New Years Resolutions - getting into fitness and avoiding injury!
And just like that, Christmas 2023 is over and we are into 2024. We hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and is looking forward to what 2024 brings!
Every year, many people choose to join the gym and get fit. If you have made this one of your New Years Resolutions, chances are you are looking to join a gym or local sports club, or just put your trainers on and run out the door.
With a change in routine and physical activity levels, we increase the risk of injury. However, don’t let this put you off your new years goals as many of these injuries are entirely avoidable if you are aware of potential risk factors and some of the fundamental steps to start exercising safely.
The following principles will help to reduce the risk of sustaining an injury over the following months.
Firstly, it is recommended that anyone with ongoing medical issues or over the age of 45, speaks to their GP before increasing their activity levels or joining a gym.
Speak to your GP if you have any of the following conditions:
- a vascular condition
- a heart condition
- type 1 or type 2 diabetes
- are being treated or have been treated for cancer
- dizziness or shortness of breath when exercising
- palpitations or increase heart rate after exercise
- migraines, disorientation or chest pain after exercise
1. Get an ‘MOT’
Many people who have not exercised for a long period of time or are looking to increase their levels of activity, may have pre-existing injuries or weaknesses that they are unaware of. For example, you could have an old ankle injury that never recovered properly, but you want to get our running. If this is left unaddressed, it could get worse and cause further complications down the line.
Ideally, you should be looked at by a Chartered and Registered Physiotherapist before starting an exercise programme. They will provide you with specific exercises to address any issues that are uncovered.
By addressing any pre-existing weakness, proprioception (coordination/ balance) or stiffness, you are a lot less likely to sustain further injuries.
Having an ‘MOT’ or seeking advice to resolve any pre-existing injuries or ‘weak-spots’ is a significant factor for successfully returning to or starting exercise.
2. Start slow and build up progressively
Many people, when starting their fitness journey, are looking to lose weight and sculpt their dream body as fast as they can. However, due to the way the body works, this is neither possible or sustainable. Different tissues, such as tendons and ligaments, take different lengths of time to adapt.
When starting an exercise program, it is important to start with short sessions, with low levels of weight and progress these slowly.
Your muscles, cardiovascular system and proprioceptive system (coordination and balance), will adapt and improve with training. However, increasing the length, frequency and intensity of workouts too much too soon may cause injury and in turn will delay you reaching your goals.
The tortoise and the hare analogy works perfectly here. If you want to sustain change over a long period of time, it is important to work slowly towards your goals and not rush.
3. Balance your exercise program
You may have a specific goal, such as losing weight or improving muscle tone. However, it is important to consider many different aspects of your training.
If you are looking to improve your muscle mass for example, your training program will be biassed toward resistance and weight training. But it is also important to remember your cardiovascular fitness, proprioception and flexibility for long term success.
The same can be said if you want to focus on running to help lose weight. The majority of your training will be running but you should not neglect strength or resistance training. Research shows that combining strength training with running can help reduce your risk of injury by up to 50%!!
4. Schedule in recovery time
When starting a new journey, it can be tempting to want to try everything at once! When thinking about your weekly training plan, it is important to schedule in rest days to allow for adequate recovery and prevent overuse injuries. Every dedicated exercise session and general activity needs to be considered when planning sufficient recovery. For example, it would not be sensible to train shoulders and arms 2 days in a row, or run 15 miles 2 days in a row.
If you are exercising a certain muscle group to fatigue, such as weight training in the gym it is important to have at least one day of recovery before exercising the same muscle group again. This works out as 48hrs of recovery.
People returning to exercise after a prolonged period off will need longer recovery times for the first few weeks. This is due to DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness), which can cause post-exercise pain two or three days after exercise.
Consider sitting down with a physiotherapist to help plan a sensible gym and exercise programme so that all muscles are being targeted and physical parameters are being taken into account to ensure sufficient recovery.
It is important to remember that your body improves between sessions and not during sessions. This means that the time between sessions is the time in which your body rebuilds and recovers. This is what helps to reduce risk of injury and improve performance.
5. Form over anything else
‘Form’ is how an exercise should be performed. When people are striving to achieve their fitness goals, form can be compromised. This is very common as people will increase the amount of weight that they are lifting, which can cause them to compensate and move in a compromised way in order to achieve the target number of reps and sets. Poor form can lead to injury.
It is important to aim for slow and sustained progress when exercising. You should not be expecting to increase the weight or level at which you perform every time you enter the gym. This often happens in the early stages of a gym plan (6-8 weeks) due to neural adaptation, but after this, gains will be a lot more gradual.
If you are new to the gym or a specific type of exercise, it is important to get some guidance on how to lift weights safely and effectively. Compromising form is much more likely to result in injury.
6. It's never too late to start
Every year, there is pressure to start exercising on the 1st of January. However, it doesn't matter if you need a few days, weeks or months to get back into your normal routine before adding anything else in. It is better to start in March and be consistent than put in half the effort in January and get injured!
You are never too old to try something new! Go on a run or book into a gym class, you’ll never know how much you enjoy it if you don’t try!
Conclusion
The above list is by no means exhaustive, however it highlights some key considerations to beginning a successful training program. Start at a low intensity, build slowly and look for small sustained changes over time and you will be much more likely to achieve your goals and stay injury free! Think of the tortoise and the hare analogy, but reach out for guidance if you need to!
If you would like to discuss your goals and how to achieve them , book in for a free discovery call!
