by Cassie Shortsleeve
According to ABC News Medical Consultant Dr. Raj, CEO of Beverly Hills Orthopedic Institute, it just takes one injury to stop you from working out for a long time. The good news? Most of them have simple fixes. Here are four common exercise mistakes—and what to do about them.
The Problem: You’re Not Warming Up
“Most people have this energy where they just want to get into a workout right away so they skip warming up,” says Dr. Raj. This is when you get injured, because your muscles are tight and your joints are not as mobile as they are after a few minutes of movement.
The Fix: Dynamic stretching has been shown to prep your muscles for activity by going through a functional range. Try this walking cross-behind lunge for your lower body. For upper body, do medicine ball twists. Starting at one hip, bring the ball up and over your opposite shoulder at least 10 times.
The Problem: Squats Are Making Your Knees Hurt
“I’ve seen people complain about knee pain and more often that not it’s because they are doing squats wrong,” Dr. Raj says. If the axis of your knee is ahead of your foot, you’ll end up loading your knee instead of your glutes.
The Fix: Keep your knee behind your ankle. To make it a little easier and to drill in perfect form, Raj suggests squatting against a wall. Watch a video of a one leg wall ball squat with proper form here.
The Problem: You’re Putting Your Back at Risk by Standing Wrong
If you’re stance is off, lifting weights can overload the discs in your back, says Dr. Raj.
The Fix: Stand in a staggered stance when you curl a weight up. You’ll naturally extend your back with your hips forward and your back in its natural position. Watch trainer David Jack teach you the Split Squat Over and Under Pass, a great exercise to engage your glutes, core, and biceps.
The Problem: You’re Running Downhill Wrong
“There is absolutely no value in sprinting downhill,” says Dr. Raj. If you’re turning the guns on downhill, you’re putting yourself in injury’s way.. If you’re going too fast, you end rely on your hamstrings to counteract your quads, and if they’re weak, they can’t tolerate twisting or instability. The minute you twist, you’re putting yourself at risk for knee, ankle, and ACL injuries.
The Fix: Leave the sprints for the uphill portions of your workout, and strengthen your hamstrings with exercises on a ball, like this Swiss ball glute-hamstring lift.