If you exercise at the gym, you’ll be using equipment to start feeling your muscles working and to build up strength while slimming down. But as you work hard at transforming your body, you’ll also be making yourself prone to injuries. If you aren’t careful or you aren’t aware of the potential injuries, they could occur.
Continue reading to learn about the top gym injuries, as well as how to avoid them.
Knee Injuries
Knee injuries are one of the top gym injuries because most of the people who go to the gym have a desk job that keeps them sedentary most of the day. Because you don’t use your hip muscles as much as you should, when you suddenly dive into a kickboxing class or you try out a bootcamp style workout, you’ll be prone to hurting your knees, especially if you’re unstable on your feet and you don improper footwear.
To avoid knee injuries, build the strength in your hips, and work on backward and forward lunges, as well as side-to-side lunges and squats, so you can develop strength and balance. When you lunge, your ankle and hip bend together, so you stabilize and strengthen your knee.
Shoulder Injuries
Shoulder injuries are yet another one of the top gym injuries that people suffer from when they’re attempting to get in shape. And, again, your desk job is to be blame for increasing your risk of getting hurt because, when you type at a computer, you’re putting pressure on your shoulders as your arms internally rotate. When you do exercises like shoulder presses, chest presses, and pushups, you can get hurt from overuse.
To prevent shoulder injuries, focus on externally rotating the arms in order to balance the shoulders. Rowing with cables is a great workout for this purpose. Make sure you rotate the palms away and behind you.
Neck Injuries
Neck injuries are also common at the gym because most people spend so much time in a seated position with rounded shoulders. The poor posture established at your desk will follow you to the gym, and the lack of extension and mobility in the upper back puts stress on the neck.
To prevent these injuries, focus on your posture by aligning your desk and chair appropriately. Then use stretches to open up the back and neck area. Avoid adding more stress to the neck by avoiding exercises that have you raising your arms above your head.
If you keep these tips in mind and use a product like PhenBlue to lose weight, you can make the most of your time at the gym.