When a patient finishes their course of care, they often ask “what class should I take to make sure this doesn’t happen again?” The question about what is the best fitness class to prevent injury is a tough one to tackle. Many different variables will affect the answer. What is the experience level of the instructor? What injury did my patient just recover from? Which class can they afford regularly to make it worth it? These are all considerations that must be addressed before determining which is the best for you.
Who Is The Instructor?
This can’t just be wiped away with a “well he/she has been doing it for X years so they must be good.” When you are recovering from an injury, you may need a very different style of coaching compared to if you are 2-3 years down the road. Typically instructors will be able to teach classes of varying intensity levels. Or a gym may have separate instructors for different levels.
If you are just coming off an injury, you are likely strong enough for activities of daily living. Maybe even playing a sport or performing a workout that you love. Unfortunately, it usually takes much longer than your insurance will pay for to develop true strength that will efficiently bounce back between workouts. I would recommend finding a workout class you enjoy. Do a lighter version with an instructor used to adjusting exercises for pain or weakness.
If you are looking to ensure you don’t get an injury in the first place, or want to prevent an old one from coming back, look for an instructor that is fun and will push you. Consistency is the key to preventing injuries. If you don’t truly enjoy the workouts, you won’t stick with it very long.
What Workout Should I Choose?
I personally recommend strength training to all of my clients after an injury. Muscles are meant to support the joints, and muscles need progressive loading to grow. You have 3 options with resistance training. Load heavy to grow muscles, load lightly to maintain muscles, or don’t load and watch your muscle atrophy. The good thing is, almost all workouts have some level of resistance. Even most yoga classes challenge your ability to hold your bodyweight up for long periods.
The way I answer “what workout?” is simple. It needs to have resistance training, needs to be taught by someone who knows how to modify loads and doesn’t put pressure on you to lift loads you shouldn’t, and it needs to be something you will want to go to 2-3 times per week. I don’t care if it’s Crossfit, yoga, functional fitness, or pilates.
Can’t I just Do Cardio To Prevent Injuries?
No. Training one movement repetitively over a long time only gets you good at one movement. Even then, the repetitiveness of running, cycling, or other forms of endurance cardio lend themselves to overuse injuries. The best runners, cyclings, and swimmers in the world will tell you they spend time in the weight room every week in order to perform more efficiently.
Conclusion
Lift stuff at least occasionally, make it fun, and don’t just do one movement repetitively if you want to prevent injuries. If you already have an injury, or want to learn how to prevent one contact us for more info.
