With many people now returning to their workouts after the pandemic forced an extended break, the risk of post-lockdown sports injuries is heightened. Check out these five tips for reducing your chances of having to make emergency room visits or hunt for medical supplies online.
1. Plan Before Exercising
Planning is just as important as training, and the best way to plan anything is to reverse engineer the end result you want. Start with your goal and then figure out what you would need to achieve each week to achieve it in your desired timeframe.
The planning process is particularly important post-lockdown. Don’t underestimate the shock to the system you’ll receive after returning to sports or weight training after a long break. Simply picking things up where you left off could cause you a whole lot of painful problems. However, if you map out a logical plan of attack, you’ll be well-placed to hit your goals.
2. Don’t Skip the Warm-Up
Many people see little point in warm-ups, and instead, jump into their physical activity head first. This is a risky move at the best of times, but that risk multiples when the body is no longer used to physical activity. Warm-ups have been proven to improve performance, so you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Your warm-up should increase your heart rate gradually, preparing your body for exercise. In addition, critical joints should be mobilized, and major muscle groups should be engaged.
3. Listen to Your Body
Monitor how your body is responding to your new training program. If it’s too much, reduce it. Consider rating the difficulty of each task on the plan, allowing for adjustments if needed.
It can be tempting—especially when personal bests were being broken before lockdown—to shut out the sound of the body asking for relief. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to shoot instantly back up to your previous fitness level. So, listen to your body, and give it the rest and recovery time it needs to perform.
4. Start with Strength Training
As mentioned, it’s crucial to take things at a slower pace, understanding that your limits won’t be the same after lockdown. Strength training is key to building up muscle mass and fitness at a gradual pace.
Lifting weights twice or three times weekly has a positive impact on your body while improving mental wellbeing and fortifying you against falls and injuries. Start with weights before jumping into any of your pre-pandemic sports or exercise routines.
5. Don’t Ignore Other Healthy Habits
When lockdown happened, many people began to let go of their healthy way of life. Exercise and good nutrition were dropped in favor of Netflix binges and comfort food. There’s no judgement here! We all did what we needed to do to get through.
However, when returning to exercise, it’s important to bring in the other elements of a healthy lifestyle too. Hydrate frequently and eat well. Ensure there’s enough recovery time between training sessions, and underscore everything with high-quality sleep.
Post Lockdown Exercise
Unfortunately, leaping back into the same level, intensity, and duration of physical activity after months of lockdown is a higher risk. There is a much greater potential for injuries, which, other than being painful, may result in being unable to exercise for an extended period of time. This will lower your capabilities and fitness level even further.
As such, it’s crucial to plan your return to physical exercise carefully, factoring in the warm-up process. Listen to the body, add strength training to your routine, and balance everything with a healthy lifestyle.