There are two main reasons why people get injured when exercising in gyms like CrossFit. First reason is poor posture during the day. When you have poor posture, it will weaken your whole musculoskeletal structure over time. To avoid this, make sure your computer monitor / laptop is positioned in a way that you’re not hunching or straining to see it.
The second reason is trying to do too much too quickly. Let’s say you’re trying to build a muscular physique. You want to get results fast so what you do is go straight to the heavy weights and do as many reps as you can. Or perhaps you’re trying to lose 20 pounds and figure if you can just run on the treadmill for 2 hours every day you can lose this weight in a month. But you’d be very wrong.
Here are some common gym-related injuries that are totally preventable.
1. Foot and ankle injuries
People spend their days sitting behind a desk and working on their laptops or desktops with rounded shoulders. When you stand up and your shoulders are rounded, your weight falls to the front area of your foot. So your feet and ankles will end up bearing the brunt of any impact when you run or jog.
To avoid foot and ankle injuries, choose running shoes that is not too elevated in the heel. You can also go for tennis shoes, cross trainers or walking shoes to spread the impact to the entire foot.
2. Knee injuries
Working at our desk all day means we don’t use our hip muscles. And so with weak hip muscles and unstable feet if you decide to workout using techniques like kickboxing or bootcamp, you end up with a knee injury. To prevent this, stabilize and strengthen the knee with lunges until you build strength.
3. Lower back injuries
A rounded back throughout the day will make it difficult for the upper back to overextend so exercises like shoulder lifts can cause injury to the back. To prevent this, always do stretching exercises as well as exercises to strengthen the upper back. If you can, spend more time standing than just sitting at your desk.
4. Shoulder injuries
The arms have to rotate internally when you work on your computer which puts pressure on the shoulder muscles. So after work you hit the gym and do push ups, chest presses and shoulder presses, and guess what, you put yourself at risk of an injury called Supraspinatus tendonitis. To prevent this, try rotating your arms externally so your shoulders are balanced. You can do this by doing rowing exercises using cables. Simply grab the cables and pull your arms back, rotating your palms farther from you as well as behind.
5. Neck injuries
Sitting all day with rounded shoulders can also affect your neck. When you have poor posture and you go to the gym to do bench presses, you’ll have limited mobility and extension in your upper back thereby leading to pain in the neck and lower back.
The key is to ensure your neck and lower back have proper support when doing bench presses. Stretching is also important before doing any exercise to warm up your muscles. Lastly, strengthen your upper and mid back by doing reverse shrugs and remember to be more conscious of your posture.
You can also try these neck pain exercises: