How to prevent injuries in the gym - prehab, not rehab
Ah, injuries. An athlete’s worst nightmare. While most of us don’t run marathons and compete in olympic lifting, injuries are a very real possibility for the average gym-goer - especially as we age. And the bad news is that the older we get, the longer it actually takes us to fully recover from an injury! So is all hope lost? No, not at all! Today we dive into the world of prehab, injuries, rehab, and everything in-between. Read on to find out what you should be doing to keep your fitness journey injury-free!
Stretchingggggg
You know you need to warm-up, right? It’s so easy to overlook those stretches, and get into the habit of skipping them - especially if you’re a busy bee, have barely managed to carve an hour into your busy schedule for a workout and can’t wait to dive right in. But warming up - or cooling-down for that matter, shouldn’t be complicated or lengthy. Here’s all you need to know:
Warm-up:
Helps increase your heart rate, stimulate blood flow, warm up your muscles (literally - the increased temp makes them more elastic and allows you to control them more effectively), lubricate your joints (which is super important for reduced friction);
Make sure you incorporate dynamic stretches here
While it’s always best to do a full-body warm-up, if you’re short on time you can focus only on the muscle groups you’ll be working during your main workout (e.g. if you’re doing heavy squats today - make sure you warm up your legs properly).
Cool-down:
Helps bring down the heart rate slowly, regulate blood flow (gradually redirect blood back from the working muscles to the rest of the body, thus reducing the risk of injury and blood pooling), aids in muscle recovery (removing metabolic waste such as lactic acid
Focus on low intensity cardio and static stretches
Similarly, if you don’t have time for a full body cool-down, stretch the muscles you’ve worked during your main workout
Prehab
Simply put, prehab is the opposite of rehab - you do all the work before the injury occurs. Yes, that’s right - if done properly, prehab ensures you never get injured at all! Prehab is sport-specific, however it generally involves the following: strengthening, mobility & flexibility, stability & balance, form & movement pattern correction.
Story time: a while ago we noticed that our coaches were getting routinely injured - hips, knees, shoulders, you name it. It was becoming such a pattern that we had to look into it! And this is how we came up with the concept for one of our signature classes, Base - the class where bodyweight strength meets flexibility. It’s been designed to ensure that you do all the groundwork in terms of mobility, strengthening your muscles and joints across your entire range of motion, and increasing that range of motion as well. You can’t build a strong body without a solid base!
Rehab
Despite all your best efforts, sometimes injuries do happen. We know it could be a little bit heartbreaking not to be able to train for a while - especially if training supports your mental health quite a lot. But we can’t emphasise this enough - take the time off. Pushing through an injury is not a thing, it will only worsen the situation. The first thing you need to do is go and see a physio, even if it feels like a minor injury. Your physio will be able to diagnose you and give you appropriate rehab exercises. Remember to do them, and to follow your physio’s advice as closely as possible! When you come to class, our StrongHer coaches will be able to give you something different to do if injury is preventing you from doing an exercise so please don’t just power through! Your return back to the gym - and to lifting heavy - might be slow, but we promise you’ll get there. Trust the process!
