Exercise is incredibly important for your body and your overall health, but you can’t just haphazardly jump into an exercise routine and assume you’re doing right by your body. Performed incorrectly or without foresight, exercise can actually be detrimental to your health or your overall fitness goals. In today’s blog, we explain why not all exercise is good exercise, and how to ensure you are getting the most from your exercise program.
Exercise Habits To Avoid
We don’t want to discourage anyone from moving and exercising on a regular basis, but we do want you to put some thought into your exercise program so that you aren’t actually hindering your health or your long-term goals. Here are three specific ways that you can be exercising incorrectly.
- Overexercise – One of the most common causes of injury is due to overstressing specific areas. These areas can be overstressed as a result of acute trauma or repetitive strain, and repetitive strain injuries tend to develop when a person pursues the same physical activity without enough rest in between. If you are pushing yourself to exercise the same muscle groups every single day, it’s certainly possible that you’re overworking your muscles and increasing your risk of an overstress injury. Be sure that you’re giving your body enough rest between intense physical activity or athletic seasons, and don’t increase your distance or exercise duration too quickly. Gradually take on more physical challenges so that this new stress doesn’t overload your body.
- Form – If you have the wrong form during exercise or certain lifts, you could be doing more harm than good to your body. This is where working with a physical therapist or an athletic trainer can be so helpful. We can ensure that your form is on point so that you aren’t overstraining certain muscles or increasing your injury risk because of movement deficiencies. If you have questions or concerns about your form or how certain weightlifting moves are conducted, please reach out to a professional!
- Stagnation – Finally, stagnant exercise programs can be detrimental to your long-term goals. Again, we love that you’re taking time to get regular exercise, but if you’re always running the same three-mile loop or lifting the same weights at the gym, don’t be surprised if your progress stalls. We want you to slowly try to take on greater challenges during exercise. That can mean running further, running faster, performing more reps or lifting a heavier weight. You decide on how you want to push yourself, but please try to find ways to push towards a new best. It may not be detrimental to your health, but exercise stagnation can end up affecting your motivation to exercise. Again, a physical therapist can help you find ways to avoid exercise stagnation or overcome issues contributing to a lack of progression.
Let us help ensure that you are getting the most from your exercise program! For more information on how we can take your exercise or conditioning program to the next level, reach out to the team at OrthoRehab Specialists today at (612) 339-2041.
PT of Costa Rican National Soccer Team for 2007 World Cup in Victoria, CAN. Clinical Instructor for University of Minnesota Doctor of Physical Therapy Affiliations
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