Another year is upon us. Many people no doubt have been busy over festive season and more likely than not indulged in less than healthy foods and drink- ing. It is the time of year for New Year’s resolutions. You probably know some- one who has said they want to lose weight or get fitter in the new year. It is great when people want to start or return to regular exercise. They’re keen and they become really enthusiastic, going from nearly no exercise to walking or running every day or attending high intensity exercise classes.
These same people then end up requiring Physiotherapy for an array of injuries that include lower limb tendinopathies (tendinitis), calf/hamstring strains, rotator cuff injury and lower back strains that were all sustained during an attempt to try and get “fit and healthy” for their New Year’s resolution. In most of these cases, the problem is that they either did too much too soon or they resumed exercise after a prolonged period away from exercise. The majority of these injuries could have also been prevented with an appropriate exercise plan.
Here are some tips to minimise your chances of getting injured through the New Year period and stick to your New Year’s resolution, be it weight loss or improving your fitness and health:
Simply start by getting off the couch and move most days per week. If you haven’t regularly walked, cycled or swam for 3-4 times a week in the last month or two, try doing short sessions (e.g. 10-20 minutes) and gradually build up the time over a few weeks. A minimum of 30 minutes is a good goal to build towards for general health benefits .
Try some simple body-weight exercises: You don’t need fancy gym equipment and extra weights when you’re first starting out. Start working muscles with bodyweight exercises such as chair squats, step ups, sidesteps, calf raises, bench/ knee/toe push ups and side planks will put you in a good place to start some heavier lifting or circuit style classes (if you want to) in late February. 2-3x strength sessions per week is all you need.
If you choose to start higher intensity training, do so 2x per week ONLY (non- consecutive days) for the first 2-3 weeks and increase to 3x per week (non- consecutive days) thereafter. Alternate days of the week can be filled with low- moderate intensity exercise such as walking, swimming, Pilates or yoga. The reason for this is that it takes 48 hours in trained individuals for muscles to re- cover from a dose of high intensity exercise, and 72 hours for tendons to recover from a dose of high intensity exercise, and any attempt to do back-to-back days in untrained individuals will soon result in an “overuse” injury.
Don’t forget to sleep. To allow your body adapt to the exercise that you are doing, your body needs sleep. The National Sleep Foundation recommends that adults require 7-9 hours sleep per night.
These are general tips on how to avoid overuse injuries and every person is different in regards to their exercise tolerance. If you would like further advice or an exercise plan designed specifically for you, call our clinic on 03 9716 2250 to book an appointment with Jennifer Loke, our Accredited Exercise Physiologist.