Load Management
The start of a new year often comes with a lot of reflection.
Because of this, it is around this time of year everyone gets that little bump in motivation and are ready to kick some fitness goals. While this is great, it is easy to overdo it early on and end up with injuries such as a muscle strains or tendonitis (inflamed tendons) which hold you back from achieving your goals. Therefore, it important to properly manage this increase in exercise to help prevent injury. The key with load management is to be progressively overloading and not overtraining.
Two common causes of exercise-related injuries are increased load and increased frequency. Let’s chat about them:
1. Increased Load
With this extra burst of motivation, it is very easy to head out the door straight into a big walk, run, cycle or gym session. However, quite often our minds are a bit too confident for our bodies. Instead, we need to gradually build up our load so we can give our body time to adapt. For example, it is not the best idea to sprint out the front door and trying to run as far and fast as you can, instead, just start off with a gentle jog around the block to ease back into it. A good rule of thumb is not increasing your weekly load by more than 10%. For instance, if you are running 5km one week then the next week you should not run more than 5.5km. This rule can be applied across the board whether it be walking, cycling or in the gym.
2. Increased Frequency
Especially when getting back into exercise, it is crucial that we are mindful of how often we are training. Our bodies are pretty amazing, however, we need to give them enough time to adequately recover to avoid getting injured. Therefore, it is okay to have a rest day in between training sessions, you don’t have to feel guilty! A good thing to do instead is incorporate some active recovery on these days such as a simple walk or some gentle muscle strengthening exercises.
Case Study
The diagram above shows the difference between overtraining and progressive overload. The red line demonstrates someone who increases their training load too fast and gets injured as a result which means they have to stop training all together after 3 weeks. Whereas, the green line demonstrates someone who gradually builds up their training load (progressive overload) and is able to continue to progress without getting injured and smash their fitness goals.
Final Word
As always, it is also important to look after your body through healthy eating, high water intake and quality sleep. So, keeping this all in mind, get out there and kick your fitness goals!