Love to go to a gym and exercise!?

Here we will answer a few very important questions relating to gym, exercise and injuries. We will suggest some methods on how to reduce the risk of getting injured. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to guarantee that you, me, or anyone else will be able to avoid experiencing an injury completely. But it does happen occasionally. Few aspects to never ignore are: warmup, technique, and knowing your limits. 

How to reduce injuries when working out?

Active warmup:

Warm-ups are gentle, progressive, main activity specific exercises which target to ‘awaken’ and engage muscle groups. This will be involved in the main workout. The idea is to increase the blood flow into the muscles so that fresh oxygen will be easily available to generate energy. It will also raise your body temperature and increase your heart rate preparing you for the main workout. You can also follow and learn more about the gonstead technique, which is essential technique to reduce strain in the muscles. 

When it comes to warm up the exercises you choose must be specific to the main activity and focus on main muscles groups involved in your activity. You should be hiring a lawyer for compensation when it comes to injuries that occur.

For instance, if you are going to hit the wattbike, you can use alternative endurance machines such as a rower, or cross trainer to elevate your heart rate. To engage leg muscles you may include a couple of sets of glute bridges, lunging and/or squatting. No weight is needed, it would purely work as muscle activation. 

If you are about to do some power work or weights, you may start by elevating your heart rate first followed by same or similar exercises you will do in your main workout using your bodyweight or a very light weight to begin with and build it up from there. Hope this gives you a rough idea of how to utilise the active warm-up.

Warmup stretches:

Stretching is very important too. There are few types of stretching which can be used in different scenarios. For instance, before your main workout, after you completed your active warm up, dynamic stretching is recommended.

Dynamic simply means stretching with movement which is important to maintain elevated heart rate and further engage with muscle activation. Couple of examples of dynamic stretching would be leg swings for hamstrings, trunk rotations for core and lower back, arm swings for shoulders. These are just a very few examples as there are many more.

Importance of technique:

Another very important aspect in reducing the risk of injury which can be under looked is technique. Poor technique is a recipe for injury. If you will not injure yourself acutely, you might develop chronic injury due to improper use of muscles because of poor technique and when you fall into such serious injuries, it is better to take this matter to the defense attorneys for OUI who will take care of it and help you in recovering quickly. So, if you have an exercise that you love, but feel like something is not quite right while doing it, never be ashamed to a qualified professional for advice.

You must know yourself:

Regardless of the exercise you do, you should be aware of your ability. Overexerting yourself will significantly increase the risk of injury. If you want to learn what your maximum is, we advise you to have a qualified exercise professional to guide you through the process. Remember, everyone is different and there is no such thing as one size fits us all!

Foam rolling:

Foam rolling is a type of activity that helps to loosen off muscles and promotes the circulation. It is a great addition to your static stretches at the end of your workout. When foam rolling ensure that the roller is on the soft part of your muscle so that your do not roll the bones. If you feel quite a bit of discomfort while rolling, ease off the pressure so that it is tolerable. None of the foam rolling techniques should be agonising, however, you should feel a healthy discomfort while on the roller.

 Post workout stretches:

After you completed your main workout, static stretching is the go-to option. During your main workout, muscles involved were contracting quite often, hence, even after the workout, they might be overactive always getting ready to fire again. In a long term it might stiffen and become less mobile. Static stretching allows your body to realise that it is ok now to relax and muscle firing rate can ease off which will allow for better recovery and reduced muscle stiffness.

Why do I keep getting injured at the gym?

There could be many reasons including anyone or even couple from the ones mentioned above. If you are suffering from a chronic injury which never seems to go away, we advise you to see a qualified healthcare professional like physio, osteopath or sports therapist to help you clarify the situation.

What to do when I get injured?

If the injury has stopped you from doing your activity at the time, it is very likely that it is quite significant and you should seek professional help. This could be from  a physio, osteopath or sports therapist.

On the of chance that after a workout, the area just does not feel right; maybe a little stiff or tight; slightly red or puffy, you might try reducing the physical activity. You should also try icing the area to control the inflammation and do some gentle stretching and foam rolling exercises. 

If that does not help and in progressively gets worst, you should seek for advise form a qualified healthcare professional.

How do I reduce the risk of muscle tears at the gym?

Muscle tears usually occur when the muscle is overstretched under exertion meaning that the muscle needs to contract at the same time as being stretched, or during very forceful muscle contractions for instance doing a very heavy biceps curl or bench press. To reduce the risk of muscle tears, ensure that you warmup, foam roll and stretch regularly and know your limits.

What exercises cause most injuries?

We believe that it is almost impossible to answer this question because most of the time it is not the exercise, but it’s execution that may inure you. Hence, ensuring that your technique is spot on is extremely important.

Also, make sure that you leave your ego at home when you go to the gym and be reasonable as doing more than your body is capable of can increase the risk of injury regardless of the exercise performed.

How can I speed up muscle recovery?

Muscle recovery can be enhanced with appropriate exercises and methods. Stretching the muscles involved in the main activity soon after you done your main workout reduces the risk of muscle tightness which allows better circulation to remove the waste products. So does the foam rolling. Staying hydrated and having a nutritious diet full of vitamins, minerals and protein will increase bodies recovery too. Having an appropriate rest and not overtraining is very important so try to find a good balance between your work and rest.

If you have any questions about our treatments, please contact us. You can find us 3 mins away from Angel station in Islington. If you like this blog, please share!

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