7 Tips To Keep You Running, Lifting, & Playing The Sports That You Love...

We all love to do something. For most of us it could fall under running, lifting, or playing sports. Unfortunately, many people become frustrated because they end up with a running injury, hurt themselves lifting or doing crossfit, or something is stopping them from playing their favorite sport. Many times they are told just to stretch it or put on ice it, which simply are bandaids and not real long term solutions. Does this sound like you? Here are 7 Tips to Keep you Running, Lifting, & Playing the Sports that you Love.. [...]

#1: Avoid Too Much Too Fast
Doing too much too fast is the number one reason that I see for sports related injuries. We find something that we love to do and we go all in, every day with no proper rest or build up. Slow and steady progress wins the race. For runners they start training for a race and run way too many miles compared to what they ran the week before. Or for a weight lifter they add too many rep and set schemes or too much weight. Too much of a good thing can easily become a bad thing.
 
As a general rule runners should only increase their mileage by about 10% each week. This includes not only distance but the pace that you run at as well.
 
If you are weight lifting it is very important to understand your set and rep scheme and how they affect your desired goals. Customized programs designed by a strength and conditioning expert will take this into account. The sequence of your lifting exercises can be crucial as well.
 
#2: Deal With Injuries Right Away
One of the worst things we can do when getting injured is not dealing with it immediately. Sometimes we can just wait and things will just feel better, but this is not always the case. The longer that we wait to deal with an injury the more chronic it can become and the harder to get rid of the lingering pain.
 
An example of this may be an ankle sprain. Some may be minor and heal up right away. Others may linger and turn into a chronic problem. An important thing to realize that with an ankle sprain the proprioceptors (things that communicate with the brain and tell the ankle where it is in space) become damaged and need retraining. This is why ankle sprains can easily lead to more ankle sprains in the future, or worse yet maybe even an ankle fracture. Make sure to get the help and rehab that you need.