on the shoulder and demand on the rotator cuff. Essentially the more you need to move into internal rotation as you press the greater the demand.
Close grip reduces shoulder stress and increases triceps emphasis. Neutral grip options (football bar) eliminate the internal rotation stress patterns. Angled handles provide intermediate positioning between neutral and standard grips.
Isometric Holds for Joint Relief
Isometric holds offer unique advantages during shoulder injury periods. The static nature eliminates dynamic stress whilst maintaining motor unit recruitment.
Use 3 to 6 second holds in your mid range or strongest available position, 2 to 3 sessions per week at 85 to 95% of your pain free maximum.
Deadlift Adaptations
Partial Range Pulling
Since deadlift injuries primarily affect the lower back, partial range variations become essential for maintaining pulling strength whilst protecting your spine. Rack pulls and block pulls eliminate the problematic bottom position whilst maintaining the hip hinge pattern and posterior chain loading.
Set the height 5 to 10cm above your painful range threshold. You can often maintain 100 to 110% of your floor pull intensities and preserve your total weekly pulling volume.
Isometric Pulling Protocols
Isometric pulls against immovable pins offer spine friendly strength maintenance whilst preserving the neural adaptations specific to deadlifting. Use multiple angles to ensure comprehensive strength maintenance:
Mid shin height for the bottom position
Knee height for the middle portion
Mid thigh height for the lockout
Hip Thrusts as Deadlift Replacements
Hip thrusts provide posterior chain loading whilst completely eliminating spinal stress, making them ideal for managing the lower back injuries commonly associated with deadlift training. The movement targets the same muscle groups (glutes and hamstrings) whilst removing the axial loading that stresses your spine.
Maintaining Your Strength Qualities
"Your nervous system adapts to effort levels and recruitment patterns, not specific exercises."
Plan B training works because it maintains the fundamental adaptations powerlifting demands: maximal strength, rate of force development, and specific motor patterns. These qualities transfer between exercises sharing similar movement patterns and muscle activation profiles.
When you maintain high threshold motor unit activation through modified movements, you preserve the neural adaptations that drive strength performance.
Rather than complete training cessation (which leads to rapid deconditioning), Plan B maintains training stimulus through alternative loading strategies whilst allowing tissue recovery.
Building Your Injury Proof System
The strongest powerlifters aren't those who never encounter injuries, they're those who manage injuries most effectively whilst maintaining their pursuit of maximal strength.
The research reveals most powerlifting injuries occur during training, not competition, making effective training modification strategies essential for long term success. With 70% of powerlifters reporting current injuries and 87% experiencing injuries within 12 months, injury management represents a core skill for serious lifters.
Successful implementation requires preparation (practice Plan B exercises during healthy periods), documentation (detailed records of pain free variations and loading parameters), flexibility (daily programming adjustments based on symptoms), and understanding (recognition that temporary modifications serve long term goals).
This methodology requires shifting from exercise focused to adaptation focused thinking. Success depends on understanding that strength qualities, not a narrow focus of movements movements, drive performance outcomes.
The Bottom Line
Dan Pfaff's methodology offers a systematic approach to maintaining progress during inevitable injury periods. By focusing on strength qualities rather than specific exercises, Plan B training bridges the gap between injury and full training whilst preserving the adaptations that drive performance.
The evidence from powerlifting injury research supports this approach. The lumbar spine, shoulder, knee, and hip injuries that plague powerlifters require intelligent training modifications, not complete cessation. For powerlifters committed to long term progress.