Injuries you'll take home if you don't use your head

Posted By: Xoom Project

Hi, there!

Did you think that the bikini challenge was only pre-summer? Well no, it is also post-summer. Even though it’s a lot less famous and is barely mentioned on the TV news, it is becoming more and more frequent.

After the summer holidays, it’s very common to hear expressions such as: “After today, no more. I’m going to sign up at the gymright now. I really over-did it this summer".

Does this ring a bell?

An ice cream?
Well yes, I’m going to orderone with 4 scoops of strawberry, vanilla and chocolate with a massive dollop of double cream on top. I really deserve it.

Shall we have a small beer?
Yes, but I’d like a pint, I’m really thirsty… Oh, and order some nibbles, I see they havepork crackling and I really do fancy that.

Let’s go and have a quiet drink this evening, shall we?
Well I’m not going to write down the answer, I imagine you know how thestory ends...

These are the type of situations that are to blame for how we feel after summer, when we become regretful and would like to scold ourselves. How are we going to solve this? Well it’s very simple, let’s sign up at the gym and pointlessly hammer ourselves. We think it’s brilliant that you’re want to get into shape, what a great decision. But let’s do things using our heads, Rambo! We know ourselves too well...

Signing up at the gym is a much more intelligent idea than cosmetic surgery, a lot cheaper and with better results. It will take longer to achieve the results but your health will greatly benefit from it. And if what’s worrying you is being able to pose as soon as possible on Instagram, please be patient, it will happen... Furthermore, we feel that being healthy on the inside is also really, really cool!

Don’t try to achieve results too quickly, being in a hurry can often cause the most common injuries. Don’t get anxious. Sport is just like the song by Luis Fonsi, ‘Despasito’ (‘Slowly’), but above all, with moderation please, otherwise you’ll end up, just like the song, hating it for the rest of your life.

Where do I start? Do you know what Cross-Training is?

I’m sure you do, everybody is talking about it. Well, it’s not justa trend sport but a great option for staying fit and it’s very complete. Therefore, from here we encourage you to try it. Careful, you’ll get hooked! It’s possible that after watching videos of people practicing Cross-Training, you come to the conclusion that it is a sport for superheroes and that you’re going to get injured just from the ‘thought’ of practicing it.

Keep calm, there are different levels and it isa sport in which there are a lot less injuries than there are in football, basketball or volleyball, for example...

To help you take your first fearless step, in this post I’m going to talk about typical injuries you might suffer when starting to practice this sport, so that you consider them and start by using your head before flexing your strong arms ;-)

Typical beginners’ injuries in Cross-Training

First of all, we would like to make clear once again that: Cross-Training is not just for superheroes, it’s for everyone.

What is true, is that it’s avery demanding sport with very high intensity and load levels of muscle work. This activity will help you to improve accuracy, balance, agility, cardiovascular endurance, muscle power, strength, speedand coordination... and all at the same time. In this light, perhaps you’ll become a mini superhero, hahaha!

This is a high intensity sport, so if you’re really not used to practising sports, it is advisable to startlittle by little,to get to know your body and to keep away from injuries. Injuries are completely avoidable, as long as you don’t get too excited and want to achieve results too quickly.

Now, let’s see in which parts of the body injuries are produced in functional training and how to avoid them:

Shoulder Injuries

It’s one of the most common areas for injuries. In many Cross-Training exercises, we rotate our shoulders and flex our arms using a lot of weight. If we add to this, the quantity of times we don’t warm-up enough and that the eagerness to achieve quick results “prevents us from"stopping in time... fatal cocktail!

Injuries in the Lumbar Region

Be careful and pay special attention to this area, that’s if you don’t want to end up stiff as a board for some time. The lumbar region or lower back area must always be in a correct position (a special lumbar support belt can help).

This area is particularly prone to injuries, specially if you haven't mastered the technique of lifting weights yet or if you train without a coach to guide you. If you add to these factors the typical: short and bad warm-ups, injuryis guaranteed. But this was just what you were shouting for!

Do yourself a favour, don’t spendin massages what you’ve saved in plastic surgery...

Wrist Injuries

Something similar happens to your wrists to what occurs to your shoulders. There are exercises that require a great deal of flexibility in your wrists and it’s very easy to make a bad movement and end up with the manual mobility of a Playmobil for some time. So now you know, be careful with wrist movements that could give you a bit of a scare:

Putting it a bit more technical, some of the most common wrist injuries can affect the radial nerve, and cause carpal tunnelsyndrome or tendonitis... As you can see, it doesn’t sound too good, so it would be convenient to keep in mind wrist guards to help avoid injuring yourself.

Knee Injuries

We’re going to take good care of meniscus and ligaments because if we twist them too much, they might break. Furthermore, they are difficult to recuperate 100%.

How does this happen? Well,with excessinliftings, impact exercises, incorrect postures in squats... It’s easy to notice when you’re applying excessive pressureo n the knees, you should know when to stop and if in doubt it is advisable to stop in time.

These are parts of the body where the most common injuries normally happen when we start off in Cross-Training, but don’t worry, you shouldn’t suffer any injurie sif you know how to avoid them and if you have a good coach. This is why we are going to give yousome very, very, but very simple advice that you can use during training to escape injuries and to enjoy yourself while you’re looking after yourself.

How to avoid injuries in Cross-Training

Yes, I know it seems quite the opposite, but I have no intention of taking away from you ‘the jumping on the bandwag on’ of Cross-Training. What a nerve! On the contrary, in XoomProject we think that it’s a great activity and that’s why we want you to enjoy it for a long time, and for that reason it’s important that you avoid beginners’ injuries.

So, here are some of our tips, which are very simple and of common sense:

#1. Be awareof your limitations. Don’t be a brute!

Specially at the beginning. Leave your ego at home and don’t be impatient, you have nothing to prove to anyone. Don’t ever do more repetitions than your body can handle and if you feel any pain, even though it’s“just a little”, stop immediately (resistance isn’t the same as pain: if it hurts, you’ll know).

#2. STREEEEEETCH!

Stretch and warm-up, as if your life depends on it, as much before training as after. You’re going to put your muscles to work and you have to warn your body before hand so that you don’t catch it off guard. Or maybe you sit down to work in the office without having a coffee before? Well, that’s it.

#3. Rest

Think back to the summer terraces but without the pork crackling. Don’t be a brute, we know each other! If you start the first week flat out and go 7 days non-stop, you’re likely to spend the following 7 days at home crying.

It’s really important for your body to rest in order for it to recuperate. Even though you feel unbeatable, don’t forget this painful: ‘you haven’t become Robin yet’. You’ve been warned, don’t come crying to me later...

#4. Have someone who knows near you

This sport is of very high intensity and it isn’t going to the box for a walk or giving a couple of jumps. Take it seriously and be aware of what you are doing. It’s very important to be in the hands of someone who knows a lot about what Cross-Training entails, who slows you down when you feel unbeatable and above all,who shows you how to do the exercises correctly.

These are our tips so far, I hope you like them ;)

Please note!

Don’t be mistaken by the"light"tone of this article. It’s extremely important that you take injuries seriously and use all available means within your reach to avoid them.

We take them very seriously, but we know that if we explained all of this in a technical and boring way, you wouldn’t read it... Would you?