How to Prevent Injury When Exercising
Whether you have been a regular at the gym for many years, or you have recently started working out, it is important that you take care of your body to prevent injury or overuse of the muscles. It can be especially important if you are starting out on your exercise regime as this is the time when an injury can occur. You are eager to get fit so push yourself a little too hard. However, there are ways that you can prevent yourself from getting injured and still get the workout you want.
Table of Contents
Learn When to Stop
When you’re motivated to stay fit and healthy it’s easy to push to hard and find you simply train without sufficient rest. This happened to a blogger who recently wrote about his experience of being a triathlete who overtrained and ended up with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Deal With any Existing Pain or Injury
Before you can start to work out, you need to ensure that you are fit enough to begin. If you are suffering from any injury, then you need to speak to your doctor or a physiotherapist and seek their advice. They might be able to help you with the injury and speed up your recovery. If you are suffering from chronic pain, then exercise can be a good way to reduce its severity, but you need to get it under control first. You can get chronic pain treatment in Langhorne PA through specialists who can help determine your cause for pain and how to prevent it.
Choose Your Workout Carefully
When you are thinking about what workouts to do, it is important to take your own personal situation into account. You don’t want to be doing anything that will cause pain or recurring injury. For example, if you have problems with your back, then you should avoid exercise that puts too much pressure on this part of the body such as weights or twisting. If you are unsure what exercises you should do, talk to a personal trainer at your gym and they can advise you what the best options are for you.
Get a Trainer
Some people lack in motivation when it comes to exercise, so they engage a personal trainer to help them. However, these trainers are not only good for motivation, but they can also help you to stay fit and free from injury. Because they are specially trained, they can see what the best regime is for you and give you advice and direction. They will also be there to tell you to rest or work a different part of the body, so you don’t get fatigued. It is important to be open and honest with your trainer about any conditions or injuries you have, or they won’t be able to help you stay fit.
Warm Up Correctly
One of the most common reasons for injury when exercising is cold muscles. When they are cold, your muscles are more prone to injury. What’s more, these such injuries can be worse, which is why it is essential to have a correct warm-up routine before you start your exercise. You also need to remember to do it every time, or that could be the one time you suffer an injury. In the same way, cooling down after you exercise can help to soften up the muscles and prevent the pain and discomfort the next day. However, if you are new to exercise, then this will still happen for the first few sessions until your body gets used to it.
Vary Your Routine
Even if you love doing a certain exercise, it is important to add other things into the mix as well. For example, if you love running, then try to add some yoga or weights into the program. Not only will this prevent you from getting bored with the same exercise, but it will also allow parts of your body to rest in between sessions. Another good reason for the variation is to stop your body from getting used to the exercise. After a while, your body will stop getting the benefit from one form of exercise if you do it all the time.
Learn When to Stop
Although exercise can become addictive, there is a point when you need to learn when to stop and let yourself rest. It can be all too easy to try and keep going even when you are tired, but all this will do is encourage injury and exhaustion. If you start to find that a certain activity is causing some pain, you should stop immediately and switch to something else that doesn’t use that area of the body. It is also important to rest the area until it is fully recovered.
If you use some or all of these ideas, then you should be able to have the workout you want without any pain or injury.
