5 Tips for Avoiding Exercise Injuries

Whether you are losing weight or building your endurance, your workout plan can help bring you closer to your fitness goals. However, the road to better health doesn’t always come with benefits. There is a good chance you will injure yourself during your fitness journey.  According to the National Safety Council, around 2,700,988 injuries in 2020 were exercise or sports-related.

Nonetheless, exercise remains the best way to lead a more active and healthier lifestyle. While getting injured is considered normal as you work towards your fitness goals, many of these risks are in fact preventable. 

A little knowledge goes a long way in helping you achieve risk-free fitness. Here are five tips to keep in mind:

1. Get professional advice

Picking a workout plan is nothing like shopping for a new pair of shoes. There are many factors to consider in choosing the right mix of activities, including your body-mass ratio and pre-existing conditions like diabetes or heart problems. To be sure, you will need qualified advice from your personal trainer or a sports medicine practitioner. Either way, they will be able to recommend a workout program that works for your needs and reduces the risk of injury. 

2. Learn what causes workout injuries

Apart from knowing the right workout program to pursue, you will also need to know the kinds of activities that are likely to result in an injury. If you ask any orthopaedic surgeon, they will tell you that over exhaustion and lack of rest in between sets can increase the likelihood of injury. By knowing these reasons, you can develop a pre-workout and post-workout routine that lessens the adverse effects of going through an intense workout session.

3. Check your equipment before working out

If you are using gym equipment in your workout program, you must check its quality and condition. The bulk of workout-related injuries stems from defective facilities. Whether you are using a treadmill at a fitness studio or ordering one to complete your home gym, check for any defects and make sure it undergoes preventive maintenance. 

4. Develop good form

Risk-free fitness is all about knowing how to do a certain exercise properly. Learning proper foot placement, gripping, and squatting not only enhances the workout experience but also prevents injury. If you are lifting weights, for instance, you must keep your back straight and distribute the weight evenly between both feet. It takes time to develop your technique, so be patient and you will soon get the hang of it.

5. Never work out just for show

There are no shortcuts to fulfilling your fitness goals and the biggest mistake you will ever make is to treat a workout program as an ego booster. If you are serious about your fitness goals, you should accomplish them gradually. Taking on a workout plan that doesn’t take your limits into account will more likely result in injury, so start with the bare minimum and work your way up towards the more advanced routines.

What are your fitness goals in 2022? Make sure to follow these tips and keep yourself safe on the road to better health.