5 Simple Ways to Avoid Workout Injuries
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As we grow older, our body needs a lot more care in order to maintain optimal performance. This is because our bodies become more prone to injury as they aren’t as resilient as they once were. And the last thing I want—and I'm sure you do, too—is to hurt myself while honoring my body with movement.
In this episode of the Embrace Your Real podcast, I’m going to share 5 ways we can do to ensure that we stay safe and injury-free during our workouts! Stay tuned to learn how to train correctly, and follow the proper protocol for avoiding injury.
What I discuss:
Don’t skip the warm up!
Use proper form.
Focus on gradual progression.
Avoid muscle imbalances.
Listen to your body.
If you loved this episode, you might also love…
Episode 259 - 6 Rules For Determining The Weight To Use In Your Workouts
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Transcript:
Speaker 1: [00:00:00] Hey there, beautiful human. You're listening to Embrace Your Real with me, Julie Ledbetter. A podcast where I empower you to just be you. With each episode, I issue a dose of real talk and actionable advice for building your confidence, honoring your body, and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned if you're ready to embrace your real. Let's get it, let's go. [00:00:21][20.7]
[00:00:27] Hello and welcome to another episode on Embrace Your podcast. Five Simple Ways to Avoid Workout Injuries. One thing that I know for sure is that I am not in my twenties anymore. I genuinely need to give my body more time to rest and extra TLC to ensure that it's functioning at its highest, most optimal self. And that's, you know, that's given. That's something that I knew would become in it's coming a little bit sooner than I wish. But as we get older, our bodies become more prone to injury. They're not as resilient as they once were. But there are some things that we can do to combat that, to ensure that we're staying safe and injury free during our workouts. Because really, the last thing that I want to do is injure myself while honoring my body with movement. And I'm assuming that that's the last thing you want to do as well. [00:01:10][43.0]
[00:01:10] Here's the thing. When we are lifting heavy things, especially when we're new, we put ourselves in a vulnerable position to get injured, but we don't have to. If we know how to resistance, train properly and follow the correct protocol for avoiding injury. So that's what we're going to be talking about in today's episode. It's one of those topics that it's not as flashy, but it's also so important because it's something that you wish you would have known. Hindsight, 2020, right? So arm yourself. Educate yourself now so that you have it in your toolbox. [00:01:39][28.2]
[00:01:39] Before you dive in, though, I want to share this review. It comes from B.C. Girl. Ha. She gave a five star review and said Inspiring love this podcast. Exactly what I need to hear to get me going in the right direction. Thanks, Julie. Sweet. Simple to the point. I love it, my girl. Thank you so much for leaving a rating interview. If you guys could scooch over to Apple Podcasts first, make sure you are subscribed so that you never miss an episode on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, on whatever podcast app you have on your phone. Every phone has a free podcasts app. Open that up, type in Embrace are real, then hit subscribe. And then also if you could leave a rating interview, that would mean the absolute world to me and our team. [00:02:15][36.2]
[00:02:16] Okay, so let's dive into the five simple ways to avoid injuries while working out. Number one, do not skip the warmup so most women want to skip the warm up If they're short on time. They think, you know, the exercises are easy and that the warm up maybe isn't actually going to do anything or it's not doing anything. But here's a thing. A warm up is not just a mundane ritual or unnecessary delay to your workout. Most importantly, it's not a waste of time. It's essentially think of it like this. It's a secret handshake between you and your body, ensuring a safe and productive training session. Your muscles will perform their best if they don't have to go from 0 to 100 all at once. And here's why. [00:02:52][36.0]
[00:02:52] As you begin your warmup, your heart rate gently rises. You're pumping more blood to your muscles. This increased blood flow delivers vital oxygen and nutrients to your muscles, preparing them for the upcoming workload. They become more primed. They're ready to take on the load you're about to place on them. And without this blood flow, your muscles won't be as ready and you'll likely become more susceptible to pulling muscle or hurting yourself. Plus, these dynamic movements during your warm up will help to wake up those muscles from sleeping all night or sitting all day at the desk or whatever it is. And this activation really does help to improve coordination, making your movements during your dumbbell workouts more effective and more efficient. Plus these dynamic movements during your warmup session, such as leg swings or arm circles, hip rotations, I mean, you name it, we do tons of different things in our warm ups. [00:03:40][47.4]
[00:03:40] This is also going to encourage your muscles to move through a range of motion so not only enhances flexibility, but also helps to prevent the muscle strains and the pull. So even as simple, you know, 1 to 5 minute warm up is going to be extremely beneficial. Not only will it help to prevent injury, but it'll also help you to just get in the right mindset and even help you to lift heavier, push harder in your workouts. Inside My Movement or Julie app, every single workout has a designated warm up suited for that specific warm up work out of the day to ensure that you are warming up and you're slowly engaging the muscles that you're going to be activating during your workout. So you'll oftentimes see a mimic movement of something that you'll see later in the workout or just, you know, opening up your hips or ensuring that your legs are good and primed and ready to go. [00:04:30][49.4]
[00:04:30] Also, following these warm ups, you have the workout and then you also have cooldowns, which is a whole nother topic. But cooldowns are just as important. So just remember that they don't have to be long, but they can be short, quick, efficient and to the point and it can really, really help. [00:04:45][14.8]
[00:04:45] Number two, using proper form, proper form is crucial when it comes to dumbbell training, especially to help you to avoid injury. Trust me, there's actually real science behind it. So first things first. When you are using proper form, you are ensuring that your muscles are working optimally. This means that you're hitting the right muscles without putting excess strain on your joints and connective tissues. [00:05:08][22.5]
[00:05:09] So when you perform an exercise with bad form, you might unknowingly overload certain parts of your body leading to discomfort or even injuries over time. So kind of imagine doing a bicep curls, sloppy form. You're swinging your whole body to lift the weight. Not only will you be cheating yourself out on the muscle gains that you could. Yes, from that specific movement. But you're also putting unnecessary strain on your lower back, your shoulders. This is where injuries can easily sneak in and wreck your progress. Kind of some technical stuff to back it up. So proper form helps to maintain a neutral spine and proper joint alignment, which can actually reduce the risk of wear and tear on your ligaments and tendons. It also can ensure that the lotus evenly distributed across the muscles involved preventing any muscle imbalances that could lead to overuse injuries in the future. Oh, and let's not forget about stability, right? When you use good form, you are engaging your stabilizer muscles, which play a crucial role in keeping you steady during your exercises. [00:06:10][61.3]
[00:06:11] So ignoring this can actually lead to wobbly movements, making you more prone to injuries and decreasing the effectiveness of the workout. So you might be thinking, well, can I just muscle through and get stronger? Sure, you might see some gains initially, but long run, you are really setting yourself up for trouble. Injuries can seriously set back your progress and sometimes even sideline you from training altogether, which is why so many women inside the app love the demo videos that I do for every movement. [00:06:37][25.9]
[00:06:37] And I'm telling you, for all of you ladies who are inside the app, we have cue videos coming very, very soon. And I'm so excited about this because these are going to be kind of walk through quick, walk through videos, 1 to 2 minutes of walking you through the movement, really ensuring that you have all of the cues for foundational movement. So think of bicep curls, think of hammer curls, think of bent over rows, think of bent over tricep kickbacks, Think of glute bridges, Think of deadlifts, which is one of the biggest questions that I get on a weekly basis, which I get. You know, if you are doing a deadlift wrong, you are easily likely and might maybe unknowingly putting unnecessary pressure on your lower back. And so the next day you wake up and you're like, Oh my gosh, my glutes are not sore. My, my lower back is or oftentimes it's these simple tweaks and the key videos I'm going to I'm telling you, they're going to be a game changer. They're going to be inside the app under the resource library. So stay tuned for that. That is coming very, very soon. And I cannot wait for you ladies. Get your hands and your eyes in your ears on these, because I really think that they're going to be beneficial. [00:07:38][60.8]
[00:07:39] Number three, focus on gradual progression. So gradual progression is really a game changer when it comes to injury prevention during resistance training. So I know I talk a lot about progressive overload, which means that we need to place our body under new stress continuously if we want to build the body that we want. And this is because our body is great at adapting. Therefore, we need to place new demands on our body so that our body continues to adapt and doesn't get comfortable. But we also need to place new demands on our body in a gradual way. So progressive overload, yes, but in a slow and gradual way. [00:08:11][31.8]
[00:08:11] Because here's the thing. Our muscles are not the only ones on the action, like in our dumbbell workouts, right? Our tendons, our ligaments, our bones. They're all playing super important roles and getting stronger. But the catch is your muscle can adapt and grow rate way faster than your tendons, your ligaments, your bones. And so sometimes they need extra time to catch up to the muscle gains. So gradual progression really gives them the time that they need. Another important aspect of progressive overload is gradual progression in our brain and nerves. So at the end of the day, we wouldn't be able to work out and build muscle without these two things, which is oftentimes two things that are overlooked through gradual progression. Our brain and our nerves are able to learn and communicate better and activate the right muscles at the right time. [00:08:55][44.3]
[00:08:56] So if we move too fast and place too much load on our body too quickly, we're not going to feel coordinated in our movement and we're going to become more prone to injury. So how the heck do we ensure that we're utilizing the principle of progressive overload while focusing on gradual progression? So it's really all about starting with weights that we can handle without feeling like we're carrying a mountain on our shoulders. It needs to feel challenging in a very controlled weight. So oftentimes I say this a lot. If you're just starting out for upper body, oftentimes you're going to likely start with a light dumbbells that could be £5, £8, £10. I mean, even as a season lifter myself, there are certain exercises. I'll just think off the top of my head. Rear doubt flies. Okay. That's a very, very small muscle that you're targeting. Your rear doubt, I would say. I mean, even as a seasoned lifter, I still do 7.5 to £10. I mean, £10 is like if I'm feeling good, oftentimes it's like £5 or £7.5 for rear door flies, because I'm really trying to focus on that mind muscle connection and not overusing any of the other muscles that I don't want to be targeting. Because if you're think about this bent over, rear doubt flies. All right? If you have to have your weight, you're likely going to be using your lower back. You're going to be using your back muscles. You're going to be swinging to try to get the dumbbells up. So instead, start lighter, make sure it's controlled. And I always tell people that, you know, you have the right way if the last 1 to 3 wrap. Are nearly impossible. Like you are huffing and puffing. They're frickin hard, but you are still able to maintain proper form. That's how you know that you have the proper weight. And I know that it can feel overwhelming. And this is why I love the feature that tracks the weight for each exercise that you log inside the app. [00:10:45][109.1]
[00:10:45] And this is why I'm a huge believer in logging your workouts, because I think not only is it empowering to see the amount of weight that you're lifting each session and really striving for more in a world of fitness that is constantly bombarding us with less, right? We need to weigh less. We need to have a lesser pant size. I think being able to strive for higher weight and lifting heavier can be really empowering, but also it allows you to see your exercise history so you know what you use. The last time that that exercise was programed in the app, that can be super beneficial. I also have an episode that talks about this episode to 59 six rules for determining your weight in your workouts. I'll link that so that you can easily go check that out after this episode. But I really think that that's going to be beneficial for you. All in all, slow progression really equals safe progression, and safe progression equals optimal progression and optimal results. [00:11:36][51.1]
[00:11:37] Number four, avoid muscle imbalances. So muscle imbalances happen when certain muscles become overworked, they're overdeveloped and others remain underutilized. So these imbalances can really lead to overcompensation in certain movements place excessive stress on specific joints or muscles, which then leads to injury. [00:11:55][18.2]
[00:11:56] For example, an overemphasis on chest exercises without building your back muscles can contribute to rounded shoulders and poor posture, which can lead to pain and injury. Another good example is the imbalance between your quads and your hamstrings. So having one stronger than the other is a super common trigger for knee injuries, and oftentimes your quads are naturally going to be stronger. So trying to get your hamstrings as strong as your quads is likely unrealistic. But that doesn't mean that you disregard your hamstrings. Your hamstrings are the hardest for the majority of people, the hardest and most difficult to build. So really putting an emphasis on those hamstrings, making sure that you are strengthening them. Another simple way to keep your muscles balanced is by incorporating more compound exercises into your workouts. [00:12:43][47.1]
[00:12:44] So compound movements require multiple muscle groups working together. So a squat is a great example of a compound exercise as it's working your quads, your hamstrings, your glutes, your abductors, your calves, your core. It's not just working your quads or it's not just working your hamstrings. Although it is important to have those accessory moves, right, Like lying hamstring curls. I know we just program that in the app a few weeks ago. That's going to be super important, but also implementing both of these kind of accessory movements as well as these compound movements. Another simple way to ensure your muscles remain balanced is by ensuring that you're using proper form. Proper form means that you are using the correct muscles for each exercising. You're not overcompensating with the wrong muscles. So this is really important and this is honestly why I'm a huge, huge believer in the go at your own pace style workouts because it just allows you to slow the heck down. [00:13:36][51.9]
[00:13:36] I see so many people and they are rushing through their workout and I am like, Holy Batman, you are not even targeting anything like me. Yeah, your heart rate is skyrocketing and so maybe you're sweating, which is leading you to think that you're getting a good workout and maybe you're getting a great cardiovascular workout, but at the expense of you potentially risking injury and then also not really targeting any of your muscles, To me, that doesn't make sense. And so that's why I love go at your own pace. I love the opportunity to go as slow as you want. If you always follow my workouts on any of my social platforms, you guys know that I am so slow in my movements. Like sometimes people say they're like, Can you speed it up a little bit? Because I'm like, trying to get the whole workout in your reel and like, it's taking forever. And I'm like, No, I need to show you guys how slow I actually lift because it is a game changer when you can really recruit all the right muscles and you have that mind muscle connection. I'm telling you, it is a total game changer in your workouts. [00:14:39][62.2]
[00:14:39] And lastly, number five, listen to your body. So really paying attention to your body signals during your workout is essential for avoiding injury. This means that you are going to need to learn how to discern between the burn of a muscle fatigue, which is normal and a harmful pain that can lead to injury. So, yes, you want to push through when it hurts, but only when the hurt is muscle burn and nothing else. Right? The burn is a sensation that comes from lactic acid buildup and fatigue in your muscles, indicating that you're pushing your body hard enough to ignite this adaptation and change. That's good. Harmful pain, on the other hand, is sharp. It's more intense. It's signaling potential injury or overexertion. [00:15:16][36.9]
[00:15:17] So kind of recognizing the difference is crucial. Stop and exercise immediately If you are experiencing a harmful pain, ignoring these signals and really pushing. Through the pain anyway, most often will worsen existing injuries and or create new ones. So if this happens, you can try to modify the exercise or skip it altogether if necessary for modifications inside the app. I gave you modifications for 99.9% of movements. Okay, We have a low impact. We have oftentimes, at least for all of the videos I've been re filming, I've been giving you a dumbbell, low impact. I mean, yelling, giving you a body weight impact. I mean, giving you a body weight, low impact, like there are so many alternate exercises and I never want you to feel bad for modifying or using an alternate exercise. It is in I think I am more proud of people that do that than people that are like, Oh no, I'm just going to do the actual exercise and push through and then they get injured. To me, that's not impressive. It's not impressive when you have this ego, when it comes to working out, it's more impressive to me when you are humble and you approach your workout with that humbleness and know, you know, in this state, in my life or in this season, in my life or today, you know, maybe tomorrow I could do it. But today I got, you know, 4 hours of sleep because my baby was up for 2 to 3 hours. It's okay. Don't ever feel bad for choosing that alternate exercise. Modify and just keep going. [00:16:38][81.0]
[00:16:39] So if you are interested in the app, you can learn more. I have a link for that sale, that moment which you'll e-com. But overall, I just want to encourage you to just listen to your body. And sometimes this means shutting off the TV when you're working out or shutting off the podcasts or the music and allowing yourself to have that that mind muscle connection. I talked about this in a few episodes ago talking about breathing, right? If you've never focused on your breathing before, sometimes you need to just work out in silence. And I was talking about how I've been doing that a couple of times a week. You know, sometimes it's the whole workout, other times it's, you know, the first 10 to 15 minutes of the workout. But it is really allowing me to focus specifically on my breathing, focusing on that mind muscle connection and really giving my all in the movements. And when you do that, you will see a night and day difference when you are putting your mind into every single movement. I know that sounds silly, but our mind, our brain, it has to connect to that muscle. And when it connects to a to that specific muscle, you might have done that movement a hundred times, but never with mind muscle connection. And on the whole time you do it with mind muscle connection, I'm telling you, the next day you are going to feel soreness in your muscles that you have never felt before. And that's the beauty of our body all working in harmony together when we're lifting. [00:18:05][86.6]
[00:18:06] Okay, let me recap what I talked about in today's episode. Number one, don't skip the warm up. Number two, utilize proper form. Those cue videos are coming. Number three, focus on gradual progression. Number four, avoid muscle imbalances. And lastly, number five, listen to your body. This is so, so, so important. Again, if you want to learn more and utilize the movement with Julie App to work out effectively and safely and do dumbbell workouts from literally anywhere it could be. I saw one of our girls, she and her mom and her sis. You know, if you're listening to this, you know what I'm talking about. They were camping all week and they were she was posting workouts every morning. They were doing their workouts with her mom and her sister. And I was like and they were right outside their camper. And I'm like, You fricking go, girl. It is so encouraging to me to see people prioritize their movement even on vacation. It is just like it lights me up. It is so, so encouraging. [00:19:01][55.5]
[00:19:02] So you can literally do these dumbbell workouts anywhere. All you need is a few pair of dumbbells, a small space, and your phone there go at your own pace. Huge, huge believer and go at your own pace. Our workouts. I just I could not be a I'm forever a fan of them they are so so good and they really allow you to focus on the movement and not rush through the workout to avoid injury. If you want to learn more about how much you should be lifting. I talked about this episode earlier, but episode 259 - 6 Rules for determining the weight to use in your workouts. I will link that episode in the show notes so that you can easily go check that out. [00:19:35][33.2]
[00:19:36] But that is all that I have for today's episode. If you have a friend, a coworker or someone in your life that you feel like could really benefit from this specific episode or this podcast in general, I just ask you, share it out with them, You can copy the link, send it to them in a text message. You can also screenshot this posted up on your Instagram story. I always love connecting with the guys, seeing your aha moments, but I love you so much. I mean it and I'll talk to you outside. [00:19:56][20.4]
[00:20:04] All right, sister. That's all I got for you today. But I have two things that I need you to do. First thing, if you are not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so. Julie, A lot better. Yes, It's with a name in the middle for that daily poser about real talk. Healthy tips and tricks and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check. The second thing be sure to subscribe to Apple Podcasts to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world. And I'm going to leave you with one last thought. The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface. So go out there and embrace your real because you're worth it. [00:20:04][0.0]