Be Kind to Your Muscles: Avoid Workout Injuries 4/21/2014

Whether you’re a gym enthusiast, recreational athlete, competitive athlete, or a weekend warrior, you should ensure that your physical activity is helping your body, not hurting it. We all expect to feel the burn as we put our muscles to work, but sometimes that burn later feels like soreness, and that soreness later feels like pain- and what we’re actually feeling is the result of an injury. Injuries can keep us on bed rest for a while, which can drive a routine exerciser stir crazy. We can’t force our muscles to make a speedy miracle recovery, so the best we can do is take precautionary measures against workout injuries.

Don’t work out when you are too tired. Sure, you have great discipline and manage to get moving every day. Yet if your body is too fatigued, the control you exert over your muscles will be less precise, which can result in missteps during your workout.

Avoid using too much weight. You want to push yourself to work harder, but you should recognize a limit. When lifting, weight should be increased gradually. The most important thing to remember is to listen to your body. Throw out the manta “no pain, no gain”- it’s archaic and is bound to lead you to injury.

Stretch before you workout. Too few people actually take the time to stretch before a workout. Some are simply skeptical of the validity of the benefits. Yet stretching is an important step to take because stretching helps elongate your muscles and enhance muscular circulation, which can actually help you build muscle more efficiently and avoid overstrain.

Be wary of incorrect technique. The faster we try to work out, the sloppier our form becomes. Rushing through a workout or trying to get in as much as possible in a given time is a sure way to hurt yourself. When your form becomes imperfect, you begin straining muscles in ways you’re not meant to. Take it slow, zone in on the muscles you’re working on, and know the proper technique to an exercise before you begin.

Take rest days. For someone who loves exercising, rest days seem like torture. But you’ve heard before and will hear again that your muscles need a break. Rest days enable your muscles to rejuvenate and re-energize so that they can work properly during a workout. Give your body time to restore its ATP and glycogen- you need it if you want to see progress.