On this episode of Mission Shred, James Grage finds out that he has an injury that will prevent him from training for up to two weeks and take 12 weeks to heal.
James: Shit happens. You know, it can have almost a gravitational force. You feel it pull at you and if you let it, it’ll really pull you down. It starts to build momentum and pretty soon, one thing can make your whole day, or whole week, whole month or whole year feel like everything’s falling apart.
Although the pain is in his elbow, the doctor told James that the problem is coming from his grip. Therefore, he has to wear a wrist brace on his right hand that prevents him from making a fist.
James: It’s tough considering that this is crunch time. Right before the show. But it’s been tough for the last six weeks. At least that. Ever since I went out to LA for the FitExpo. While I was out there, I trained with Steve Cook over at Gold’s Gym Venice. The next day I trained with Jay Cutler. Had all this content planned and it was really just a big bummer because I couldn’t do much. I just had this excruciating pain in my elbow. Wasn’t quite sure at the time what it was, but I couldn’t move it. I couldn’t even brush my teeth. Shaking someone’s hand was murder.
James tried multiple remedies, including therapy and acupuncture. When neither worked, he knew there was something truly wrong. Especially when the pain started to spread to his triceps and his forearm, and he couldn’t sleep at night. He didn’t want to go to the doctor for fear of hearing that he had to stop training. But he did. And what did the doctor say? Stop training.

Will this be the injury that knocks James out of the running for the Arnold? Watch the full episode above to find out.