The last thing you want when you’ve taken the first step to fitness is to get an injury that sidelines you for a few weeks.
Pulling or straining a muscle is common among people who aren’t ready to exercise or those who push a muscle too far.
The good news is there are two simple things you can do to lessen your chances of injury: Warm up and cool down.
Warming up
The secret to warming up is in the name: it should raise your heart rate, increase your breathing and warm your body so it’s loose and ready to be tested. Make sure that you warm up for around 10 to 15 minutes before working out.
How should you warm up?
In general you should gently mobilise every joint you’re going to use while exercising, if not the whole body.
Neck
For the neck, gently drop and lift your head in alternate directions both left and right. Begin to introduce slight turns in either direction as you do so. After this, complete some simple left to right turns with your chin up off your chest too.
Shoulders
Rotate your shoulders in a circular motion both forwards and backwards. Lift them high up to your ears before gently dropping down as you rotate them.
Trunk and hips
For your trunk and hips, keep your feet shoulder length apart and begin to make circular motions with the hips and waist from left to right. Although you might feel like you’re using a hula hoop, you’re actually loosening your hip joints.
Knee
As your knees are subject to a lot of stress during exercise, it makes sense to pay them special attention. Whilst standing, lift one knee at a time, bringing it as close to your chest as possible in a slow and controlled manner.
Ankles
Lift one foot off the ground and take turns pointing and flexing your toes. Then you can rotate your ankles in clockwise and anti-clockwise motions. This is great preparation for the treadmill or cycling.
Cooling down
In the same vein as warming up, don’t underestimate the need to give your body a rest and your muscles a chance to relax.
To cool down, you can practice the same warm up exercises as before. Make sure you load up on plenty of fluids after exercise too. Protein shakes are best because they hydrate the depleted muscle cells and offer a fresh supply of nutrition that helps repair the stressed muscles.
If you’re unsure which protein supplement is best for your goal and body type, simply ask a member of the team.