Hitting the gym is one of the best ways to get in shape and improve your fitness but from time to time, even the most experienced of gym goers injures themselves on equipment. Hurting yourself when you’re working out is incredibly common but it can wreak havoc with your routine, setting back your schedule by weeks at a time. Luckily, there is another way. By adapting your workout approach and taking a few extra cautions, you can cut down on gym related injuries and make the most out of your workout sessions. It’s all about taking care.
- Warm Up Properly
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Going from resting to exercising with nothing in between is one of the most common ways to cause yourself a lasting injury. Your muscles need time to warm up to strenuous activity and if you fail to stretch sufficiently, you could put yourself at risk of pulling or even tearing a muscle. Before you begin your proper workout, make sure to spend sufficient time stretching all areas of your body that you’re planning on exercising. You can even do a light jog to get your heart beating a little faster. The more gently you ease your body in, the more effectively it will be able to increase the flow of oxygenated blood around your muscles.
- Learn How To Lift
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So many people go straight for the main event before they’ve even learned how to perform properly, piling on the weight without learning a safe technique. Before you really get going on your exercise regime, enlist the help of a personal trainer or friend in the know to help you to perfect your lifting form. Having the right posture while you lift is essential to avoid injuring yourself, so make sure you take it slowly before you really take things up a gear.
- Listen To What Your Body Says
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When we are working from an exercise regime, we often feel obliged to follow the plan to the letter, overlooking the fact that we might not always be feeling at our best. More often than not, your body knows best and if you’re feeling tired or under the weather, it’s a sign than you should take it a little easier in your workout. Not giving it 100% in every exercise session is by no means a bad thing; sometimes, you simply can’t push yourself to the max and if you need to fall back a little bit, it’s probably for a good reason.
- Stick To Rest Days
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While training every day of the week might seem like a fast way to get really fit, overdoing your workout regime puts your body at significant risk of injury and exhaustion. We each have different capabilities when it comes to working out and making a schedule that fits in with your job and energy levels should be the top priority. Training 3 times a week should help you to progress to the next level, enabling you to slowly build fitness and strength as you go. Resting can be as important as working out and if you push your body too hard, you might hurt it more than you would think.