We've all been there...🥂🥂New year, New YOU!!! 🥂🥂
It's the beginning of a new year, the year 2025! 🥳🥳🥳🥳
We survived the holidays, the work parties, the gift giving, the never ending to do lists...and the entire year of 2024! 🌟
It is very common for a lot of people to start a new workout regimine and they aren't always ready for it. So, here is my advice....
SLOW DOWN and TAKE YOUR TIME!!!
I completely understand wanting to jump right in! Believe me, I've done it before...many times....but this comes from experience....I promise I'm looking out for you.....
SLOW DOWN and TAKE YOUR TIME
WHY?
Well, is it really worth the risk???
Here's what happens..... You jump in, excited! You go hard! You used to workout really hard when you were younger, so this is NOTHING! OR...you go medium, but you haven't worked out in months or years....
And then it happens....you did too much....you are too sore...you lifted wrong.....You wait it out....but the pain doesn't go away. And finally it is March, April, May and you feel like you should get it looked at because the pain still hasn't gone away.
And that is when you end up in my office. 👩🏼⚕️
So believe me when I'm telling you, I am looking out for YOU!
Did you know that the FIRST 4 weeks of strengthening actually involves a prcoess called Neural Adaptation?
Neural Adaptation is the development or the re-learning of a movement pattern. It is when your body's nervous systems developes adaptation to activities or exercises. These changes allow you to start to more fully activate more motor units in the muscle. It also helps you to recruit these motor units faster and improves coordination. So, your body starts to learn how to recruit and how to move and this, in turn, creates a greater net force in the movement! And what does greater net force mean? Greater STRENGTH!
Now aside from neural adapation, we also have to look at other things: Bones, Ligaments, Cartilage, Tendons! YES....these are important too! We tend to forget about these guys and tend to focus more on muscle hypertrophy and strength. If you go too hard too fast, you risk injuring these areas too.....this is where I see the common injuries of:
Stress Fractures: Your bone can develop stress fractures from too much repetitive force or from not allowing your body to recover appropriately.
(see prior blog post here: https://www.journeypainfree.com/post/breaking-point-navigating-stress-fractures-in-athletes)
Meniscus Tears: Your Cartilage needs time to adjust to force. These guys are our cushion and help us with shock absorption in our joints. Moving too hard too fast can put too much pressure on these areas, especially when you are fatigued, causing poor form or sudden movements your body is not ready for. This can then lead to tears or other issues.
Ligament Sprains: Your ligaments need time to learn the proprioception of movements. If they are not able to adjust, it is easier to sprain your ligaments.
Tendon Strains: Your tendons may try to take on too much and can easily strain themselves! This can then lead to other chronic issues such as tendonopathies, tendonitis or tears.
See? I got you! I am really trying to help you train SMARTLY! For all of these to adjust, I would recommend giving yourself a good 6-8 weeks. It also allows yourself to get in a better routine and habit without all the pressure.
Lastly.....after neural adapatation, and as these other parts of your body are adjusting to your training, comes hypertophy.
Hypertrophy is what a lot of us are going for! Men want more muscle mass! Women want to be toned! And all of this includes building muscle! There is a lot we can discuss when training for Hypertrophy....Progressive overload training, HIIT training, Plyometrics, Blood Flow Restrictions training, etc.....But before I get too excited, lets just keep it short and simple..
TAKE YOUR TIME! Once you are in this phase, give yourself a few weeks to adjust to new weights. Don't increase your weights in significant increments at time. Increase slowly and with small increments. Remember, Slow and Steady wins the race...
So, this is where I leave you.....🐅🐅🐅Go Get'em Tiger!🐅🐅🐅
Happy Training!!!
Sincerely,
Dr. Jennifer Greene, PT, DPT, CFMT
Comments