We all have our favorite workouts that we love to do on a weekly basis. However, have you taken a moment to think about the day when that favorite workout could actually lead you to an injury. We are talking about getting injured from doing an exercise wrong but actually getting injured because of the overuse of your muscles or moving in the same plane of motion that you execute week after week (or even year after year) in during your favorite workout.
Now this doesn’t mean you have to stop doing your favorite workout week after week. We know that going to your favorite workout class is beneficial for you mentally too and hey, it may be even more beneficial to you mentally at this point. There are ways and exercises though that may be important for you to start doing so that your favorite workout doesn’t all of a sudden become your worst enemy.
One simple way to make sure you are overusing your muscles is to switch things up a bit. If you are an avid cycler, try yoga. If you love hitting the bags for an hour maybe try a pilates class. If you love a HIIT class maybe try zumba. There are many different forms of exercises out there for you to try, you just have to have an open mind to trying something new.
Also, there are specific exercises you can do too (instead of a whole workout, if switching things up isn’t really what you are into). Think of these exercises as executing the exact opposite muscles you use in your workouts–this is called reverse posturing.
Before HIIT do Lateral Lunges
If you go to exercise is form of HIIT training then you are most likely moving through the front plane and back plane but neglecting the side to side plane. For you, it will be beneficial to do some lateral lunges before your workout. Doing these lateral lunges will incorporate more normal life movements into your workout and give you a more balanced workout session.
Before Boxing, Row a Little Bit
When you are boxing you are throwing a lot of punches. When you are throwing punches you are using a push movement. The opposite of pushing is pulling, so a great way to balance out boxing would be to focus on pulling exercises aka different variations of rowing. Body weight rows is great, TRX rows would be beneficial or maybe hoping onto a rowing machine for awhile would be a great way to work the opposite muscles and get you nice and warmed up.
Before Running, Focus on Your Feet
This one may not see like an exercise that works the opposite muscles, but the muscles in the feet are definitely neglected when it comes to runner yet they need their feet in order to run. Focusing on the flexibility in the feet and the balance in the feet and ankle is very important for a runner to focus on to not run into an overuse injury. Trying single leg balances is a great warm up to do before running, oh and performing them without any shoes on is key too. That way your foot really has to do all of the work without getting any support from the shoes.
