Top 10 Tips to Lose Weight Injury Free

It is possible for you to lose weight relatively injury free. But, you can also wreck your body with injuries while training to lose weight. You won't hear this information in a weight loss commercial because they're selling you a product.

So, here are my Top 10 Tips to Lose Weight Injury Free:

1. Warmup properly and do exercises with correct technique. This is crucial every workout! Walking for 2 minutes or talking to your friend is not a good warm-up.

A good dynamic warm-up prepares your body best for intense workouts. A sample dynamic warm-up could be a 5-10 minute jog, prisoner squats, lunges, etc. Static stretches would be done after your workout.

2. Don't underestimate the benefits of sports massages. The benefits include improved flexibility, tension release, relieving of swelling, alleviation of fatigue and prevention of injuries.

Along the same lines, self myofascial release with foam rolls (SMFR) is a type of self massage that you can do every day and prevent various muscle injuries, strains and tears.

3. Protect your feet. Its amazing how many injuries can be avoided by wearing quality footwear (interpreted: don't wear cheap athletic shoes). If you have flat feet or high arches you definitely need the right footwear and/or inserts.

4. Avoid various tendon, ligament and muscle injuries (pain, swelling) caused by over-training and wear and tear. Rest and recovery is important. R.I.C.E.R. (REST, ICE, COMPRESSION, ELEVATION, REFERRAL FOR MEDICAL ASSISTANCE) should be followed immediately after a muscle or tendon injury.

5. Lessen the risk of a knee anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. It is the most common injury affecting the knee joint.

Do this by having adequate hamstring strength and practicing proper landing, jumping, stopping and cutting techniques.

6. Strengthen and stretch your shoulder muscles to avoid rotator cuff, shoulder and elbow injuries.

7. Strengthen and stabilize your core to prevent injuries such as low back pain, oblique strains/pulls, neck pain, ruptured disks and various other muscle and ligament strains.

8. Avoid shin splints by not over-training and wearing quality footwear.

Also, exercising on hard or uneven surfaces or excessive uphill or downhill running can cause shin splints. If you over-pronate (foot and ankle rolls excessively inward when running), you are at risk for shin splints.

9. Lessen the risk of a torn or injured Achilles tendon (the largest tendon in the body). It takes a full year to recover from a torn Achilles tendon. Stretch and stabilize the tendon with one-legged exercises, calf/peroneal stretches and Achilles tendon stretch.

10. You don't want Plantar Fasciitis (the long, flat ligament on the bottom of your foot stretches too much, small tears develop and the ligament inflames (ouch!!)!

Plantar Fasciitis usually develops over time so take steps to correct the problem when it first occurs by keeping your foot and ankle area flexible. And, take time to recover from heel and foot pain. Also, don't wear (you guessed it!) cheap running shoes! Excessive running on steep hills or inclines can also cause Plantar Fasciitis.

Don't wreck your body with injuries trying to lose weight!

Train hard and smart!

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"Exercise is not my life.....exercise makes my life better!"

Check out my other great blogs:

Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named as one of the "50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody---including athletes!

Posted in: Exercise Injuries,Weight Loss Tips