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DEL.ICIO.USTake a Break, Keep it Moving, and Shake it Up
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A couple of years ago, a friend of mine who is a personal trainer was having a dilemma. His dilemma was that he was getting tired of working out and was constantly sore. He e-mailed me about his situation and asked for some advice.
This is what I advised for him and it worked:
1.“Take a Break”- Now, when I say take a break, this really only applies to those who are currently engaged in a fitness program for more than four months. If you have only been training for a couple of weeks, you don’t need to go on a “break from training” just yet. However, for you fitness enthusiasts who have made a true commitment to fitness, you sometimes need to relax. When you constantly overload the muscles and joints with weights and pound your body running on the treadmill for long periods of time, your body may begin to develop chronic aches and pains. Though, the injuries may not be serious, it can lead to something more serious, can drain you of your energy, and can be mentally debilitating. Therefore, you may need to take a few days off from your regular routine. Maybe, you can even do a little rehabilitation by getting a massage.
2.“Keep It Moving”- Even though I may advise you to take a break, I do not advise dropping your fitness routine all together and drop your healthy lifestyle. If that sounds contradictory, let me explain. A part of recovering from your exercise routines is to keep the blood flowing, which will help you deliver more oxygen and nutrients to parts of the body that need to heal. Most importantly, if weight loss is a goal, you don’t want to just quit for a week. You must continue to balance your caloric input to output. This also means your must maintain your nutrition habits. Staying active will also continue to help you with dealing with daily stresses and help your sleep better. All I’m suggesting is to not push yourself as hard for one week.
3.“Shake It Up”- In order to prevent a lot of the injuries associated to exercise and to prevent monotony, you have to change your routine. One of the most common errors you could make is “doing the same thing over and over again.” My suggestion is to change your routine every 2-4 weeks. Try to change up what body parts you train on certain days, change up the number of repetitions, or come in on different days are just a few examples. Sometimes all you have to do is change the order of the exercises.
Once again, this applies only to those who have been at it for a while. If you’re new to the game of getting fit, you will have to push yourself and you may get some aches and pains. In time, you will deal with soreness better. However, if you feel that you have a legitimate injury that is creating great discomfort (pain) or impairing movement, you should always rest the body part affected and see an orthopedic physician.
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