Fitness expert weighs in on working out after injury

At HK Fitness, Ryan O'Connor and Sami Promisloff are getting a good workout even though both are nursing injuries of sorts.

"I had weight-loss surgery. I lost 120 pounds and basically had to figure out how to exercise with a brand new body," said O'Connor.

It took about him about six weeks to feel comfortable moving in an exercise class situation.

"The biggest thing to figure out how to use was my core and my hips and basically this whole journey right here," said O'Connor.

Promisloff had some knee issues when she was young, and even wore a knee brace. But as an adult, she still had weakness, so she went to instructor Stephanie Wilberding for help.

"First of all, have a conversation with that person coming in; If they have injuries and what modifications they might need. I always try to give them a modification that lives in the family of that same exercise," said Wilberding, owner of HK Fitness.

"The thing that really transformed my body is learning about the neutrality of the spine and how to take tension out of other parts of our body in order to really concentrate on building our core strength," said Promisloff.

Surprisingly, no matter what body part is injured, maintaining a good, strong, solid core is one of the smartest things you can do.

"We truly try to work on stabilizing our core in all the exercises that we do. Joints are happiest when they're stacked, so our knees need to be protected by our ankles from below and our hips from above," said Wilberding.

If you're coming off of an injury and working out solo, she offers this advice: "Make that commitment to yourself. focus more on 'how' the body feels, not what you actually want to be doing," said Wilberding.

In addition, try body weight workouts or a lighter weight than usual, or maybe even use a resistance band that offers variable resistance in lieu of weights or kettle bells.

"Then check in. 'How was my injured area? OK, do I need to ice every time? If I do, maybe I'm going too hard," Wilberding said.