Your Sunday Best - Injury Prevention Post Quarantine

I hope you had a fun and safe 4th of July!  As I was basking in the sun yesterday, I started to think how many people I have been seeing in the clinic for injuries post-quarantine. (weird I know) And as our numbers spike in AZ, I wonder if there will be another trend after this second semi-lockdown. 

So, why is this happening and how can I help?

Most of our schedules have been disturbed throughout this quarantine - Whether it's working from home, working out at home, or having the kids more.  I don’t know about you, but when I’m working from home, I’m sitting a lot more and I’m also tempted to eat a lot worse (especially with the kids running around asking for food every 5 minutes).  On top of that, my workouts have been at less intensity.  All 3 of these factors can lead to an increase in injury once returning to the gym.

Heres a few tips on how to avoid injury when returning:

1. Nutrition 

Remember that food is fuel.  If your food intake has been suboptimal lately and this is not the normal for you, this can affect how your muscles, tendons, and bones respond to increased activity.  Start by analyzing your food intake and get back on track.  Whether that’s macro-counting, doing a WHOLE 30 like we did, or eating paleo or keto.  Each of this is a good jump start to getting your nutrition back in focus.  

2. Warm-Up and Cool Down

Many of us get into a really bad habit of not warming up properly when we are working out at home. Once you get back to the gym, and you know your workout intensities are going to increase, it is important to take an extra few minutes to warm up those muscles groups you will be focusing on in todays workout.   Pre-workout try some dynamic stretches and muscle activation exercises to get your muscles primed for the workout.  Post-exercise, mobilize with a foam roll or try some static and dynamic stretching.  You’re body will be thanking you later!

3. Scale!

Oh, the dreaded word.  I know, I know, we are all competitive and you know you can do the weight or the pull-up without scaling.  Quarantine has been a special time.  Most of us have lowered our intensity of working out, which is really just a side effect of not having our competition right next to us in a workout.  We also, haven’t been stretching as much as usual and as stated before haven’t been eating the best.  Ease back in!  Take a week or two to ease your body back into the level of intensity, the weight, and volume that you were at before. Mix in some ring rows with your kipping pull-ups to make sure your shoulders are working how the should, or instead of doing the prescribed 85% for the lift, bring your numbers down for a week or two.  You tell me what’s better, two weeks of scaling back, or 6-8 weeks of recovering from an injury!  

Train Smart, listen to your body, and Enjoy the return back! If you are injured, contact me for a free 15 minute discovery session.