Common Mistakes of Runners and How to Avoid Them
It might seem like a curiosity, but beginner runners are facing fewer injuries because they take more care of themselves and the techniques.
However, the advanced runners start to consider themselves as unbreakable at some point, and then life happens. To avoid injuries, negative impacts on your body and health you must keep in mind some rules if you want to run long distances safely and with joy. Therefore, here are some of the most common mistakes to remind you that you should change your bad habits before it is too late.
Running Too Much and Too Often
When the body must deal with a huge physical load, it always needs rest and proper food. If you are going to run when your body has not recovered from the last running workout, you will increase your risk of injury and the desired results will not come as fast as you expect. For an amateur runner who is not a professional athlete and just wants to improve their health, the optimal running load would be 3 times a week for 30 minutes and medium intensity. Such a load, according to research, reduced mortality from all diseases by 75%.
Weak Muscles Important for Running
People now spend a lot of time sitting. This way of life encourages the muscles of the body to weaken, their endurance decreases. The logic of our body is simple, if the muscles in one place are not used, the other muscles of the body will have to work double. Higher loads on the tissues over time will cause tissue changes and eventually pain. For example, often the gluteal muscles of a person who spends all day in the office are suppressed and do not do their job. After all, it is one of the largest muscles in our body! If these muscles do not work properly, the back extensor muscles will receive significantly higher loads during running. Back pain can occur more often and more intensely when running. The solution to the problem is simple: running should be combined with strength workouts.
Too Low Mobility of Joints
Use it or lose it. A simple and correct saying that fits to our body. If we use the amplitudes of movement of our joints only for sit on a chair, it is natural that they usually start to decrease. For example, due to the limited amplitude of the ankle joint, eventually the runner begins to feel pain in the knee, hip joint areas. Most people start treating the area that hurts, but the solution to the problem may be a little hidden. Increasing ankle joint mobility often helps resolve the pain in knee or hip joint areas.
Missing Warm-up
If you load your muscles most of the day, perform high-amplitude movements, your joints are supple, and your muscles work flawlessly, you may skip the warm-up. In all other cases, warm-up is a must! Exercising before running will reduce the risk of injury. It is best to perform dynamic warm-up before running and static stretching exercises after it.
