Regular Aerobic Exercise
It is advisable to try and get a minimum of 150 minutes of aerobic exercise every week (run, swim, walk, cycle etc). Exercising for just 30 minutes per day for 5 days will meet this guideline.
A 30-minute walk, run, swim or cycle isn’t difficult to include in most schedules; try fitting your workout in before work, during your lunch break or in the evening.
Doing 30 minutes of cardio exercise daily contributes heavily to your overall health. Benefits of this type of workout include boosting your cardiovascular endurance, regulating your cholesterol, improving your heart health and lowering your blood pressure. Cardio workouts also have emotional well-being benefits. As you exercise, your body releases endorphins that can rapidly improve your mood and ease your stress.
Avoid Excess Running
Yes, many of you are probably thinking, ‘but i love running’, unfortunately many people of days society aren’t built or conditioned to perform any significant amount of running due to our lifestyle choices. I won’t go into details here but since many of us are walking around with significant muscular imbalances and postural distortion patterns, performing any significant amount of running on a regular basis will likely result in some sort of injury. Running is an activity that involves high impact, repetitive stress to the body, sometimes for a long duration.
Now I’m not saying not to run but, not to do excessive running, alternate with lower impact activities and make sure you address you underlying muscular and postural dysfunctions as well as core conditioning before making running a regular part of your exercise regime.
For people who have an underlying lower back problem can find running or jogging makes their pain worse or leads to additional types of pain. In this case, I would recommend addressing all the points highlighted above before resuming your running.
Swimming is a great alternative
Regular swimming is great alternative to running for cardiovascular health while keeping your joints mobile and muscles conditioned. It’s low impact compared to running which equates to the less chance of injuries, especially if your carrying excess weight which already puts increased pressures on your joints.
The main reasons why swimming is a good choice:
- Low Impact
- Active Stretching (Full range of motion for many different body parts)
- Just enough resistance to provide aerobic and muscular conditioning
One thing to remember, for many people swimming breaststroke can aggravate back pain. Front Crawl or back stroke would suit better, in addition, it is best to swim with your head in the water rather than keeping your head above water as this will strain your neck and upper back.
Alternatively, treading water or gentle jogging in the pool is a good form of exercise especially if on holiday.
If you would like to keep yourself in peak performance but are struggling with joint pain or back pain our Sport Injury clinic can help return you to peak performance and we can help keep you pain free. For fast, effective pain relief, contact our Sport Injury Clinic today.
