Goodness! Exercise Injuries!
Prevent Them By Using
A Bit Of Common Sense

Injuries are not Small Matters

To avoid and reduce exercise injuries, prevention is much much better than cure. You get to enjoy injury-free exercise.

Exercise injury, stiffness, cramps and pain in my muscles are "big-time" reasons why I sometimes lose interest in exercise and being put out of my commission for several weeks because I'm in great discomfort and great pain!

I end up disheartened, turn in my exercise gear and stop exercising!

Hey, I want to spare you from all these by showing you how to prevent injuries so that you don't have to suffer pains as much as I do because I was ignorant in the beginning!

So, What Cause Exercise Injuries?

Many causes, in fact.

Through my years of doing exercise like toning , cardios and strength training , when I don't do the followings, I would likely experience injuries:

  • When I don't do a proper warm-up

  • When I don't increase the intensity of my exercise gradually

  • When I exercise too hard, too long or too frequent

  • When I don't do the correct body form

  • When I don't use proper body mechanics or exercise techniques

  • When I don't do a thorough cool down

  • When I don't wear proper fitting shoes while exercising

Uh, can you spot any of these "bad habits" that are yours also?

Hee....Hee.....Hee....

Can you avoid or minimize exercise injuries?

Yes, you can.

How?

By applying common sense prevention first.

And of course keeping good habits while exercising, is as important.

Shall we tackle the prevention part first?

OK, how do you use Common Sense to Prevent Injuries?

Don't sweat it.....I've got some real "common sense" approaches here:

  • Don't exercise more than 4 times a week unless you're training with a trainer or know about cross-training

  • If you're a beginner in exercise, are out of shape, are starting to exercise after an illness or surgery or you've gone without exercising for longer than 3 weeks, don't do more than 20 minutes of low intensity exercise every other day

    After 2 or more weeks, gradually increase your exercise intensity, duration and frequency

  • It's always best to exercise on alternate days

  • Always start your exercise routine with a proper warm-up session of 5 to 10 minutes. The warm-up will increase the oxygen and blood flow to your working muscles by increasing your core body temperature, thus reducing the risk of an exercise injury

  • Use equipment that's in tip-top condition. This includes shoes that are comfortable, that are able to absorb shock and impact and provide stability and support for the arches of your feet and that don't induce pain, friction, pressure or discomfort

Now, the "good habits" Part------

I believe the following good habits will go a long way to keep your muscles in good condition and less prone to exercise injuries:

  • As I said earlier, a proper warm up is a must

    • Cold muscles are more prone to injuries, so it's always good to do a warm-up to warm your muscles.

    Do some stretch exercises after your exercise workout.

    Tight muscles are more likely to cause injuries too. Stretch all the major muscles as every one of them has an impact on you. Stretching promotes flexibility in muscles so that they're less prone to injuries.

    I have benefited from stretching, for example:

    1. It improves my exercise performance and reduces my potential for injuries

    2. It eases muscle pain and I recover from an exercise injury faster

    3. I become stronger, faster and more agile with just a few easy stretches

  • Always use correct body form

    • When exercising, the general rule of thumb for static positions is to keep your knees in line with your ankles, not to one side or the other and your knees should never extend beyond your toes

  • Change your exercise routine

    • Make your exercise routine varied so that your workouts consist of toning exercise, strength training, Pilates or cardios so that your muscles are receiving training from all angles.

    You're putting your muscles at greater risk when some of your muscles are developed and others underdeveloped as a result of you sticking to one fixed exercise routine.

  • Wear good athletic shoes

    • This is one exercise gear you can't afford Not to have....

    Good athletic shoes absorb shock, support arches and protect your feet from exercise injuries

What are the Common Injuries?

We're done with causes, prevention and good habits.

Now let's tackle some of the common exercise injuries:

The Dangers of "Overuse"

Right now, I want to touch on "overuse" or "over training" , the most common exercise injury that you and I would bound to encounter if we're over zealous for exercise.....

Overuse 1: Due to Repeated Stress Applied to a Part of Your Muscle or Body Over a Period of Time

This occurs most in your knees, legs, ankles, feet and lower back. It usually happens when you set off to exercise eagerly in a new exercise routine you just start and ignore the "less-is-more" warnings and go full charge ahead into exercising.

Overuse 2: Due to Insufficient Time For Muscles To Recover

This occurs when your muscles don't have sufficient time to recover from the stress of the last exercise session.

Overuse 3: Due to Over Stretching

Another source of overuse is you over stretch a muscle without doing a proper warm-up, or warming up with ballistic stretches instead of static stretches.

Overuse 4: Due To Improper Equipment

Yet another exercise injury caused by overuse that you would likely experience is if you use improper or poor equipment.

To prevent overuse, don't exercise too much, too frequently and too intensely in too short a time. That's the golden rule I've learnt.

Common Sense Prevention is all you need

Ah....Simple, very simple indeed.....

See, you just use a bit of common sense and you're out of injuries' harm.....

The motto -

Don't try to do too much, too fast or on muscles that are not strong or flexible enough to take the stress.

Do learn to listen to your body and take your time to gradually build up your exercise intensity, frequency and duration.

And don't let exercise injuries bother you to the extent that they keep you from having a healthy and regular exercise workout.

Just see them as proper exercise tips and excellent motivation to exercise properly and in the right way!



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