We are in 2020, a year full of uncertainty in many aspects. We are living a new life with conditions that might not be ideal for anybody, but it's what it is, we should adapt and do whatever it takes to keep others and ourselves safe. Staying at home as much as we can is the most ideal thing to do right now, as a result, all the "normal" activities we were used to, disappeared from one day to another, we have now to find new ways to do those things or simply, swap them up for others instead. Quarantine in some places is not even near to be over, and in some other places, there is not certainty about wether or not will come back.
Now, missing the gym became the new rule, not because we want to but because we should, however, it doesn't mean that we should skip training too. Training or exercising needs to stay in our life, we need it to stay sane, strong and healthy. Indeed, health should always be our number one priority, wether are covid-19 times or not.
Many people has opted to train at home, others, to be even less active than ever before. Whatever is your case, there are certain things you should take into account in order to avoid getting injured when training during quarantine or any other time:
- Avoid sitting for too long: It's not news that a lot of people are now working from home, the house has become the new office. This sound like something positive when it comes to work time optimization, on the flip side, some people can't stop working because now, their job has become their biggest distraction to the outside world. Your body is made for moving, so it needs to keep moving. Lack of movement increases your risk for injuries. How? When you don't move, it negatively affects bone, ligaments, tendons, muscular, cardiovascular health and overall health. Lack of movement makes your ligaments, tendons to tightening and your muscles weak. Not moving, poor posture and body exposure to sudden high levels of activities or to incorrect prior to training body prep, without progressing correctly, it's the perfect formula for disaster.
- Focus on building habits, avoid the training rush: Let's say that you might have been without exercising for two months, but today you have decided to start training again. You feel that you're ready to nail it, but unfortunately you are too pumped up due to sudden motivation, and you aren't thinking straight. So, you go ahead and do that body attack class you saw online, and, you also do that dancing class your friend sent you. But afterwards, you feel sick, unwell, or you feel that you got injured somewhere (strained a muscle, for example.) Well, that's the outcome when you don't build up your resistance, endurance, mobility, flexibility and power slowly up over the weeks when it comes to training.
- Make sure to follow the right trainer or right program for you: Not everything is for everybody, not every trainers knows to deal with everybody, and not every program is for everybody. Make sure to do your research when it comes to choosing your online trainer or instructor. Adequate exercise guidance decreases the risk of injuries. Choose right!
- Keep it simple: Sometimes, complicated executions lead to complicated results. If you don't have enough experience with an exercise, focus on managing the basics before jumping into more advanced variations. When exercising, you can do the simple way or the complex way and still get the same result, it's just a matter of perspective, exercise execution and training experience.
- Practise the skills you have developed and focus on improving them: It's great to start new things, but it's also great to have the right guidance for it and to do it properly in order to build ideal movement patterns. If you aren't unsure of what to do yet when it comes to your home workouts, just keep practising what you've learnt so far, that, will help you stay in shape in a safe way until you manage to find a trainer or a safe way to progress to the next stage.
- Stay hydrated and eat highly nutritious foods: Even though injuries can happen to anybody, for diverse reasons and in diverse areas, nutrient deficiencies could increase the risk of injuries. Poor nutrition = Poor health = Poor bone, muscle and body tissues's health = Poor motor skill performance = Higher risk for injuries. Make sure to have a well rounded nutrition for injury prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. Wether you get neck pain or twist your ankle, optimum nutrition and optimum exercising habits can assist rehabilitation.
Enjoy your next workout and quarantine in the safest way possible!