Please Don't Hurt Yourself

“You need to find the most intense exercise that you can do without injuring yourself.”  I gave this advice to someone recently and it occurred to me that even though it was a private conversation, it really is applicable to everyone on the planet.

The number of injuries due to poor exercise choices, poor exercise technique and/or poor exercise programs is staggering.  Don’t think so?  I just read a few articles that suggested that the cost of musculoskeletal injuries due to recreational activities will soon surpass the associated costs of obesity.  And therefore, it’s a reasonable question to ask: Since we obviously can’t keep from injuring ourselves, are we better off just being fat? It’s a pretty interesting question: If what we think makes us healthy – exercise and recreational activities -  actually is unhealthy, why would we be active?  (I’ll post the articles for you to read next time.)

But as someone who has heard “I can’t do (blank) because my (blank) hurts/bothers me/ is messed up, yadda yadda yadda” about 1 billion times, I can tell you it’s not a stretch to say that we as a society, when it comes to trying to be fit and healthy, have no clue what we’re doing.

The United States department of Labor lists the job growth of orthopedists and chiropractors as “higher than average” and the job growth of physical therapists and athletic trainers as “MUCH higher than average”.  Think about it – these are careers devoted to fixing people after they’ve messed themselves up and it’s a BOOMING industry.  If you look closer at the numbers, you’ll see the growth of the physical therapy profession is staggering.  A few decades back, the job barely existed – basically if you were in a car wreck, you went to physical therapy.  Now, you’ll never go broke if your customers are people who injure themselves in the name of health attempts.

Needless to say I’ll never be as rich as an orthpopedist.  He/she would rather just fix your disc herniation after you’ve done 1 million crunches, or operate on your knee after all your tough mudder competitions and marathons as opposed to just telling you to not do those things.  (Hey…who would tell you that?!?  Cough…cough…me…cough…)

But although my income will never be as high as the “put a bucket under the leaky ceiling” industry, it is my job nonetheless to get people more fit and healthy.  It’s my job to get them looking and feeling better.  And the best way to do this is through sound exercise practices.

My advice: If you’re injured, you can’t exercise well.  So if you want to look and feel better, don’t injure yourself.

I know: I’m a genius. 

Now that I have your attention, do you want to know how to stay healthy while participating in exercise and recreational activities?  Stay tuned until next time – I’ll give you things to watch for, both good and bad, that will keep you working out.

This guy CAN'T WAIT for you to exercise again!