Injuries at the gym are less common than in team sports or among runners. Modern exercise machines are safe, and by taking the necessary precautions, the risk of injury in the gym can be significantly reduced. Most often, injuries at the gym are not experienced by those who exercise the most, but by beginners who do not care about the technique and the necessary precautions.
The list of injuries that we can get while training in the gym is really long.
The most common are:
- bruises- caused by exercising with too much weight,
- strains and tearstendons, muscles and ligaments - caused by excessive strain and overtraining,
- back injuries- they often happen due to the lack of proper technique while lifting weights. Lumbar pains may appear, for example, when doing squats with a barbell, performing a deadlift or triceps exercises,
- shoulder pains- caused by exercises related to bench press, especially for beginners who focus too much on the load instead of the appropriate technique,
- knee pain- ailments usually appear while running on a treadmill or performing squats and lunges. The most common reasons are technical errors, e.g. the knee goes beyond the foot during a lunge.
How to avoid injuries while exercising?
1.The most important thing is to warm up properly to ensure safety during exercise. Ignoring this element of training is a serious mistake, because gradually warmed up muscles can cope better with loads and a large number of repetitions. Warming up should take about 15 minutes.
2.At the same time, be wise to increase the load during exercise and adapt it to your current abilities and level of fitness. For help in choosing the load, it is worth asking the trainer on duty at the gym or exercising with a personal trainer.
When exercising with dumbbells or with a barbell, we choose a weight that we can control throughout the exercise. The dumbbells should not "fly" in the hands, and the barbell should be able to lift only with the strength of the muscles, without making a swing with your arms or throwing the bar upwards.By exaggerating with weights, we automatically worsen the technique of the exercise, increasing the risk of injury.
3.It is equally important to perform the exercises correctly and to keep the appropriate time intervals between the sets. The breaks should not be too long to prevent the muscles from cooling down.
The pace of the exercises is just as important - the movements should be smooth, not too fast and not too slow. The position of the exercise and… breathing is also important! By breathing, oxygen is supplied to the muscles so that they are less tired after exercise.
4.Proper breathing (exhale when lifting and inhale when lowering a load) improves spine stabilization and avoids fainting due to lack of oxygen. The biggest mistake of practitioners is holding their breath during the exertion phase, e.g. lifting or straightening. Fainting due to pressure surges in the brain can be a bad consequence of holding your breath.
5.Exercising with old or worn-out equipment is the easy way to injure yourself. By training in worn shoes, you give up cushioning, putting more strain on your joints.
6.It is a serious mistake to ignore pain. Also, do not train with an unhealed injury, because your he alth problems may get worse.
7.Just as important as warming up and proper training is recovery after exercise. Finish each workout with stretching. All you need to do is stretch for 10 minutes and your muscles will repay you in your next workout.
8.No training plan. When you train without a schedule, it is easier to overtrain or under-train. By choosing the right load and taking into account the time to rest, you will be able to regain your lost form or your dream figure faster.
What to do in the event of an injury?
The most important thing is not to ignore the pain and stop exercising. If an accident occurs at the gym, it is obligatory to notify the trainer on duty and follow his recommendations. If the injury shows up outside the gym, we can try to fight the pain at home before we go to the doctor. First of all, you should relieve the injured part of the body by using an elastic band, remembering that its pressure is not too strong. You need to cover the injured area with ice or lubricate it with cooling ointment.
In the case of stretches or tears, heat therapy is recommended as it accelerates the regeneration of damaged tissues and return to full physical fitness. A warm, relaxing bath and a strongly warming ointment can also help.
As the old saying goes - prevention is better than cure andit is also worth remembering in the context of training in the gym. Appropriate knowledge and preparation for exercise will protect against painful injuries and allow you to enjoy more and more intense workouts.