Since COVID, fitness studios, trainers and gyms have had to develop new ways to connect with their clients by offering online classes for the foreseeable future.
For many of us, working from home has been a great way to remain active while keeping ourselves and community safe. Unfortunately, without the hands-on attention from an instructor, we can make mistakes that can lead to injury.
Here are three ways you can prevent injuries while working out at home:
Too Much Too Soon
Ramping up your exercises too quickly is an easy way to get injured in a hurry. Of course you want to challenge yourself and continue to set new fitness goals, but you need to give your body time to adapt. For example, if your goal is to run 10km, you wouldn’t go out and immediately run 8km. Ideally you should slowly work your way up to that distance. If you don’t give your body time to adjust to a new stress, you risk injuries such as strains, tendonitis or fractures to name a few.
Poor Form
Fitness instructors or trainers often provide hands on adjustments or verbal cues to help their clients with their form. For example, performing a squat without the proper form can put a lot of stress on areas like your knees and low back. Proper form is really important not only to get the most out of the exercise, but also to help prevent injuries by engaging the correct muscle to support the movement.
Mobility
At COAST we talk a lot about mobility, and that’s because it is so important for overall function, performance and injury prevention. The best way to improve mobility is by incorporating a proper warm up, cool down and mobility exercises into your training or fitness program.