Welcome back to this week’s edition of 2-Minute Tuesdays where we are talking about one exercise topic for two minutes and giving you three reasons why you should follow our advice. Now this week, we are talking to those of you who are starting to add in some new activities, such as pickleball or golf. The weather is getting nicer and you are starting to get outside more to be active. How can you make sure your body stays safe while it gets used to doing these new activities?
1) Keep Up With Your Weight Training
Exercise Tip Number One To Stay Safe With New Activities: Make sure you are keeping up with your weight training, or you start adding in weight training if you aren’t already doing it. Weight training is specifically designed to keep your muscles and joints strong and working well. This is vital to making sure you can keep doing the things you want to do. So, when you start up new activities, make sure they are being added to, and not in place of, your regular weight training.
Action Step: Aim for a minimum of two days of weight training each week. Want guidance on what to do when you go to the gym? Enroll in our Virtual Membership Program to receive customized workouts!
Related: 3 Reasons Why You MUST Do Resistance Training
2) Check In With Your Local MAT® Specialist
Exercise Tip Number Two To Stay Safe With New Activities: Check in with your local Muscle Activation Techniques® (MAT®) Specialist. Your certified MAT® Specialist is going to evaluate all of your muscles to determine which ones are not working well and then tune those up for you. This will allow your joints to move better, your muscles as a whole to be stronger, and possibly reduce your likelihood of injuring yourself by making sure your joints are stable. Before you jump into new activities, make sure your body is prepared by getting your muscles tuned up with MAT®.
Action Step: Want to learn more about MAT®? Check out our free eBook here! You can also find a certified specialist in your area here!
Related: 3 Reasons Why You Should Check Out MAT®
3) See How Your Body Responds The Day After
Exercise Tip Number Three To Stay Safe With New Activities: Always judge how your body is doing with this new activity by how your body feels the day after. A lot of times you may not notice what is going on in your body while you are doing a new activity. However, the following day you may start to feel not well. Remember, after you finish your activity is when you should be recovering from it, so if you are noticing that you are not recovering well from what you did, then the next time we recommend you cut back a little bit. This will allow your body time to build up and better-tolerate this new activity.
Action Step: Plan to give yourself at least one day off from a new activity after a day when you add in the activity. This will allow you time to figure out how well your body is tolerating the activity and whether you need to cut back on it or give yourself more time to rest.