What do you do to avoid injury?

[Jane1721]

I agree about crosstraining. I am also careful with exercises that put too much weight on the shoulders (like push-ups and planks), because of a previous injury. And who is the smart VFer who said if you feel pain, stop? I wish I would have done more of that when I was younger and thought puke in a bucket workouts were the only way to go.

[Jeanne Marie]

The main thing I watch out for are workouts that use dangerous moves and/or props.... that's just asking for an injury. There are some workouts out there that use props that are (in my opinion) just silly. Why reinvent the wheel? It just seems to me that they're are trying too hard to be different. In the process they are creating a workout that is not safe.

At the risk of offending those who love the Horizontal Conditioning workouts, I fail to see the purpose of balancing yourself on a body bar that is balanced crossways on a step. So what are ya gonna do when that bar rolls while you're in a plank position on one foot? You're going to face plant. Or you're going to tweak a wrist. It's completely unnecessary and I think irresponsible of her to promote such a move. I do the workout, but forget that body bar nonsense.

It's all about doing what works for you, and what you as a smart exerciser know to be safe and effective.

[barreboxbell]

After 12 years of devoted exercise, I've never even suffered a minor injury. I try to do low impact as much as possible, which leaves me with a lot less opportunities to sustain an injury. I also always stop if anything feels even slightly off and listen to my body. My ex-boyfriend recently started getting into fitness and now has a permanent shoulder injury because, his words, he decided to push through the pain. I also make sure I get the right nutrition so my body can better recover from exercise. Accordingly, I always aim for the recommended amount of sleep and keep my stress levels low.

[slysam]

I tend to get more pains if I do the same activity too frequently. Whether it is from overuse, previous injuries or some flaw in my form I can't say. But it helps me if I limit the frequency of certain activities within a week. I also tend not to do challenging resistance training on back to back days whether it be heavy lifting, barre or bodyweight exercises. I am softening a little on the no back-to-back resistance training, but I still am mindful about giving my body enough time to recover. Activities I limit:
*High impact cardio of any sort is limited to about 3 times a week (occasionally more or less, but that is my general rule of thumb). When I do too much I start getting pains in the knees, shins and feet (I have bunions in both feet from dancing so I think this is the source of my foot issue with too much high impact).
*Hiit cardio is limited twice a week at most. This is due my observation that when I track resting pulse and heart rate variability it seems to take me 2-3 days to fully recover from vigorous cardio like short hiit workouts or even long duration vigorous cardio (that isn't quite hiit).
*Exercises like pushups and planks that involve supporting my bodyweight with flexed hands are limited to three times a week. This is in response to my injuring my wrist doing 100 pushup challenge and later injuring my shoulder from a fall.
*On the back ab work is limited to a couple sets, fairly low reps and just a few times a week at most. I've had previous neck injuries (not from exercise) but find if I overdo ab work I tend to use my neck muscles too much. To avoid this, I mainly do plank variations and standing core work. I like to cover my basis though, so I will mix in some pilates, Tracy Anderson abs, or bicycle crunches but limit them in reps and frequency. I stop if I start feeling it in the neck.

Other than that my general rules for myself are to try to use good form and not push too hard. The times when I injured myself were when I was pushing beyond fatigue and no doubt my form was compromised. I think exercises that strengthen some of the smaller and stabilizing muscles help too. I include a fair amount of pre-hab exercises.

[desderata]

I've been die hard home exerciser for over 20 years. Along the way, I've broken my right ankle, torn the meniscus in my left knee, twisted my ankle a couple of times, injured my neck, injured my back, strained my piriformis and have a permanent shoulder injury.

Several of these injuries are attributable to sheer klutziness - working out way early in the a.m. before coffee or working out very distracted. Most of them, though, were caused by me insisting on keeping to an exact rotation no matter what, or pushing through very advanced workouts no matter what my body was telling me or how fatigued my muscles were. Stupid, I know.

Now my goal is to do less than I think I should. I still challenge myself every workout and end up a sweaty mess, but if in doubt I pull back on the poundage, take a rest day, transition to a low impact move, don't go so deep into a stretch, etc. If I am very preoccupied I don't do a step or dancy workout, I use the treadmill. It's just not worth it to be sidelined by an injury. I'm also learning that injuries have a tendency to become weak spots that get re-injured much more easily than whatever caused the initial injury.

[JackieB]

After years of doing more advanced workouts, I've scaled back considerably. I also always do a warm up, include plenty of rehabilitative workouts such as Classical Stretch or Qi Gong, and I am working on strengthening my core.

Also, one more word. Modify. I have learned what moves irritate my back and hips, and always modify. I used to have a bit of pride with this, especially if I was taking a class. I let that go...not worth it to have a flare up or new injury.

Jackie

[Castella]

I'm not afraid to go at a pace that works for me and like JackieB says, modify. I have enough in my head now that I can almost always come up with a "similar, just as challenging but safer for me" alternative. And I own my klutziness. No flipping or tossing kettlebells, and no holding the kettlebell by the body only, especially overhead. If it hurts, I stop. In the last year, I've progressed to: if my bones are making grinding noises, stop I know where I'm vulnerable (nothing unusual, wrists, neck, knees, ankles) and try to protect those joints. And also as already said, no crazy stunts. I might do them in my head (where I'm also a fabulous trapeze artist and a marvel at balance and yoga) but that's it. I try to keep it simple--I don't really combine anything with a step, for instance. Appropriate shoes and no working out on unforgiving surfaces (concrete, frozen ground).

[kmissa]

I go slow and modify when I need to. I'd rather focus on correct form them try and go at the same speed with the DVD esp if I don't exactly understand the move.

[Taramisu]

Originally Posted by BigBadBetty

Of course, none of the helped for my latest injury. I walked into a 10-lb dumbbell. I didn't break anything, but it seems like it took forever to heal. (Feel free to laugh at me...I would like to think my clumsiness is at least entertaining.)

I have managed to sprain my ankle twice by tripping in the house, once in the kitchen and once over a box in the hallway. While I have full use of my ankle again, I can still feel the effects of it. Sprains take forever to fully heal.

[Sue B]

I always do a mobility/limbering-type warmup, avoid doing too many reps (15 is the limit), slow down, and follow Mike Boyle's "Does It Hurt?" rule.

Recovery is so important, too!