Staying injury free this Summer
With the summer on the horizon and the prospect of warmer days coming, what better way to celebrate than picking up your fitness regime? Whether it's finally getting off the sofa to do some much needed exercises or if you're stepping up your training for an event, following these 6 tips will help you stay injury free.
6 Top Tips to Staying Injury Free
1. Listen to Your Body
No-one knows your body better than you do. Feeling more tired than usual or muscles feeling extra achy are both signs of overtraining. You'll do yourself no favours by pushing beyond your limits week in week out and you could end up with an injury. However, you must be able to tell the difference between true pain and simply your muscles working hard. If you are in discomfort when you exercise, ask yourself - does this feel normal and appropriate for what I'm doing? If it doesn't feel right, you need to act. This doesn’t always mean stopping your exercise or missing your next session. You may just need to reduce the intensity of what you're doing or adjust your routine slightly so your body can recover.
2. Recovery Time
Whilst it’s important to give 100% in training, it’s just as important to recover between sessions. Now, recovery after exercise is a topic in itself but an important thing to remember is to look after your muscles. After a hard session, your muscles will tighten up and feel stiff. This is a completely normal response to exercise, but it can be annoying. To reduce the feeling of tightness, stretching can be a useful strategy. Stretching should be done after your session paying attention to the muscle groups you have used the most. You can also try having a quick stretch throughout the day - don't be afraid!
EXTRA TIP: Having a hot bath before stretching will help you relax and increase the benefits!
Some athletes hate stretching and may also choose to foam roll to help with muscle stiffness. Foam rolling is essentially like a D.I.Y. sports massage and can be done anywhere. If you're not sure how to use your foam roller, drop us a call and we can show you how to get the best out of it.
3. Eat Well
It’s no secret that eating a healthy diet will help you to train more effectively. Eating a variety of whole foods, complex carbohydrates and lean protein will enable you to get the most from training. What I have observed over the years is that people lead busy lives and don't have the time to fuel themselves properly. They finish work and rush to the gym or training and in the process, pick up highly processed food or perceived "healthy foods" from the gas station. Most of this "food" contains large amounts of refined sugars and fats which will make you feel sluggish when training. Whilst these treats are fine to eat on an occasional basis, they definitely should not be eaten right before a session. You are better off preparing pre-training meals the night or weekend before so you have something decent to fuel your exercise. PLEASE AVOID THE VENDING MACHINES!
4. Make the Most of Cross Training
When I worked with swimmers competing at national level, people used to ask me - why do your swimmers do weight training? The reason we used to do 2-3 weights sessions per week is to ensure that they were strong enough to cope with the demands of their 6-8 swim sessions per week. Doing the same training over and over again for weeks on end can lead to overuse injuries. It's important to vary your training. For example, try a cycle instead of a run once a fortnight or try a couple of strength sessions to supplement your sport specific training. This can sometimes be daunting so if you need some advice, reach out to one of our Physiotherapists who can guide you through the process.
5. Be Consistent
Injuries usually occur because you've done too much too soon or if you are consistently overdoing it. To ensure you stay injury free, you need to keep your weekly training load consistent. To improve you, increase this slowly so your body has time to adapt. When I worked in football, there were two distinct peaks in injury rates. The first being towards the end of the session which is understandable. The second, interestingly, was two weeks into pre-season. The players would have the summer off and then suddenly get back into fitness for the upcoming league matches - a training load spike. Keeping things consistent is key.
6. Talk to Your Coach
I cannot express how important it is to let your coaches know what’s going on. Coaches are pretty good at spotting when you are not performing at your best but they are not psychic. If you're not feeling at your best, let them know. If you are dealing with a tough situation, let them know. Your coach can adjust your session so you still get the best out of it. The evidence suggests that if you are feeling fatigued or are stressed out, injuries are more likely to occur. On the run up to swim competitions, with daily questionnaires, we would monitor our athletes' muscle soreness scores, their fatigue ratings and their psychological readiness to train. If they scored highly, that athlete's training day would be modified. Now, you may not have a coach, but you can certainly ask yourself how you are feeling. Do I feel sore? Do I feel overloaded? How stressed am I? If you are notably off your baseline, you need to act and address the situation. This could be getting to bed earlier or chucking in an extra stretch session. Sometimes it can be difficult to work out what is off so if you don't feel equipped to deal with it, reach out and speak to us.
None of these 6 tips are revolutionary, but by following them, your risk of injury will be significantly reduced. You will be able to train to the best of your ability and with confidence.
If you are struggling with an injury or just simply need some advice from a physiotherapist, you can get in contact with us at Refine Health. Most of the time, there’s nothing serious to worry about but if you feel you need to be checked out, you can book an assessment today.
