MANHATTAN — We are easing into the last week of January and plenty of people are trying to stay focused on their New Year’s fitness resolutions. Unfortunately, some of those same newly dedicated gym rats are now finding themselves plagued with injuries.
So what do you do when your mind desperately want to stay focused but your body doesn’t fall in line?
As a group fitness instructor and trainer, I do my best to help my clients prevent an injury before it happens, with some of the following tips. But if you happen to be suffering from injury, don't fear. I have a few tips on how to properly diagnose your problem and do what's necessary to recover quickly.
Prevention:
1. Learn to differentiate between "good" and "bad" pain:
Good pain is pain in your muscles such as a burning in your glutes on a lunge. Bad pain is pain in your joints such as a sharp pain in your knees on a lunge. If you feel discomfort in your knees, hips, wrists, low back or shoulder, discontinue the move immediately and find a modification that works the same muscle groups but does not hurt your joints. For example, someone who feels pain in their knees in a forward lunge could try a reverse lunge. Someone who feels pain in their wrists in a push-up could try using hand grips or try the push-up on their knuckles or fingertips to keep their wrists in a more neutral position.
2. Take a day off between intense workouts:
What many people fail to realize is that the 24 to 48 hours after your workout is very important because that is when the body heals and repairs. If the body is not allowed at least 24 hours to heal, the risk of injury increases greatly. The other important factor of recovery is that time off from the gym is what actually helps to build the muscles. When you lift weights, you are tearing muscle fibers. The recovery in the hours after your workout is the time when your muscles rebuild, increasing your strength.
3. Learn good form:
It is shocking how many people have been taking group fitness classes and working out in the gym, but are clueless about good form. I spend months and months working on certain exercises with my classes because I often see that more than half of the room cannot execute the move efficiently and safely. It takes a knowledgeable instructor or trainer to break down a simple move like a push-up or a squat and explain how to do it right. That could include telling you where to place your foot or hand, how to position your head and, most importantly, how to modify the move to make it easier. My advice is to hire a trainer for at least a few sessions to learn good form; it will be worth its weight in gold.
Recovery from Injury:
1. What do to If the injury has already occurred:
Just because you're hurt doesn't mean you have to stop working out, go back to the couch and resign yourself to a life of inactivity. Just make sure not to ignore the injury; instead, I believe in babying it. As long as you are in pain, only participate in activities that do not exacerbate the discomfort. For example, if your foot is bothering you and it might be plantar fasciitis, the worst thing you can do is ignore it and keep doing high impact exercise like running. By doing so, you risk the injury becoming a stress fracture, which takes much longer to heal. Choose a low or non-impact alternative such as indoor cycling, swimming or flat-footed ellipticals. You can try stairclimbers, too, until there is no more pain in the foot.
2. See a doctor who specializes in sports medicine:
It's important to go to the right doctor so that you can get an accurate diagnosis of your pain. It's also key to find someone who understands that not working out is not an option. There are many ways to get your heart rate elevated safely and effectively without exacerbating the injury. You must make it a priority, and with a combination of good form, days of rest, appropriate activity and proper guidance, getting results safely and sticking with your fitness resolutions is not as difficult as it might seem.
