New Year, New You? - Tips to help your new exercise program - Part 1
Tom Valentine - Physiotherapist
Have you started a fitness or health goal for 2020? Good work! This can be trying to get more steps or general exercise into your day, or trying out a new sport or type of exercise.
Unfortunately one of the biggest barriers to new programs can be injury or soreness. That’s where we can help. Physiotherapist Tom Valentine will give us a few key points to think about when it comes to preventing injury and maximise your exercise output!
- Gradual build up
We get it you’re enthusiastic about your new program, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. Motivation is what gets you started but habits are what keep you going. It is very important to allow your body to condition to new movements and exercise.
Consider using an Acute : Chronic workload monitoring tool (see image adapted from load management guru Tim Gabbett) where you are measuring how much work you have done in one week as compared to the four weeks prior. This is a tool utilised by elite athletes and elite organisation but can be easily adapted by an individual.
Too in depth for you? Start a diary or use an app like “Strava” to track you’re exercise so that it can always be reviewed for changes in frequency, intensity or duration of sessions which may increase injury risk.
- Recovery
It’s more than just stretching! There are several recovery strategies used by an athlete and often done in a combination. Studies completed with AIS athletes have found these key points:
- The body requires recovery of 24-48 hours to aide with physical adaptation
- Sleep and nutrition are proven to be the best physiological recovery tool, so make sure you eat well and get your 8 hours around training.
- Adjunct therapies like massage, active movements, immersion/ice therapy and compression garments.
The Sport’s Physiotherapists at WA SportsMed have expertise in assisting people with an introduction to a new program and progressing into a new type of exercise. If you have any niggling issues or concerns with your training James, Leon & Tom would love to help ensure you continue to meet your new goals set for 2020!
Stay tuned for Part 2 on Injury Screening/Prevention & Strength Programming.