Hello and welcome to this week’s blog – Return to Exercise and Stay Injury Free. A short guide on safely returning to exercise after a break.
And oh boy, what a break we have all had.
A lot of people are now in the situation that they are finally able to get back to a normal routine, and that includes going back to gyms and workout classes. Now some people returned to the gym a while ago, and I am just starting to have clients coming in with problems related to that.
And some people have held back to see what is happening or waiting for children to return to school.
But how do you go about getting back into your normal physical activities and not be one of those people coming to see me with an injury? Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy helping people out, but I would rather you weren’t injured in the first place!
Gently Does it – Return to Exercise
The first thing to consider above all else, is a gradual return to exercise. Before lockdown, you may have attended three or four classes a week and went for a run on the weekends, but if you stopped, trying to start all that in the first week back to exercise will be a recipe for disaster. Your muscles will have lost strength and condition and you could likely induce discomfort, DOMS, or other injury.
Similarly, if you have had time away from exercise because of an accident, injury or operation, a gradual increase back to previous activity levels will serve you well in the long run.
What to do First
Anything! Get out there and do it. Start with low effort and a short amount of time, to gauge how your body is feeling and whether you have any tightness or discomfort anywhere.
Yoga is a great place to start, as well as Pilates, as these can build gradual strength and give you a great foundation from which to begin.
Then see how you are feeling the next day and the day after that. You might find you are suffering with DOMS, Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, and you will find that the best way to relieve this is to engage in more exercise, without excessively overdoing it. Stretching may well be beneficial at this point in time too.
Cardio or Strength?
Do what you enjoy, but ultimately a mixture of both is important for your overall health. Cardio for your heart health and endurance, and strength is the number one exercise for muscle health, and for strong tendons and ligaments as well as protecting yourself from injury that could come from doing just cardio.
Strength does not need to be lifting weights in the gym, it can be yoga, Pilates, or band work.
What About Sports Massage?
Sports Massage comes in when you have a persistent injury, or ache, or you work hard physically in your job or in your workouts, or when you do not workout at all and have a sedentary job. I am here to help you stay well enough to continue working out, or to give you the confidence to get to the next step as ache free as possible.
Questions?
So that was incredibly brief, but sometimes you just need reminding that you already know what to do to stay as healthy as possible.
Please do get in touch to find out if Sports Massage is for you and could help you achieve your sporting dreams or just let you move without fear of something hurting.
See you soon,
Chloe