Welcome back to this week’s edition of 2-Minute Tuesdays. This week we are talking to those of you whose joints may not be feeling 100%. Your physical health feels fine, but orthopedically there are some aches going on. What can you do with your workouts to help ensure your joint aches and pains don’t get worse, and possibly help them start to feel better?
1) Focus On Muscles, Not Exercises
Our first workout tip if your joints are achy is to focus on muscles while you do an exercise, not on the exercise itself. What we mean is, focus on the muscles you are trying to utilize and stimulate with the exercise you are doing instead of focusing on trying to perform the motion(s) of the exercise. This will help keep you in tune with what your body is experiencing and will allow you to change and modify how you are doing an exercise before it becomes detrimental to your body.
Action Step: When you do an exercise, stay connected with your body so you can feel how your body is responding to the exercise. If a certain exercise is not making your body feel well, change up the exercise to stimulate the same group of muscles but in a different way.
Related: Exercise Tips If You Are Sore
2) Utilize Isometrics
Our second workout tip if your joints are achy is to utilize isometrics. The great thing about isometrics is they provide an awesome opportunity to just focus on squeezing your muscles. You don’t need to worry about how much you are moving or how fast you are moving because you aren’t moving at all. So you can place 100% of your focus and attention on squeezing your muscles.
Action Step: Is there an exercise that seems to flair your joints up? Consider doing an isometric version of that exercise to minimize the risk that you are moving too much or too fast while doing the exercise.
Related: Shoulder feeling achy? Stay safe with your exercise with these tips!
3) Don’t Be Scared To Take It To The Chair
Our third workout tip if your joints are achy is to be open to the idea of using various supports, such as a chair, to help you do your exercises. If standing does not feel well for your body, whether it is because of foot, knee, hip, or back issues, feel free to explore different variations of the exercises while seated.
Action Step: Implementing a change as simple as going from standing to sitting while exercising can have a tremendous impact on how your body feels while doing an exercise. Play around with different sitting positions, chair heights, and seated exercises if you find that standing while exercising is not agreeing with your body.