My past few referrals presented in the past week or two had a common underlying cause for their pain.

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Here’s why: Because they started exercising! (I’m not suggesting exercise is bad! Please keep reading!)

Nowadays, more people are becoming health conscious. Lifestyle changes are starting to develop, from choice of foods, to awareness of posture. More surprisingly, the seemingly daunting and difficult task of starting an exercise regimen is becoming a more common occurrence!

“Exercise is a healthy lifestyle habit.”

“Exercise is a healthy lifestyle habit.”

There is growing motivation of people choosing to take up sports, gym memberships, yoga classes or group fitness classes to get fit.

However, I’d also like people to think differently. Some people overdo exercise programs, causing new or triggering old injuries and problems like back pain, knee pain, or shoulder pain. Others get injured, not because of overdoing, rather, because they are not fit enough to do the chosen activity.

We may need to get fit to play sport instead of playing sport to get fit (‘sport’ being your chosen activity).

Here are some checkpoints to access your fitness before participating in sports:

1. Can you walk up 5 flights of stairs without stopping and feeling breathless?
2. Can you perform star jumps for 90 seconds without stopping?
3. Can you bend forward, backward, lean sideways and twist without any aches or pains?
4. Do you have full and pain free shoulder movement in every direction? Front, back, side, circular motions?
5. Can you balance on one leg while slightly elevating the other leg for a minute?

Here are some tips to note when planning, and starting new exercise programs. They are relevant for couch potatoes new to exercise, as well as someone who has had a break from exercise for an extended period of time.

1. Know your body, know your limits
   There is no benefit from pushing yourself so hard too early on. As the saying goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

2. Plan and set goals that are doable
   Make realistic goals: Instead of saying you’ll exercise 4 times a week, set the target at 2. Accomplish twice weekly, and then move up to 3x, and 4x after that.

3. Understand there is good pain from working out, and there’s bad pain, because something is overstrained, overworked or injured.

• Feeling sore the next day (sometimes two days!) is fine, as long as it doesn’t persist. Sore is different to pain. If something is painful, back off and give your body time to adapt to the new activity.
• If you feel pain during and straight after your exercise, and it persists longer than 30 minutes, there is a high chance something has been overstrained and/or injured. Get it checked by a musculoskeletal specialist – like a sports trained chiropractor.

4. Give yourself variety

• Whether it’s adding a social aspect to exercise, or signing up a variety of classes from yoga, to high intensity aerobics, dance classes, to swimming. Creating a change in routine allows the body to stay alert, and use all your muscles, joints and ligaments creating a much better overall health and wellness.
• This will also add to sustainability. “Same old same old” can get boring fast, so motivation can be lost quickly.

Please share these with your friends, colleagues, and family members who are considering or have started a new exercise program. I wish you all the success and safety in starting up a new healthy lifestyle habit, and that it allows you to accomplish your goals.

If you need advice, or help on how to start exercising, what types of exercises you should do or avoid because of certain aliments, or want a personalized training and fitness program, please drop me an email or call 6733 4439. You can also request for our most requested corporate talk “Keep Fit When You Sit” for your company or organization.

Together with my personal trainers, and yoga gurus, we’ll definitely be able to help you achieve your goals safely and effectively.

Train Wise, Train Well!