8 Guaranteed Ways to Hurt Yourself at the Gym

In order for you to be your best advocate when you exercise, you should be aware of some of the more common reasons for injury. Ideally, you should learn about exercise safety from an exercise professional, but you should also use common sense and avoid exercises that aren’t right for your fitness level. Listen to your body and when in doubt, BACK OFF!

1.    NO PAIN. NO GAIN? Okay, so exercise isn’t supposed to feel good all of the time but PAIN is your body’s way of telling you something is WRONG. If you ignore this and continue to push, it is certainly the fastest way to acquire a serious or chronic injury. If you feel pain, stop what you are doing and REST!

2.    WHO NEEDS REST? It seems logical that sports injuries are often the result of overuse – simply from doing too much. However, any exercise routine that lacks rest days is potentially unsafe. To avoid an overuse injury, you need to balance rest days with exercise to allow your body to recover.

3.    I CAN GET FIT FASTER BY DOING MORE? Gradually increasing both the time and intensity of exercise is the ideal way to allow the body to adapt, grow stronger and become more fit. However, pushing your body beyond its ability to adapt will result in illness or injury. Many beginners find this out the hard way. They go out too hard, too fast and too furious and end up sore, injured and hating exercise. Even elite athletes can fall into this trap by thinking that if they are extremely fit in one sport, they can do anything. Not so. No matter what level of ability they have in another sport, athletes can get injured if they attempt to perform an exercise that is beyond their fitness level for that particular exercise. Remember to be realistic when assessing your ability and skill level.

4.    HEAVIER WEIGHTS ARE BETTER? Any weight training exercise that is done with weights that are too heavy for you is risky. It's that simple. If you can't maintain proper form while lifting, the weights are too heavy for you.

5.    JUST DO IT! FORM ISNT IMPORTANT! When you are new to exercise or learning a new routine, it's important to learn how to do the movements properly. Most people should get some professional coaching at the beginning of a new sport to learn the fundamentals and develop good habits. If meeting with a professional coach, trainer or instructor is not possible, at least take a look at some books or videos about sports technique and exercise form. Keep in mind that we are all unique and some movements may be better-suited to your abilities or biomechanics. An instructor can help you modify exercises to fit your unique needs.

6.    WHO NEEDS VARIETY? Doing the same exercise day after day may help you become very skilled at a sport, but it is another way to end up with an overuse injury. Stressing the same muscle groups and performing the same movement patterns repeatedly can put a tremendous amount of strain on muscles, tendons and ligaments, causing irritation, inflammation and even stress fractures. Even if you successfully avoid an overuse injury, you may end up with muscle imbalance, weakness, tightness and alignment problems. To avoid these problems, vary your exercise training routine. Do a variety of different types of exercise and cross train.

7.    QUICK IS BETTER! If you are in a hurry and don’t have time to finish your entire exercise routine, select a few to perform PROPERLY! Sloppy or uncontrolled movements occur for a variety of reasons, including fatigue, lack of appropriate skill, going too fast, and a lack of attention. When you are exercising, it's essential to be in control of your body. Sloppy execution or poor control is a set-up for injury. Even the safest exercise can become unsafe when done in an uncontrolled manner.

8.    PROPER PROGRESSION. As discussed in a previous blog, it is wise to strengthen the muscles of the core in order to prepare your body for heavier workloads, exercises, etc. Jumping straight into the tough stuff may sideline you with injury.

What to Expect From Your Fitness Professional

I cannot tell you how many individuals I have met that have been injured from exercising improperly (i.e., bad form, technique), exercising beyond capability, or failure to ask questions about what they should be feeling and why, therefore resulting in an injury. What never ceases to amaze me is quite often the individual will construe the injury as, “I just couldn’t do the exercise” versus “I SHOULDN’T have been doing the exercise” or “I should have spoken up.”

Trainers and small group fitness instructors serve an important function. They are there to keep you motivated and watch for bad form to keep you from injuring yourself. There is much value to having a live trainer or instructor there with you constantly pushing you to work harder, do that extra rep, correct your form to prevent injuries and teach you proper breathing.

However, YOU are your best advocate! The individual (trainer, instructor) you are working with SHOULD be able to explain why you are doing an exercise, what muscle(s) it is working, what you should be feeling, as well as the ability to modify an exercise based on client feedback. Never assume this is the case – make sure of it! You have every right to protect yourself!

Plyometrics, for example, are great for building explosive power, but only in a highly trained and fit athlete using perfect form. When performed by a beginner with limited skill or fitness, plyometrics may result in injury. Should an individual with a history of knee pain be performing plyometric box jumps? I would think no, however, I’ve seen it happen!

Don’t misunderstand. If you are attending a group fitness class with 50 other participants it is impossible for the instructor to watch your every movement. This type of individualized attention is limited to SMALL group settings and personal training sessions.

Also, assuming you are performing an exercise of the appropriate fitness level and with appropriate technique, it would not be the fault of the fitness professional if you were feeling something you were unsure of and didn’t speak up only to find later it brought you a great deal of discomfort! We may be fitness professionals, but we are not mind-readers! Don't ever be afraid to speak up. We love to talk about this stuff and look forward to answering your questions!

June Running Events

Need a way to stay motivated this summer? Need a goal to get you to commit to a workout program? Here’s a selection of 5k or above races hosted in Madison and the surrounding areas for the month of June. Many of them include fun runs for kids so you can get the whole family involved! Stay tuned for upcoming July races!

Saturday, June 2, 2012  Blue Mound Trail Run
18k, 10k trail run

Blue Mounds, WI

Komen Madison Race for the Cure

5K run, 5K walk, 1M walk  

Madison, WI

Sunday, June 3, 2012 

Run Wisconsin Dells Half Marathon

13.1M run, 5K run, 1M kids run   

Wisconsin Dells, WI

Saturday, June 9, 2012 

Girls on the Run 5K

5K run         

Fitchburg, WI

Run for the Rock 5K & Part 1 of Tri for the Rock

13.1M run, 5K run, 5K walk, 1M kids run         

Lake Mills, WI

Sunday, June 10, 2012 

Verona Hometown Days Run/Walk

10K run, 5K run      

Verona, WI

Saturday, June 16, 2012  

Block The Sun Run

5K run, 3K walk      

Wisconsin Dells, WI

Early Bird Strut

5K run         

Stoughton, WI

Fruit Fest Madison FruitLoop 

5K Run/Walk

Madison, WI

Tri 4 Schools Family Fun Run

5K fun run, 1M walk

Madison, WI

YWCA 5K Pancake Run and 1/2 Mile Kids Fun Run

5K run, 5K walk, kids run  

Janesville, WI

Saturday, June 23, 2012  

Country Block Fun Run

8K run         

Dane, WI

Crazierlegs Run

2M run         

Madison, WI

Move Your Caboose 5K Run/Walk

5K run, kids run      

Madison, WI

StrawberryFest Run/Walk

10K run, 5K run, 5K walk, 1M run, 1M walk     

Sun Prairie, WI

Sunday, June 24, 2012  

Oregon Summer Fest Classic 5k Run/Walk and 10k Run

10K run, 5K run, 5K walk  

Oregon, WI

Saturday, June 30, 2012  

Firecracker 5000 Run/Walk

5K run, 5K walk

McFarland, WI

Run To The Rhythm Run/Walk

5M run, 5K run, 5K walk   

Madison, WI

Cellulite: The Facts

Cellulite! UGH! What woman doesn’t start pinching body parts when they hear that word? What is it and HOW CAN WE MAKE IT GO AWAY?

Cellulite doesn’t discriminate – young or old -overweight or not – it can show up on girls in their teens or even younger. Why? Because despite what you’ve heard about cellulite being some mysterious condition linked to "trapped toxins" or poor circulation, cellulite is simply old-fashioned fat. It just looks different because of how it's arranged.

Everyone has strands of connective tissue that separate fat cells into compartments and connect fat to skin. In women, these fibers form a honeycomb-shaped pattern, so any increase of fat tends to bulge out like stuffing in a mattress. You see less cellulite in men because their fibers run horizontally, forming a criss-cross pattern that prevents bulging or dimpling.

Of course, not everybody will develop cellulite in their lifetime. That’s because genetics determines where your fat cells are and how many fat cells you have. Activity level is another crucial factor associated with cellulite. If you exercise regularly, you’ll decrease your odds of developing cellulite, or if you do, the dimpled look won’t be quite as pronounced.

Though cellulite can pop up any time, it is true that cellulite does seem to appear out of nowhere and gets worse with age. That's because our tissues change. Those strands of connective tissue thicken with age, and our skin gets thinner, making cellulite more noticeable. More importantly, we gain fat with age. The average woman loses 5 lb of muscle and replaces it with about 15 lb of fat every decade of her adult life, says Prevention advisor Wayne Westcott, PhD.

"Because fat is exceptionally soft, it doesn't keep our skin taut like muscle does. It also takes up more space, so it bulges out," he explains.

Unfortunately, too many people still hang on to the idea of quick and easy fixes. Beware of cellulite cream makers, medical procedures like liposuction or cosmetic treatments like body wraps. They don’t work. No cream applied to the skin can penetrate the skin and rearrange the fat cells beneath the surface. Liposuction is designed to remove excess deposits of fat, but it won’t change the appearance of fat. As for body wraps, the effect is only temporary. Fat is compressible, so when you do the wrap, it will smooth your skin, but by the next day, your skin will be back to normal.

This is all very depressing information. I’ve just explained what doesn’t work. Is there anything that does? Here’s the good news:  cellulite can be improved upon with diet and exercise. A combination of strength training and cardiovascular should be implemented into your workout routine - recognizing that you cannot spot reduce.

References:

http://www.prevention.com/fitness/strength-training/how-get-rid-cellulite-fast

http://www.acefitness.org/fitfacts/fitfacts_display.aspx?itemid=356

Why the Greens Are Good

Fruits and vegetables should make up a large portion of your diet. They are low in calories, which is good; and they are high in vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals and fiber, which is even better.

Experts suggest that you eat five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables every day. Do you know what that actually looks like? One serving of raw vegetables would be about one cup chopped. That’s about the size of a baseball. So five to nine baseballs of raw vegetables a day? Are YOU eating that much? I had a friend tell me just last week that if we actually ate what we were SUPPOSED to eat, we wouldn’t have TIME or ROOM in our stomachs for the bad stuff!

Eating the suggested amount of fruits and vegetables on a daily basis is difficult for many people. Busy schedules, eating on the run, and the temptation of junk foods are all barriers to getting enough fruits and vegetables into your diet.

Here at New Self we have a FABULOUS way to help you get your servings of fruits and vegetables! We found a way to sneak in at least ONE of those daily servings of fruits and vegetables with our True Greens smoothies. Marketed as “salad bar in a jar”, one serving of True Greens is equal to one USDA serving of daily fruits and vegetables. 

Enjoy!

Where Did All My Energy Go?

There is much we do to maintain good health. Exercising and eating properly are at the top of the list. We know that we need to eat so that our bodies have the energy needed to perform workouts as well as for everyday tasks. A very common question people ask is WHAT to eat before and after workouts. Also, WHEN to eat before and after each workout is equally important.

Whatever form of exercise you are doing – whether it’s cardio or resistance, you deplete energy in the form of glycogen. Glycogen is the main source of fuel for our brain and central nervous system. If we don’t replace this fuel after exercise, our bodies will begin to break down muscle tissue.

Keep in mind this information is meant to give you a point at which to begin. The ideal timing, food and nutrient breakdown will differ per individual. I always say trial and error is the best way to learn what works best. No one wants to spend a workout suppressing the need to vomit the banana they ate 20 minutes prior. But LESSON LEARNED … that individual just discovered they can’t eat so close to their workout!

A good time to eat your pre-workout meal is an hour before you start. If the workout is at a lower intensity, keep the calories down to around 200 or so. If you are working at a higher intensity, you might need to add calories.

After exercise, you need to re-hydrate with fluids, replace muscle glycogen with carbohydrate, and drink or eat protein to rebuild muscle tissue - all within 15 - 60 minutes for best nutrient utilization. Muscles need protein for recovery and growth, and the best time to deliver protein appears to be right after exercise. Providing high-quality protein after exercise gives your muscles the fuel and the building blocks needed for both repair and for growth.

Protein shakes and powders can be a quick and convenient way to replenish. Only 10 to 20 grams of protein is needed to provide amino acids (the building blocks of protein) to muscles. As mentioned before, the exact amount you need is influenced by a variety of factors such as your size, muscle mass and on the intensity and duration of your workout.

In my experience, people seem to associate replenishing their energy with only carbohydrates. Though you will get the bulk of your actual daily energy from fast-burning carbohydrates, you cannot utilize that energy unless you body has plenty of protein.

Often overlooked is the fact that right after a resistance workout, your muscles go into a repair mode. During resistance workouts you break down muscle tissue by creating micro tears. Proteins are the key macronutrient for muscle repair and so you don’t want muscle breaking down further to create fuel in place of lost glycogen.

Both carbohydrates and protein are necessary if you want to utilize your maximum energy and maintain high energy in your fitness routine. Check out New Self’s smoothie menu for a great way to replenish following a good workout! LifeForce’s AminoCharge is our protein powder that derives its protein sources from whey, pea and rice (soy free). The trainers were even involved in creating some of the recipes!

Top 10 Reasons to Experience CORE I

10. Most of the exercises appear easy, but you learn quickly they are actually difficult.

9. You can witness firsthand my inability to count "1, 2, …8." (no joke)

8. If you’ve ever wondered what purpose the fitness accessories in the gym serve, you can bet the accessory is utilized in CORE I (bands, loops, balls, rollers…)

7. It teaches you proper form to help prevent a myriad of future injuries (i.e., rotator cuff injuries, running injuries, low back pain).

6. With my inability to be silent, you will probably be educated on some fitness-related topic regardless if you want to or not.

5. The face-down exercises allow you to smell the fabric softener of the clean New Self towels!

4. You will develop a life-long love/hate relationship with your loop.

3. Never will you hear the command "pelvic tilt" so much within one hour.

2. The music allows you to sample many different versions of the same song.

And the number one reason to take CORE I is....

You get to work muscles you’ve never heard of, but will definitely be aware of tomorrow! (and they'll thank you!)