The Coronavirus Pandemic has made many of us think again about our own health. Even the time released during the period of self-isolation has allowed us to improve our lifestyle and daily routine. Running and cycling in social distance conditions have become very popular because they do not require special conditions and the promise given to oneself – “I will start working out tomorrow” – is easy to keep in this sense.
Of course, jogging and cycling, like exercising in the gym, are good for our health, but sudden changes in activity can cause serious damage. Muscles, tendons and bones – all of them need to adapt to increased activity. If the load is applied evenly, it can cause muscle strain or bone damage – cracks in the bone.
Risk of injury and strain during exercise
Exercise usually should heal the body and reduce the risk of adverse events such as fatigue, trauma and illness. But how do you know if you are overloaded?
It is at this point that we need to consider the concept of load – which greatly determines the results of exercise on your body. The load is affected by many different factors, including: how far you run, how long you engage in yoga, or how intense your activity is in the gym or Zoom training classes.
To begin with, it is important to consider the amount of energy that your exercise regimen requires, because the energy in the human body is like money – there is a limited amount. How this energy is expended is decided by the brain.
The tissues and internal organs of our body need a certain amount of energy to maintain vitality, thus in the first place in the priorities, obviously, they are. The rest of the energy can be transferred to different functions only after that: physical activity, mental load, ability to recover, and self-healing.
When energy is misallocated and there are not enough forces left in the body for the ability to recover and self-medicate, a so-called energy loan arises in response to a particularly large amount of demand. The “energy loan” is used for muscle, tendon, heart, blood vessel and brain recovery, self-healing, and other necessary processes.
How to avoid overloading?
As already mentioned, quarantine has given many an excellent opportunity to start exercising regularly and, of course, this is to be appreciated. However, moderation is needed in everything, and even in this case, the generally held opinion that the more you exercise, the better, is not true
To reduce the risk of injury, it is important to constantly monitor and analyze your average daily load. It should be described during the week, and then – compared with the data of the past four weeks.
You should do four to five low-intensity exercises before high-intensity ones. Such a strategy is popular among athletes in various sports. It allows you to “get in shape” soon after your workout, which in turn guarantees that you will be able to exercise regularly and reduce your risk of injury.