Preventing injuries and overtraining is just as important as, if not more important than, recovering from an injury. Learn how to stay injury free and at the top of your game.
Now that we have covered how to continue to workout with an injury, let’s go over something even better- how to prevent injuries. There will be unavoidable accidents or competition related injuries, but injuries due to improper training and recovery are completely within your control. Let’s look at the three main areas that affect your ability to recover from and get the most out of your training.
Training- your body needs enough stimulus to continue to grow stronger and faster, but the “more is better” philosophy does not apply. Frequent workouts are the norm for most high school and college level athletes, but you need to know how to listen to your body. If your body does not have enough time between workouts to recover, or if your workouts are regularly too strenuous for your body to tolerate at your current level of conditioning, then you will simply run yourself into the ground and increase your risk of injury.
Nutrition- we have covered nutrition in several of our blog topics, but please be sure to refer back to “Eating for Weight Loss” for the best tips. Providing your body with the proper fuel is crucial for recovery and growth.
with me so if a client needs some quick rolling to get a knot or tight spot loosened up I am ready.
Sleep- even the most diligent athletes, young and old, will often neglect to look at how their sleeping patterns affect their training and recovery. The level of HGH (human growth hormone) rises during deep sleep and this chemical is a huge component in muscle repair. If you aren’t getting enough sleep, you aren’t providing your muscles with what they need to rebuild as best they can. In addition to affecting recovery in general, if you are not sleeping enough odds are your stress levels are raised, it is harder for you to concentrate, during workouts and elsewhere, and you are more likely to put in less effort during the workouts you participate in. Try to get into a regular sleeping pattern- that means going to sleep the same time every night and waking up at the same time every morning. This might make for a lame Friday and Saturday night, but being a kick @s$ athlete is a better way to be popular than going out anyway.
Putting effort into all of the things you do outside of the gym is just as important as your workouts themselves, which just goes to prove once again- strength is a matter of a mind made up.