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 Summer is a great time to amp up your fitness routine. The warmer weather makes it easier to exercise and play sports outside. Although it is a season to focus on fitness and enjoy the outdoors, you need to be thoughtful about your approach. The extra pressure to look great on the beach may create an “all or nothing”, “go hard or go home” attitude at the gym or on the court. Enthusiasm is great, but overdoing it the first week back can just leave you injured.
Overuse injuries result from repetitive micro-damage to the body from sporting activity or fitness training that exceeds the body's ability to repair such damage. Common complaints from overuse injuries include stress fractures, shoulder pains and shin splints. Many injuries are caused by weak muscles, which simply are not ready to handle the specific demands of your sport or training. I always emphasis the importance of starting slowly if someone has not been exercising regularly. It is at times frustrating to see how some popular weight loss reality TV programs show a person running sprints on their first day working out without realistic warnings of the toll this can take. This type of over-training can create foot or ankle problems, hamstring strains, low back pain or even stress fractures. Yes, our bodies need to be challenged, but the goal is to create long-term fitness habits, muscle balance and to remain injury free. In order to increase your fitness levels make sure a strong fitness foundation is in place.
The following are important building blocks that are crucial to your fitness training/athletic success: Gradual Progression: Exercise progression refers to progressively overloading the body’s systems and increasing the training stimulus over time to increase fitness adaptations gradually. Simply stated, if you apply the same stress week after week you won’t see progress, but if you add too much stress too quickly, you may become injured and degrade your performance rather than increase it. Therefore gradual progression is key. Types of Progression: - Frequency: Add another workouts/athletic training day
- Intensity: Increase weight or repetitions on your strength training/ Increase challenge on cardio machine or outdoor training
- Duration: Changing the amount of time your exercising.
*Remember, if the intensity increases the duration should usually decrease.
We all want to be the best version of ourselves for the summer, which is a great season to be honest with ourselves about how we feel and how our bodies look. As we increase our activity level to achieve our fitness goals, we need to do it responsibly so the changes are positive and last a lifetime, not an intense burst that may sideline our dreams of a great physique and leave us with an unnecessary injury. Think good thoughts and train smart this season and always!
Have a great summer!
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Ashley Marriott has been a professional in the field of fitness for more than 14 years. She is the creator of Burn ‘N Firm, a popular DVD full body cardio dance workout series. She is dedicated to using her experience and energy to educate and encourage people to reach their fitness goals. Her dedication to empower others through fitness led her to write the book, Dump Your Trainer.
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