How to Prevent Common Workout Injuries When Exercising

Nathan Cepelinski
3 min readFeb 15, 2022

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People sometimes strain and suffer from injuries while exercising. Even walking can cause an injury. Common workout injuries include sprained ankle, knee injury, shoulder injury, muscle pull strain, and minor dislocations. However, there are effective ways to avoid getting injured while working out.

It is important to have a pre-workout routine and post-workout routine every exercise day. People should always have a quick stretch. Preparing the body for exercise is easier after warming up. As the blood rate rises, the muscle and joint strain levels also increase.

Warming up or stretches can be done in various ways, including exercising on a stationary bike, toe-to-toe stretches, jogging in the same spot for several minutes. After the workout session, a cool-down routine is crucial to reduce the heart rate back to normal. Walking for at least five minutes after working out is one technique to relax. Yoga stretches are also helpful. These warm-up exercises alert the body of an impending exercise and help avoid joint strains and muscle pull.

People should not force themself to do anything that requires too much energy. Instead, they should slowly increase the intensity of their workouts until they can’t go anymore. After increasing the intensity, frequency and duration come next. So it’s a three-way development that hones endurance and promotes fitness. Overworking the muscles can lead to shoulder or knee injuries, dislocation, and tendonitis.

Cross-training is essential to promote compound workouts and reduce the pressure on a particular muscle group. Work out should be in a variety of ways. A muscular group should not be overworked. Overworking a particular muscle category may cause repetitive injuries.
Cross-training involves spreading out the routine workout. There should be chest day, leg day, arms day, etc. Focusing on legs all week could lead to muscle strain, dislocations, and, even worse, torn muscles.

People should understand their weak points and create workouts specific to their weaknesses. For example, if they suffer from knee arthritis, they must build up their stamina to counteract it. However, working on their weaknesses doesn’t mean they should over-exert them. It could lead to more pain and damage.

Appropriate dressing is key during a workout. Oversized clothes and overly tight clothes are not recommended. However, fitted clothes are highly recommended. Safety gear is also crucial. When going on a jog or run, trainers are appropriate. Swimming goggles, trunks or swimsuits, and a floater are necessary when going on a swim. For bikers, guards, pads, and helmets should be intact. These gears are very handy in cases of accidents. Helmets prevent head injuries, and guards and pads shield the body during a fall.

Giving the body the nutrients it needs is critical to staying healthy. Hydration is key during and after a workout. Drinking at least 20 ounces of water around an hour to two hours before working out gets the metabolism going in the right direction. Hydrating is a preventive measure to having enjoyable exercise. Not hydrating properly could lead to a dry throat which is very uncomfortable during workouts.

People should also consume a modest meal or snack every three to four hours to ensure that their bodies have a constant energy supply. A carb and protein-rich post-workout snack will help refill their energy levels during workouts. When exercising, the body consumes energy faster. To replace and refill these energy levels, a proper diet is needed.

One of the most important things is getting rest. It is often said that sleep is the magic that makes all exercise worthwhile. During a week of workouts, a rest day is very important. On a rest day, there should not be any exercise at all. Rest is important for torn and stretched-out muscles to recover and recuperate. Not having a proper rest day may lead to overworking the muscles and injuries such as muscle pull, tendonitis, sprained ankle, etc.

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Nathan Cepelinski
Nathan Cepelinski

Written by Nathan Cepelinski

Musician and Online Course Developer Nathan Cepelinski

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