There are those who start off in fourth gear and, heading towards their destination, press more and more on the accelerator. There are those who are beginners, with little experience but so much enthusiasm that they try their hand at a challenge with their neighbor at the desk who has always been sporty. And then, there are those who are in a hurry and skip the warm-up at the beginning or the relaxation at the end of the session. With the result, sometimes, of coming across strains, strains or muscle painwhich lead to giving up or otherwise transforming the training into a negative and counterproductive experience. The starting point is to understand if there is something wrong with the training structure. Often it’s just a question of bad habits. This is why we asked the Dr. Piergiuseppe Tettamanti, sports doctor and health manager of the women’s national basketball teamto explain to us what are the most frequent mistakes made by those who do physical activity to avoid getting hurt and having to stop.
Doctor Tettamanti, what are the situations in which training is counterproductive?
“First of all there is a difference between someone who is well trained and a beginner. Usually the mistake of someone who is very fit is to start in fourth gear, that is skip the warm-up. Despite the great body awareness that those who train at a high level possess, the problem is that they focus only on performance, neglecting the warm-up phase. Ready, set, go! And so, you risk getting hurt.”
What are the worst mistakes made by beginners?
“Sometimes, those who join the gym or decide to play a game of padel or five-a-side football with friends are not perfectly aware of their physical situation. We always start from the assumption that sporting activity is good for us, but in reality we cannot improvise. Therefore, it is essential to plan training based on one’s health conditions. Obviously, a medical-sports visit preliminary, which includes the electrocardiogram to evaluate any risk factors. However, it is not advisable to throw yourself headlong into uncontrolled sporting activity, especially after the age of 40 if you smoke, suffer from hypercholesterolemia or have high blood pressure. The other mistake of those who try physical exercises starting from scratch or almost from scratch is seeing what others are doing and thinking ‘if my colleague can do it, I can do it too’. Emulating others distracts from listening to yourself and leads you to bite off more than you can chew, with the result of finding yourself with tendinitis or muscle pain. A situation that generates frustration, blocks and makes you desist from continuing training. Also pay attention to gym classes, which are often made up of heterogeneous work groups with different needs and different levels of physical preparation. Another mistake is the lack of recovery between sessions: the body put in positive crisis needs to recover from fatigue, otherwise problems arrive without warning”.
- Advice for everyone: prepare the body progressively with joint mobility exercises, a mild cardio phase to stimulate aerobic metabolism, such as 10 minutes of cycling or jogging, a bit of stretching for neuromuscular activation. The same goes for the cool down: stretching exercises and self-massage with the foam roller are essential to relax the muscles.” Despite the recommendations, have you hurt yourself? In the case of SOS, to remember what to do, in the USA we use the word PRICE: P for preventionwhich is precisely the sum of the recommendations we have analyzed for expert athletes and novice athletes. R stands for rest or functional restthat is, if a tendon hurts, don’t re-stretch it. I stands for ice or ice. C stands for compressionwhich is equivalent to a slightly compressive bandage to feel protected, for example in the case of a swollen ankle. In the end, And like elevationwhich is the indication to lift the limb or foot to facilitate the outflow and bring back the edema.