Whether you are starting out in a brand-new exercise program or are an exercise veteran, decreasing the potential for injury is something that carries a lot of weight. Let’s face it, if you are just starting out, nothing derails the motivation of a new exercise program like getting hurt. And there are not many things like an injury that break the momentum of an established exercise program. I have seen it many times. I have experienced it myself. It is a large part of who I see and what I do for a job. So, against my better business judgement (okay… not really), I am going to share all the tips I can think of (right now, at least) to help keep you exercising and avoiding getting hurt. Some are going to be common sense suggestions that you will read on almost any website that you search on Google, and some are going to be tips that I have learned from my years of experience in the strength and conditioning and rehab world. Here they are…
Make sure you know what you are eating. Healthy eating is so important for keeping the body healthy and working at an optimal level. We can ignore the fact that if you don’t eat appropriately, you will more than likely not see the results you are working to achieve and we will just focus on the fact that food as a fuel is what helps us have the energy to do the work and the building blocks to repair what we are trying to build. There are purposeful dietary modifications to achieve goals, but overall, our bodies need the appropriate materials to operate. When we don’t provide our bodies with those materials, we increase the negative stress that wear down our bodies over time.
EAT THE GOOD STUFF
Poor nutrition is associated with weakened immune responses, poorer muscle and bone health, delayed healing and recovery, lower energy levels, and increases in inflammation. Any of those by themselves can increase the potential for injury, but when you have poor nutrition you don’t just get to choose one or another, you will probably experience most if not all. I don’t know about you, but if I had a choice between those options or a healthier and better exercise experience (and body) I am probably choosing the better option. EAT HEALTHY AND MAKE GOOD NUTRITION CHOICES.
HYDRATE BABY
Keeping along the lines with what we put into our bodies, the next piece of advice is, stay hydrated. Hydration makes the world go round when it comes to functions in our bodies. Poor hydration can affect muscle function, lead to cramping, have a detrimental effect to joint lubrication, alter cognitive function, alter oxygen and nutrient transport, and affect temperature regulation.
This article isn’t going to go in specifics of how hydration affects those things or the details of fluid consumption (that will be in a different article), but here is what I will say… Start with making sure you get the appropriate recommended volume of fluid every day and then adjust that depending on the exercise demands, heat, and how you feel. Hydration is important for helping reduce the risk of injury during exercise (and daily life) so STAY HYDRATED.
WEAR AND USE APPROPRIATE EQUIPMENT
Now we take a step away from what we put in our bodies and talk about what we put on our bodies or use with our bodies when we exercise. The equipment we wear, and use can have a big effect on our ability to keep ourselves healthy. Let’s start with the low hanging fruit in this topic. Poor equipment or broken equipment can always increase the risk for injury. Using the wrong equipment for an exercise can increase the risk for injury. There is a piece of equipment for pretty much every exercise out there and even when there isn’t a specific piece of equipment, there are safe and effective ways to perform activities. Trust me, this is what I do for a job. You would be surprised at how many times I modify an exercise to match the capabilities of an individual to achieve a desired result, but in every modification, the equipment and how I use it must be safe.
Now on to what we wear… This can be an interesting topic because depending on who you ask, there can be some debate as to how much this matters. Let’s take shoes for example… I have seen lifters workout in Converses and lifters workout in weightlifting shoes. Both do fine. Both are not going to be worse than another for injury. One will only provide a biomechanical advantage depending on the lift or the characteristics of the lifter. Now, what if that individual wearing Converses was running 5ks or marathons? Then there would some concern for the stress on areas of the body that might increase the potential for injury. So, when we take into context the activity and the individual, equipment can matter and having the right equipment can lower the risk for injury. WEAR AND USE APPROPRIATE EQUIPMENT.
START SLOW
The next tip is to start slowly. This is mostly for those who are just starting to exercise or are, for some reason or another, coming off a long period of time when they were not exercising. Here is a simple analogy to explain this… If you were going to start a conversation with someone you just met or haven’t seen in a while, would you go up them and start just screaming at them as loud and aggressively as you can or would you start with a simple conversation and some light talk and build things up over time. I am pretty sure that there are those few individuals that would be right on board with you just coming up to them and aggressively screaming at them, but most people would shut that down in one way or another real quick.
Our bodies are the same. When starting an exercise program or even changing the style of exercise that we are doing, letting our bodies (and brains) adjust to the challenge can bring a safer and better result. Our bodies are actually very good at adapting to what we ask them to do, so when starting or re-starting an exercise program, ask and START SLOW.
ALLOW YOURSELF TIME
That feeds into the next tip. Allow yourself time. I understand that there are times when a set timetable is a factor. I deal in strength and conditioning and there is almost always a set date of competition or performance that I must factor into what I am programming, but for most of us who are just exercising, we have time. And even then, if we have a future goal, if we can make sure to allow ourselves time, it can make for a safer and smoother progression. When we rush ourselves or are pressed for time, we can try and jam too much stuff into an hour, a week, a month, etc. When we try and rush and force things it can make things sloppy, not allow for enough rest, and often make us want to try things that might cause us more harm than good. I have learned this and continue to refine this the more experienced I get. It is common for me to check on a workout and see how long it takes, to take exercises out of program because I can’t get them to fit, and to modify workouts/training sessions because of how rushed I feel the session is. Treat your body as a commodity that increases in value over time and look at your exercise program the same way. Increase your value and reduce your risk for injury and ALLOW YOURSELF TIME.
The next important thing is to have a plan. Plans make everything smoother. Thought out plans with the room and knowledge for adjustment and adaptations are even better. When it comes to exercise, having a plan means that you have already established a goal and have things set up to get there. Plans provide the steps to get to where you want to go. Often, when there isn’t a plan, there can be a lot more variability, inconsistency, and unsurety. In an exercise program, these all can lead to more risk for injury. This is where being educated or having the help of a good professional has a lot of value. A thought-out plan will consider proper technique, exercise progression, and recovery time. All these things will help decrease the risk for injury. HAVE A PLAN.
WARM UP
Now when you start your exercise program, make sure to warm up. Warming up helps the body prepare for the challenge. Warming up can be as simple as raising the body temperature enough to sweat or it can be more complex and address movement deficits or perform preparatory movements. Warming up increases blood flow, increases flexibility, prepares the nervous system for activity. It might go without saying, but I will say it anyway… These are all things that will help provide you a more injury free exercise experience. WARM UP TO PREPARE YOUR BODY FOR EXERCISE AND DECREASE THE POTENTIAL FOR INJURY.
MAKE GOOD BODY CONTROL AND PROPER FORM A PRIORITY
Make sure to focus on good body control and proper form. Maintaining good body control and proper form helps improve muscle engagement, decreases structural stress, and balance loads placed on the structures of the body all of which can decrease the potential for injury. Making sure to place an emphasis control also helps to make the exercise safer. If you are around me much, you will inevitably hear me say, “Control the weight, don’t left the weight control you.” PRIORITIZE GOOD BODY CONTROL AND PROPER FORM to improve the safety of your exercise program.
WORK THE BODY EVENLY
The next tip is to work the body evenly. What does this mean? It means that while a nice chest looks good in the mirror, the muscles in the back are just as important for health. Take me for example. I am a paraplegic powerlifter who competes in the bench press. My bench press is without question my strongest lift as it should be because that is what I am training for. I have had to learn to spend as much time or more on the posterior shoulder and back strength to decrease injuries and pain in my shoulders. If I avoid it, then I start to see little irritating pain issues pop up and get in the way of my bench. If avoiding injury was not enough motivation, I also notice my best improvements in my bench press after I have spent more time to focus on working the shoulders, back, and chest more evenly.
With every movement in the body, there are muscles the perform the movement and muscles that work to support it. This is what provides the stability of the movement. When one muscle is worked more, its capacity to influence a joint or a movement can start to outweigh the other muscles that support it. Working the body evenly will help with keep all muscles more efficiently supporting a movement and decrease your risk of injury with an exercise program. WORK THE BODY EVENLY.
BE UNCOMFORTABLE AND DO THINGS YOU AREN’T GOOD AT
Along those lines is the next tip. Don’t only do what you are good at or comfortable with. When this happens, we tend to repeat the same things over and over and over again. There is value in repetition, as this allows us to track progress over time and improve a skill, but only doing what we are good at and comfortable with means that we don’t do things that we aren’t (obviously). I will tie this back into my last example of my bench press. If I was only comfortable or good at bench, then I would dominate my time with the bench exercises. This would lead to the same issue with working the body evenly. That means I can explain the same argument as the last paragraph, but I will save you the reading. Being uncomfortable is okay. Doing things that we aren’t as good at in an exercise program is okay. Improving in those things (or just doing them) will help us become more resilient and help decrease risk for injury. DO THINGS YOU AREN’T GOOD AT OR UNCOMFORTABLE PERFORMING.
YOUR BODY IS TALKING SO YOU SHOULD LISTEN
Next listen to your body. Unless there was an acute incident that caused the injury, almost every person that I treat in my physical therapy office had their body tell them a problem was building before it became a significant issue. Stiffness, weakness, drops in performance, and difficulty with recovery are often things that show up in the time before an injury show ups. When you listen to your body, it will often tell you when you can push and when you need to throttle things back and give yourself some more rest. When your body tells you it is time to throttle down, it is beneficial to listen. It does not mean that you must stop completely, but less can certainly be more. LISTEN TO YOUR BODY to help decrease the potential for injury.
REST IS GOOD
The next tip to avoid getting hurt while exercising is to allow yourself enough time to rest. In my opinion, rest and recovery are more important than the exercise itself and that is saying a lot since the exercise is really important. Think about rest and recovery this way. When you exercise you are asking the body to do something. Get stronger. Get faster. Be a more efficient machine. When you rest and recover, you are allowing the body the time to do what you are asking it to do. If you keep asking without letting the body have a chance to do what you are asking, it is really hard for your body to make the change, but your body is going to keep trying. This can often lead to the body not being able to keep up with the demands and setting you up for injury. Seems kind of backwards that sometimes doing less would allow your body to do more, but it’s true… to decrease the risk for injury when exercising, ALLOW YOURSELF ENOUGH TIME TO REST.
TAKE CARE OF EXISTING INJURIES
This brings us to the last tip for avoiding injury while exercising. Treat existing injuries. Wait… What? Yep… news flash, treating existing injuries decreases injury. First, treating existing injuries improves your current health status, but secondly, one of the most common causes of injury is a previous injury. So that injury that you are not addressing, that injury sets you up to have more problems. What is worse than one injury? Yep, you guessed it. More than one injury. Work to being injury and pain free with exercise and decrease the potential for further injury by TREATING EXISTING INJURIES.
You cannot completely prevent injury, but there are a lot of things that you can do that can help you avoid injury. Follow these tips. Keep yourself exercising. Whether you are just starting on a new exercise program, or you have been exercising for years do not let injury derail your progress.