Working out after recovering from an injury can make you feel like you’re starting from scratch. You may think that you aren’t allowed to move when you’re injured, but that’s not true. There are many ways you can move your body and work out while recovering from injuries.
Here are some tips to get you back on your feet and ready yourself to return to your best form. Read on to learn how to work out safely for your comeback game plan.
Talk to Your Doctor
Most injuries will get you in a physical therapist’s office a couple of times every week. Your therapist should tell you specific moves to help strengthen your injured area. The best thing you can do is by doing simple exercises and finishing your prescriptions.
Make sure you stick to the plan prescribed by your therapist. If you choose to skip physical therapy, it could affect your overall mobility as the years go on. Understand that physiotherapy for runners is crucial to getting you back into your fitness routine.
Choose the Right Exercises
It may hurt your ego to take our exercises down a notch, but that’s what you should do. You can choose to find workouts that are less challenging or lessen the weight and range of motion. You should remove weights altogether and limit your movements for the first few days.
When doing your exercises, make sure to remove the ones that use your injured body parts. For example, if you have a knee injury, decrease the weights for your squats. Squat down and stop when you feel pain, then you can repeat your squats at the level where it’s pain-free.
Stretch Before You Start
Sometimes, an injury requires you to be completely immobilized to help heal your injury faster. However, this could lead to static muscles making your body feel stiff. Rather than letting your muscles break down, ask your doctor for some stretching exercises.
A little stretching can help your injured muscles remain fit. It can ease you into becoming more active once your injury heals. Stretching can also maintain your range of motion in your joints to prevent your body from getting weak.
Start Your Exercises Slow
A good rule of thumb is to start at about 50% less of what you usually do. If you haven’t moved in more than one month, you may need to do less than 50%. You can increase your exercises by 10% to 15% every week if your injury doesn’t flare-up during each session.
You need to face the facts that you can’t do what you usually did before. Work out by having 3 to 5 minutes of warm-ups, cool-downs, and stretches. Make sure you don’t move your injured area for the first few days so you won’t aggravate the injury.
Avoid High-Intensity Exercises
Doing High-Intensity Interval Training can worsen your injuries, making your recovery time longer. When you work out at home, avoid doing any high impact exercises like jumping and sprinting. Don’t get caught up in the competition and push yourself your limits.
It would be best if you had a realistic plan of what you can handle. The plan will help you access your tolerance when lifting and how long you can hold out. Remember to use the body parts that can work out safely in the meantime, and get those areas stronger and leaner.
Reduce the Load
Weight training can be especially tricky when recovering from an injury. You should go as light as you can. It’s smarter to start with a weight lighter than what you would expect to be able to do.
Note that the nervous system will start to adaptations you’ve made with strength training in about a month. To avoid that, you can lift weights 75% less than what you usually use.
Skip the Long Runs
The longer you stay in bed while you recover, the more you start losing your muscle and endurance. Rather than diving into running a marathon, you should instead go for “fitness walking.” This is where you do a mindful, brisk walk where you swing your arms.
Swinging your arms help stimulate your muscle contraction. It will work your aerobic energy system allowing you for a much faster return to your prior level. Be sure to add interval cycles in your workout to help regain your endurance quicker.
Switch to Nutrition
As you rest up, you will burn fewer calories every day. It’s an excellent time to switch your diet and exercise. Be sure to avoid whole, unprocessed food while you recover.
Go for nutritious foods that have plenty of protein, zinc, vitamin D, and fiber. These nutrients will help accelerate your recovery and gives you the energy to work out at home. They can also rehydrate, refuel, and build your muscles even with lesser movement.
Aim For Recovery
Remember that you have to prevent your recovery from going backward. It’s good to get a weekly massage. You can also massage yourself using a foam roller for deep-tissue massages for the muscles around your injury.
Don’t forget to try out cryotherapy, where you use ice to help reduce the pain. Be sure you also drink enough water every day to regulate your body temp and lubricate your joints. Add some extra effort by getting a professional to help you during your workouts.
A trainer can help you take your time and not overexert yourself when you work out at home or at the gym. They can also assist in motivating you and give you the best rehab experience.
How to Work Out Safely
Remember always to know your limits and listen to your body. The pain you feel is your body’s way of telling you that something is wrong. Make sure to take your time to work out safely, stay consistent, and acknowledge when you need help.
Do you want to learn more about workout safety? You must keep yourself safe if you want to improve your overall health. Check out more of our blogs to learn all you need to learn today!