What to Start exercising but worry about injury risks?
Congratulations on deciding to take charge of your health and start exercising!
For any of us who are interested in maintaining our health, exercising is a component we mustn’t overlook.
Exercise is one of the best way to improve our overall health and well-being. However it is not uncommon got sustain injuries when we’re just starting out.
When adjusting ourselves from sedentary lifestyle to a new healthy lifestyle with proper nutrition, rest, and exercises. It is important to start slow.
I would like to use this guide to share with you some of the knowledge and strategies I deployed when I started out on my health journey. Let’s do it in a way that is safe and effective.
Move It or Lose It: Understanding Activity Needs & Muscle Loss
The WHO (World Health Organization) recommended moderate to vigorous physical activities of up to 150 minutes per week for those aged 18-64 years old.
It is also recommended to incorporate some strength training within those 150 minutes up to 2 days a week. This is in order to build and maintain muscles mass, which will further provide more health benefit.
Do you know that we can lose up to 30% of our muscles mass after our 30s? It is called Sarcopenia and it is a natural part of aging.
In order to decrease the effects it brought about, strength training in our physical activities is a must!
If you want to know more about preventing muscles loss, read our post about overcoming it here.
From Inactivity to Activity: Understanding Your Starting Point
Have you been inactive for a long period? Like me after being sedentary for merely several years, this causes our body to be deconditioned, making them more susceptible to injury.
Or perhaps a recent health scare has motivated you to rethink about your life choices and now wants to prioritize your well-being?
Understanding your starting point and listening to our doctor’s guidance can help us start with the proper exercise to achieve our goals.
Why Should we Start things slow?
No matter your reasons, here’s why we must approach going back to exercise with a gradual approach.
Building a Strong Foundation
As our body are not in its best conditions, it is best that we start out to rebuild them to return it to a better conditions. Think of this as a foundation that we must build before tackling heavier activities.
Exercising can help us strengthens muscles, improve bone density, and improves on cardiovascular health.
By starting slow our body can adapt to the small changes gradually rather than shocking them to much. This can help us minimize injury risks.
Pushing too hard at the beginning
If a person who just started out on their health journey and pushing themselves too hard right off the bat, they tend to sustain injury like muscles strains.
This will then put them out of condition to exercise further. Which derails their progress and causes longer setbacks.
Keeping Motivation Up
When just starting out, having smaller, easier to achieved goals and succeed in them can help build motivation.
So then we can be more incentivized to move on the more challenging goals, giving us a gradual increase in exercise intensity.
Rather than aiming to lift a weight that is too heavy and risk hurting your back, gradually increase the weight (Progressive Overload) is a reward in itself.
Choosing Activities You Enjoy: Making Exercise Sustainable
Always remember that we set out to achieve our Health Goals. Exercise shouldn’t feel like a punishment. So explore the activities you would enjoy more.
I’m sure you heard of certain activities or trends that promotes getting results fast in weeks or days. But it wouldn’t really matters to our final goal of achieving sustainable healthy living if we doesn’t really enjoy it.
Finding something you can enjoy doing is how I accomplished the health goals I set out to achieve.
Here are some activities you can do:
The Classic Cardio exercises:
- Walking (Running) – Be it walking in nature or at the gym, this is one of the most natural we can do right away. By starting out with walking before we run, it helps strengthen the leg muscles. Before long running will become effortless.
- Swimming – It true not everyone knows how to swim. But being in water decrease the load of our body weight, making it a very effective exercise to burn calories.
- Cycling – This is the one I started out on, as back then even a 5 minutes slow jog can put me out of breath. Be it cycling on the road or at the gym, cycling can be less demanding than walking and running. And is just as effective in elevate our heart rate.
- Dancing – This is a fun way for those who enjoy dancing, it can be an exercise without them realizing it. So go have a great time dancing and burn those calories. Starting slow is important for dancing too.
Strength Training:
- Body weight exercise – Think Push ups and Sit ups, these are exercise that doesn’t require investing in any equipment. They can be modified to decrease difficulty until you can do the standard form without getting hurt.
- Free weights – Dumbbells or Kettle bells, these exercise helps build muscle mass to improve our strength. More muscles mass boosts metabolism and also helps prevent injuries even for daily activities.
- Resistance bands – Another options to consider, these bands comes in different level of tensions. Using one of these while doing body weight exercise increase resistance, increases their effectiveness.
Team Sports:
These are activities like soccer, basketball or joining one of the fitness class usually held at gym or studios. These are fun ways that also provide social interactions. And they can make exercise more enjoyable.
Take up Martial Art lessons, and you can learn some self defense technique while getting some exercise done.
Mind – body Activities:
Yoga, Pilates, and Tai Chi are activities which combine physical movement with relaxation. These can be easier to start. And they also helps with Stress Management.
Warming Up and Cooling Down Properly
I’ve notice a lot of people who start their physical activities without giving much thought to these. So I must touch on this topic with you all…
Sure they may be fine after all as they don’t experience much difference and can do without.
You see preparing your body for exercise and unwinding afterward can minimizes injury risk. Light Stretching is a must for me and have served me well to avoid exacerbated muscles soreness.
For everyone exercise session no matter for how long, giving some minutes of your time to do these can also help prevent cramps. They also improves our body’s flexibility, allowing for better body movements.
Warm Up (5-10 minutes) – Do light stretching like neck, arm and leg rotation and circles. Then move on to light cardio like brisk walking which increases blood flow and prepare the muscles for more strenuous movements.
Cool Down (5-10 minutes) – When finishing a exercise session, repeat the stretches as you did during warm ups. Held stretches for 20-30 seconds to help reduce muscle soreness.
Fueling Your Body for Success: Nutrition and Exercise Go Hand-in-Hand
Around the time you decided to take up a Healthy Habit and start doing some exercise, your diet should also have some changes.
What you eat significantly impacts your exercise performance and recovery:
- Eat a Balanced Diet: Increase intake of lean protein to help maintain and build muscles. Prioritize whole foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grain options.
- Post-workout refuel: Its is recommended to eat something to replenish your energy stores within 30minutes of finishing workout. Aim to consume lean protein and healthy carbs.
The body has a “anabolic-window” where it goes into a period of increased protein synthesis. Whereas the carbs helps replenish our glycogen stores. Both are important for recovery. - Drink Up: Hydration is as important as the previous two, drink plenty of water before, during and after exercise.
Conclusion
Once again congratulations on taking the first step towards your health goal!
Remember, consistency is key, make your exercise sustainable. Always start slow, and choose activities that you enjoy.
And while you’re exercising, also provide your body with high quality diet, and listen to your body’s limits. This can minimize injury risk so you can hit those stages of goals towards a healthier you!
References
- World Health Organization. (2022, October 5). Physical activity [Fact sheet]. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity
- Harvard Health Publishing. (2023, September 26). Preserve your muscle mass. Harvard Health Publishing. https://www.health.harvard.edu/exercise-and-fitness/two-types-of-exercise-may-be-needed-to-preserve-muscle-mass-during-weight-loss
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