HAPPY NEW YEAR Along with each New Year comes the resolutions to shift the Christmas gut and focus on a rapid increase in fitness levels. This sees a spike not only in new gym membership but also increases the numbers of fitness enthusiasts heading to the A and E, GPs and local sports physiotherapists! So before the overtraining starts and the injuries follow here are a few tips to lessen the risk: 1- Have a plan. If your pre xmas levels are training are low be realistic in how quickly you could train for a marathon or squat 120kg. Have a plan which involves a slow build up and no more than 4 times a week. The key is habit forming and steady build up to maintain the motivation to keep going long term. 2- Warm up. Nowadays everyone is under pressure time wise and so training tends to be normally in a small window of time in the day. Adequate warmup specific to your activity i.e. body weight squats to warm up for weighted squats allows the blood to flow to the relevant muscles and improve their neural readiness for weighted training. 3- Remember to stretch. When we load our muscles regularly they develop tightness and trigger points which can potentially lead to a muscle strain. Stretching improves muscle flexibility and mobility as well as improving circulation to the affected muscles. 4- Perfect technique. Unfortunately when pushing yourself to the limit the element of training that suffers first is technique. Performing an exercise through the full range of motion with a lighter weight rather than a heavy weight through a small range will significantly improve your long term strength gain potential and drastically reduce your risk of injury 5- Plan rest days / rest periods. Once into the January training it is easy to forget or feel guilty about a rest day, however it is crucial to allow muscles to repair, rebuild and strengthen. Failing to rest can lead to fatigue, lowering of your immune system and psychological tiredness, all of which can significantly hamper your training regime Adherence to these few tips should ensure your keep the training up for the whole of 2015!!
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 21:24:55 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015