Top 10 Injury Prevention Tips for a Safer Workout Routine

top-10-injury-prevention-tips

Working out provides a slew of benefits such as weight management, boosting energy levels, and increasing self-esteem. In order to keep reaping these benefits, it's important that you practice safety while exercising to reduce the chances of hurting yourself. Read on to find out how to prevent workout injuries with a few simple tips.

Prep Yourself on How to Prevent Workout Injuries

Knowledge is power, and the more tips for injury prevention you learn, the more you can protect yourself. If you plan on working out outdoors, then become familiar with each season and the challenges it can bring. For example, knowing what the common winter injuries are such as slips and falls, hypothermia, and heart attacks can help you prepare yourself so you know what to do in these situations. Aside from the bigger picture, taking care of the details below can help with injury prevention.

How to Prevent Workout Injuries

While working out is important to maintain your health, it is equally important to practice safety so you don't cause injury to yourself and delay progress. These injury prevention tips are easy to incorporate into your workout routine and take minimal time and effort. Practice as many of these tips for injury prevention as possible to ensure a safe and healthy workout. Some injury prevention tips you can use are:

  • Warm up and cool down

  • Stretch

  • Improve recovery with zero gravity recliners

  • Create a relaxation room to recover in

  • Incorporate body movement

  • Don't be afraid to strength train

  • Take rest days to recover

  • Prep yourself on how to prevent workout injuries

  • Eat before and after a workout

  • Make sure to drink plenty of fluids

You can avoid injury and safely workout by using some of these injury prevention tips before and after you exercise. You can start with a few in the beginning and work your way up to using as many as possible. The best part is that most of these helpful practices can be done in just a few minutes and can protect you in the long run.

Injury Prevention Tips for a Safer Workout

Adding tips for injury prevention into your workout routine can help you improve your health and wellness and helps you achieve your fitness goals. It also helps you avoid setbacks that can put you on the sidelines for weeks. The effectiveness of your workout may seem like the most important, but actually it's how you start and finish it that matters most.

Warm Up and Cool Down

Warming up and cooling down before your workout is one of the most important tips for injury prevention. Set aside about 10-15 minutes to warm up your muscles and slowly raise your heart rate with some simple exercises like jumping jacks, running in place, or jumping rope. Cooling down takes about five minutes and is done at a slower pace so you can return to your resting state. Some cooling down exercises include stretching, walking, or light jogging.

Stretch 

Stretching at least two to three times a week can help increase flexibility, circulation, and range of motion. Stretching after you warm up is a useful tip of how to prevent workout injuries as you could get hurt if you stretch before you warm up. Choose a few stretches to do and hold each one for 30 seconds. 

You should feel a bit of tension during the stretch, but not pain. You can also use a foam roller instead to relieve muscle pain after a workout. If a muscle hurts when you stretch, then stop stretching that area immediately and speak with your doctor.

Improve Recovery with Zero Gravity Recliners

One of the best injury prevention tips is to recover after a workout to help your muscles rebuild. There are many products out there that can help you recover, such as the zero gravity recliner. Using a zero gravity recliner with heating and massage features can help increase blood flow while decreasing inflammation. You can alternate between using the heat and massage settings to expedite your recovery.

Utilizing massage therapy after a tough workout can improve muscle performance and prevent delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). Going to get a professional massage frequently can be expensive, but the zero gravity massage chair makes getting massages convenient and affordable. Use the massage feature after exercise for approximately 20-30 minutes for best results.

Heat therapy can help expedite the recovery process in certain areas of your body, and there have been reports that using heat therapy before working out can protect against exercise-related muscle damage. When using heat to help with recovery, it was also noted that muscle soreness decreased faster with repeated use. The zero gravity chair makes the recovery process easier by combining heat and massage elements into one chair.

Create a Relaxation Room to Recover In

If you have the space, then you may want to consider creating a relaxation room to aid in recovery. Fill the room with things that can promote recovery such as a yoga mat for stretching, a zero gravity recliner chair for massage/heat benefits, and soothing music to calm your body down. The room doesn't need to be big or fancy, just large enough where you can put a few objects in and have enough room to do some simple stretches.

Incorporate Body Movement Therapy

Some of the best tips for injury prevention incorporate different types of body movement therapy to assist in recovery. The term "movement therapy" refers to different low-intensity exercises that focus more on mindful movements. Examples of movement therapy activities include doing yoga, massage therapy, Tai chi, and dance therapy.

Don't Be Afraid to Strength Train

Strength training may intimidate some people, but it's one of the biggest injury prevention tips out there. Adding strength training to your workout routine strengthens and supports your body. Strength training also builds muscular endurance and improves leg and core strength to avoid injury.

If you don't have weights or are hesitant to use them, you can still strength train without them. Try doing bodyweight exercises such as pushups, lunges, and squats to get similar results.

Take Rest Days to Recover

One of the best ways of how to prevent workout injuries include taking rest days to give your body enough time to recover. If you're not sure what to do on rest days, then try incorporating some active recovery workouts such as swimming, using a foam roller, sitting in a zero gravity chair, or taking a walk. Make sure not to overexert yourself as it is a rest day and your muscles need this time to heal.

Eat Before and After a Workout

Tips for injury prevention include eating before and after a workout to fuel your body. This doesn't mean you have to eat a full meal, but be sure to eat carbohydrates and plenty of protein within a half hour of working out. Some examples of snacks to have before and after a workout are: hummus with pita bread, chocolate milk, and peanut butter on wheat bread.

Make Sure to Drink Plenty of Fluids

Keeping yourself hydrated is one of the most underrated injury prevention tips out there, but also one of the most important. Hydration helps the body function and recover normally, so you should drink before, during, and after a workout. The best type of liquid to drink is water, but if you plan on working out for over an hour, then you can reach for a sports drink to increase energy and electrolytes. 

How to Prevent Workout Injuries for Good

While you may encounter workout injuries from time to time, incorporating tips for injury prevention into your daily routine can help you avoid hurting yourself. Listen to your body and properly take care of it to risk further damage, even if it means taking more than a few rest days. If the pain lingers for longer than usual, be sure to consult your physician to make sure it doesn't develop into something serious.

Disclaimer: This content is not medical advice. Please consult with your healthcare professional when considering implementing changes to your health or workout routines to ensure it’s compatible with your needs.

Additional Sources:

  1. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/the-importance-of-stretching#:~:text=Stretching%20%EE%80%80keeps%20the%20muscles%20flexible%20and

  2. https://www.acsm.org/docs/default-source/files-for-resource-library/a-road-map-to-effective-muscle-recovery.pdf 

  3. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2017.00747/full 

  4. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7492448/ 

  5. https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/the-4-biggest-cardio-workout-mistakes-how-to-avoid-getting-bored-and-burning-out/ar-AA1xgaPn?ocid=BingNewsVerp 

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