Essential Safety Tips For Exercising At Home

By Brittany

With summer quickly approaching, many Americans are wanting to start an exercise regimen to get in shape. Whether you’ve just built some workout equipment for your in-home exercise room or you’re creating a new workout routine below are some tips to ensure that you stay safe and healthy.

Never Skip Warming Up Or Cooling Down

If you’re trying to squeeze in a quick workout at home between helping the kids with online schooling or a work Zoom meeting, you might want to get right into your exercises. However, this is not the safest option. Many people overlook the importance of warming up and cooling down. 

Just five to 10 minutes of an active warm-up can help prevent muscle soreness and exercise-related injuries, while taking time to cool down allows your body to gradually recover from a heightened heart rate and blood pressure. 

The Warm Up

As stated above, getting warmed up before exercising is key in injury prevention. A few good warm-up exercises include jumping jacks, mountain climbers and even marching in place. Push-ups and lunges are another great way to warm up. Since this is a key step, please don’t skip it - you may hurt yourself if you do.

Avoid Pushing Yourself Too Hard

It’s essential to start out slow and avoid pushing yourself too hard or quickly, especially if you haven’t worked out in awhile. You might feel like you need to make up for “lost time” by challenging yourself with a higher level of intensity, but you’ll be more likely to get injured.  Ultimately, an injury will keep you away from exercise even longer. 

Listen to your body. If your body is in pain, it might be a good idea to scale it back a bit.

Mix It Up

When beginning an exercise routine, remember not to overdo it. While it’s recommended to get at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity every week, it’s possible to overtrain when first starting out. This is why it’s important to work your way up to longer and more difficult routines. Also, sticking to only one type of exercise can put a lot of stress on your body and increase your risk for injuries. Although it’s rare, back and spinal cord injuries do occur while working out at home.

So, while it might be hard to have variety in your workout at home, try your best to change up your workout routine. For example, switch back and forth between weight lifting and yoga, or go for a run in the neighborhood. Getting outside and enjoying the sunshine will also help you get fresh air and Vitamin D as well. 

Skip Your Workout When You’re Sick Or Tired

Exercising is an instant mood lifter for many people, but if you’re sick or not feeling well, it’s okay to be kind to yourself and skip your workout for a day. When you’re not feeling 100% or you’re simply too tired you’re, more likely to do your exercises incorrectly, which can increase your chances of getting hurt.

Create Enough Space For Your Workout 

If you’re used to working out at a gym, it can be challenging to workout at home. Not only may you lack the equipment, but you might also be tight on space.When this is the case, moving furniture safely or even transferring your routine outside will be your best bet. Whether you’re lifting weights or doing yoga, having enough space is important for your comfort and safety.