Want to Prevent Injuries During Exercise? These Tips Might Help

Exercising helps reduce stress and improves mental and physical well-being. However, you need to be mindful of how you exercise as well to prevent injuries. Improper form or overexerting your body can lead to serious injuries.

In the worst case, it can also result in long-term life-changing injuries. However, there are many simple precautions you can take to avoid them. Here are some important tips to prevent injuries during exercise.

This is a collaborative post.

Top 11 Tips to Prevent Injuries During Exercise

It does not matter whether you have just started hitting the gym or have been working out for a long time. These tips will help you stay in optimal shape and improve your results. Most importantly, it will prevent major injuries.

1. Stretch Before You Start

Before you get on with your exercise routine, always stretch and warm up. Warming up prepares your muscles for intensive workouts and is one of the best ways to avoid injuries.

Stretching will make your muscles more flexible. And that makes them less prone to tearing. If you do not have enough time to stretch, think again.

Stretching for 10 to 15 minutes is adequate to warm your muscles up. Dynamic stretching is the best. Dynamic stretching includes:

• Squats
• Jumping jacks
• Lunges
• Hip circles
• Plank walk-outs
• Leg swings

There are also static stretches you can do, like:

• Shoulder stretching
• Toe touch
• Butterfly stretch
• Quadriceps stretch
• Cobra stretch
• Side bend

2. Wear the Appropriate Gear

Proper gear is also essential. If you are running, there are running shoes, for example. The right workout gear acts as an aid to your routine. They can make the exercise more effective and help prevent injuries.

The best part is tons of specialised gear can help you get the most out of your workouts, like compression shirts for men. These shirts help to promote blood flow and form to your shape.

Therefore, your muscles will get enough oxygen and blood to keep them flexible and healthy. Moreover, you can wear these shirts as an undergarment or as a normal top.

3. Exercise With Proper Technique

You might have seen videos where people use gym equipment completely wrong. While it makes for a hilarious video, it can be very dangerous.

If your technique is wrong, you might injure yourself on the equipment or pull a muscle. That is why it is important to take a bit of time to perfect your technique.

Some exercises require you to perfect your form. For example, weight lifting. If you mess up with the form, you can injure your back and get long-term injuries. If you want to try out a new exercise, some Googling will help. And a bit of advice from experts also helps.

4. Ask for Help

Speaking of advice, do not hesitate to ask for help – especially from experienced people around you. If you are in a gym, asking someone to spot you when you are bench pressing might seem a bit embarrassing.

You might think people are judging you at the gym. They are not. And with just a little bit of courage, you can ask someone next to you for help. Almost all of the time, they would be happy to.

You can also take it up a notch and get a trainer. Your trainer will help you devise a proper and effective routine. They can even help you teach the proper form.

5. Ease Into Your Routine

If you are a fitness enthusiast, jumping straight into your routine might be tempting. Or, if you started working out recently, the excitement of hitting the gym can be exhilarating.

But always ease into your routine. There is no reason why you should go hard right from the get-go. It is a surefire way to injure yourself.

Rather, start slow and let your body get used to it. You can increase the frequency and intensity of your routine over time. Easing intensive routines allows your body to adapt and helps you recover from previous sessions.

6. Remember to Cross Train

Check out any professional exercise routine, and you will see all the exercises are very varied. This is called cross-training. The idea is not to target a single muscle all the time. Overusing one muscle may cause muscle and tendon inflammation, called shin splints.

This is where a routine will come in handy. Create a routine that allows you to target different muscle groups each day. One day you might work on your chest; the other day, you might work on your legs.

If you are more into cardio, why not alternate between running and swimming? You will also have more fun doing different exercises and not risk hurting yourself.

7. Hydrate Properly

Drinking enough water is plain good advice, no matter what. However, we cannot stress how important it is when you regularly exercise. Exercising releases electrolytes and sweat.

It can cause dehydration and also hamper body and cognitive function. The rule of thumb is to drink at least half a litre of water 2 hours before exercising.

Do not drink too much, though. It is a balancing act. You do not want that uncomfortable sloshy feeling you get when you drink too much liquid.

Additionally, keep a bottle nearby during working out. Take a couple of small sips every 15 minutes or so. And when your session is over, make sure you intake at least half a litre of water again. Do this within 2 hours of finishing your session.

8. Schedule in Rest Days

Rest up! It is important to avoid injuries and build muscles and strength. Yes, resting helps you build muscle. After a couple of days of working out, a whole day of rest rebuilds your muscle fibres, which makes them bigger and stronger.

The idea is to allow yourself enough time to recover. So you can hit the gym hard the next day. The ideal workout-to-rest days ratio is 1 day of rest for every 3 to 5 days at the gym.

It might be tempting to power through the soreness and pain. You might want to push yourself to work out as intensely as possible, especially if you have a fitness goal.

However, if you seriously injure yourself, you may be ‘forced’ to rest for weeks. So, do the smart thing and always add some rest days between your workout sessions.

9. Use Adequate Equipment

If you exercise with the help of equipment, please at least know how to use them properly. Injuries due to improper use of gym equipment are far too common. And easily avoidable.

If you do not know how to use specific equipment, remember it is okay to ask for help. If you just got brand new equipment for your home gym, take some time to read the manual.

You can also watch a couple of YouTube videos on it. Equipment injuries can be quite severe. And if you are alone and happen to injure yourself, it can be even worse when there is no one nearby to help.

10. Pay Attention To Your Body

Your body will tell you when you need to cut back. Listen to it. If you are sore from a previous workout, it is not the time to start exercising again. You probably did something wrong if a muscle is aching long after it should.

Always listen to your body. If a move is hurting you, stop immediately. The whole no pain, no gain mantra does not always apply. You should give the muscles that are hurting a bit of rest.

And if the pain feels particularly odd and persists, it is time to visit the doctor.

11. Always Listen to Your Doctor

Speaking of which, your doctor will not be much help if you ignore their advice. So, always listen to your doctor. Listen to your gym buddies also if they ask you to slow down.

Honestly, if your gym friends are asking you to take it slow, you must really be overdoing it.

Remember, you are not to gain anything by pushing yourself more than your body can take. So, the best thing to do is rest and follow the routine your doctor gave you after an injury.

Common Exercise Injuries

Sometimes even if you take all the precautions, you might still injure yourself. After all, it is impossible to completely prevent injuries as unexpected things often happen. Here are some common exercise injuries and how to treat them:

Shoulder Strain

Shoulder strain mostly happens if you injure or strain your rotator cuffs. It can happen due to lifting heavy weights, incorrect forms, or even exercising incorrectly.

What can you do about it:

• Train the rotator cuff itself to strengthen it. But train it just enough not to strain it
• If your shoulder is inflamed, then avoid pressing motions or extending your arm laterally
• Ice the injured area to help with the swelling

Elbow Pain

Elbow pain can happen due to repeating the same exercises. Excessive repetitions put a strain on your elbows. It can happen during weightlifting as well.

What can you do about it:

• Avoid fast reps when exercising
• Try to adjust your grip and elbow movement
• Experiment with lifting lighter weights to reduce strain
• Train your arm gradually to increase your strength

Hip Pain

Running too much can cause hip pain. A common mistake many people make is they exercise to get rid of hip pain. This is counterproductive. Moreover, exercise is not meant to worsen your pain either.

What can you do about it:

• Avoid running if you are experiencing hip pain
• You can try doing Bulgarian splits when your hip is starting to repair
• Wear comfortable and fitted shoes for extra support when running

Aerobic Vs. Anaerobic Exercises

Any kind of exercise will be helpful for your body. But depending on your goal, you might need to choose between aerobic and anaerobic exercises. So, what’s the difference, and which is better for you?

Aerobic Exercises

Any exercises that increase your heart rate and breathing are aerobic. The list includes:

• Running
• Hiking
• Swimming
• Rowing
• Cycling
• Brisk walks
• Jogging

So, aerobic exercises are mostly cardio. The movement strengthens your heart and lungs. Here are the benefits of aerobic exercise:

• Reduces stress
• Reduced chances of chronic diseases
• Weight Loss
• More restful sleep

Anaerobic Exercise

Anaerobic exercises are workouts that require high-intensity movement in quick bursts. These exercises target specific muscles. Typical anaerobic exercises are:

• Weight Lifting
• Sprinting
• Box jumps
• Plyometrics
• High-intensity interval training

There are many benefits of anaerobic exercises as well:

• Increased muscle strength
• Increase in the maximum amount of oxygen your body needs
• Shorter workout periods
• Can be done in a confined space or if you lack mobility

Understanding different types of exercise routines will help you vary your sessions. Moreover, you can switch between aerobic and anaerobic exercises to avoid straining yourself too much and overworking a specific muscle group.

Wrapping Up

Avoiding serious injuries during exercise is easily doable. You need to be mindful of what you are doing. Try to plan your sessions out properly. If you are completely unsure, hiring a trainer is always a good idea.

Working with a professional trainer will dramatically improve your results and prevent injuries too. Additionally, keep all the tips we mentioned in mind. It will help you in the long run.