Injury is definitely a bumper to any exercise enthusiastic. Aside from derailing your exercise routine, some can even incur huge medical costs. Thankfully, there are many “precautions” that one can take to totally eliminate the occurrence of injuries.
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Cross Train
It’s common for us to love one thing, and hate another. However, when it comes to exercise, the wise thing to do is to love them all ---cross train.
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Cross training prevents over usage of the same muscles, as different groups of muscles are being trained. Also, it gives the often-used muscles a greater opportunity to repair & recover, Hence, adding strength all over the body and reduce the risk of injury.
Proper Warming Up & Cooling Down
Warming up actually helps activate your central nervous system, so that signals can be transmitted to the blood vessels to indicate the need for more blood supply in the muscle cells. This in turn increase nutrients supply to the working muscle cells prior to the actual workout, and enables them to adapt to the intensities of the exercise.
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Start on an Easy Note
Begin with moderate exercise of about 20 minutes, for 3 times a week to slowly ease your body into whatever you’re trying to do. Once your body adapts to the frequency and intensity, then gradually increase the duration and frequency of your workout.
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Not sure how to determine the best exercise intensity for yourself? Use this scale!
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The scale starts with “no feeling of exertion,” which rates a 6, and ends with “very, very hard,” which rates a 20. Moderate activities register 11 to 14 on the Borg scale, while vigorous activities usually rate a 15 or higher (“hard” to “very, very hard”).
Allow Time for Rest & Recovery
Working out too hard can be disastrous. It not only tires out your muscles and amplifies the chances of injuries, but also decrease the immune system.
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It turns out, studies show that more than 90 minutes of high intensity endurance exercise can make one susceptible to illness for up to 3 days after exercising. This is due to production of stress hormones (Cortisol and adrenaline) that temporality suppress the immune system.
Hence, remember to include enough rest and recovery days to prevent being sick.