With the New Year now under-way, many of us will be thinking about the changes we want to make to start the year afresh!
For many of us this will be increasing how much we exercise we are doing. This deliberation may have been taking place for some time or could be an epiphany over the unnecessary final slice of turkey in the festive period.
Whatever the case, deciding to get more active is the first step in an exciting journey. This resolution can sometimes be short lasting as many of us don’t have the guidance we need to make exercise a part of our daily life. Here are 5 quick tips to keep you on track:
1. Sleep well, Train well
While sleeping our body is resting, digesting and recovering from the stresses of our daily life both physical and emotional.
If we aren’t getting good quality sleep our body is less able to cope with the stress of our training and exercise can become painful.
Try avoiding screen time 30 mins before bed and keeping a consistent bed and wake time to improve the quality of your sleep.
2. Ease into it
When we first start a new type of exercise it is a big adjustment for our muscles and joints.
Rather than high intensity and frequent training sessions, try gentle exercise with rest days in-between.
This will allow your body to gradually adjust to what it’s being asked to do and decrease the likelihood of injury.
3. Mix it up
Have a variety of types of exercises in your plan to keep your training schedule interesting.
This also helps to avoid overuse injuries where the same muscles are consistently called upon to do the work.
4. Diet and hydration
With the excesses of the festive period in the rear window, the new year is a great chance to make sure our diet is supporting our training.
Eating whole foods such as nuts, avoiding fatty junk foods and drinking plenty of water is a good place to start.
5. Pain is the policeman of the body
We’ve all been told no pain no gain at some point. However, when it comes to exercising it pays to listen to the body when it is telling us it isn’t happy.
Pain helps to protect us by showing when something isn’t right, similar to when the oil light comes on in the car.
If you are experiencing pain with exercise get in touch for personalised guidance, to get back to exercising pain free!
Is pain holding you back from reaching your fitness goals? Sign up for a free taster session and we can walk you through a step by step plan of how to get rid of pain once and for all. Just click here or follow this link: https://www.instantphysio.co.uk/free-taster-session