Your training plan is going fantastic until an injury throws your plans into the wind. It’s hard to recover and stay motivated. Pivoting is your greatest tool, allowing one muscle to recover while you train and focus on others. Better still is avoiding injury completely. Here are three things you are probably missing in your workout routine that might prevent future injuries.
Active Recovery
These are days where you go easy and work on the little things, while remaining active and working toward a goal. Aerobically this might include a brisk walk, light jog, bike ride or row. It’s anything but challenging, but gets your heart rate high enough to keep your muscles and joints lubricated. Think 50 – 60% of maximum heart rate, but always consult a doctor if you aren’t sure.
Strengthening Little Muscles
I use the term little muscles loosely. I mean muscles we often ignore. Some of them are pretty large, but they don’t stand out so much when you’re facing the mirror. Spend at least one or two sessions a week focusing on muscles such as your rotator cuff, gluteus medius, adductors and abductors, tibialis anterior (especially if you’re a runner), scapula and forearms. I could go on. If you train often enough, you probably know problems areas and what needs strengthening. Take a couple of days to work on them.
Stretching and Increasing ROM
Often controversial even with the research conducted to date, stretching and increasing your range of motion isn’t clear-cut. How much and when depends on the individual, experience and habits to date. However, too loose and you become unstable. Too tight and you lose strength and your muscles can’t perform properly. A rule of thumb is to be functionally flexible. This means performing activities in day-to-day life such as squatting butt to calves, hip hinging, lunging, playing on the floor with young children, fingers touching when one arm is behind your head and one arm behind your back, and having arms overhead in a press position without arching your spine.
Monday, November 23, 2020 in Fitness, General, News
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