Injury Prevention - Your 3 Rules to Avoid Injury

Before you ring your surgery, try your 3 rules for injury prevention to avoid injury.

Sports Injuries... your ounce of prevention

Simply, it is better to keep a bad thing from happening than it is to fix the bad thing once it has happened.

Sounds easy. But how can you practice prevention rather than try to fix the problem later?

The following 3 rules will help you avoid injury in the first place, meaning you stay safe, fit and healthy.


Photo courtesy of Hweiling Ow

Your 3 Injury Prevention Rules

1. Be fit for the task

Even if you are generally fit, make sure you are fit for the rigors of your specific task. Methodical exercise rather than violent, sudden effort should be used to build the correct balance of strength, flexibility and endurance.

For example: do not suddenly launch into 20 rep squats without first conditioning yourself to the exercise. Make steady progression in the squat exercise FIRST. Do this, and you will gain the tools required to exercise safely while avoiding injury.

2. Warm up and warm down

Your body will perform better if it is first warm, just like a car engine. However, a warm up requires MORE than a few minutes spent waving your arms.

An excellent warm up is one that gets the heart thumping and the blood pumping; five minutes spent engaged in a warm up will PREPARE you for the rigors of your workout.

For example: make the hindu squat part of your warm up. However, a word of caution: do NOT make your warm up so intense that it detracts from your routine.

3. Use the right equipment and technique

Your body is different in shape and size from everybody else's - you are unique! This means you should tailor your choice of equipment and exercise to your own particular needs, talents and abilities. Furthermore, your technique when exercising is vital. If faulty, poor technique can cause pain, discomfort and injury. Instead, choose what works for YOU.

For example: hex bar squats might result in great gains for one person's body shape and produce injuries in you. The answer? Find an exercise that fits YOU, and doesn't produce injuries. Never blindly follow a routine or exercise protocol without tailoring it to your own requirements and needs first.

In Summary

Millions of sports injuries are needlessly caused by sudden, unaccustomed exercise or by training too much and too hard.

So before you ring for medical assistance, try your 3 rules for injury prevention to avoid injury.

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