Avoiding Injuries in Sports
Often times when we get invested in a martial art or a sport, we get addicted and do not want to stop. While this gives us great momentum, over training or over-working out can lead to injury if we are not careful. Here are some things you can do on your own to try and avoid injury during your Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Judo, Muay Thai Kickboxing, or Fitness classes.
- Drink Water
Drinking lots of water and staying hydrated BEFORE going to class is extremely important to helping you avoid injury. If you feel thirsty, you are already dehydrated! Being dehydrated makes muscle tissues more susceptible to injury and hinders performance. This is especially important for athletes who are cutting weight for competition. Often times, those athletes are cutting out water weight and therefore dehydrate themselves. This can lead to injury and poor performance.
- Warm up properly
Warming up before you work out is very important. Often times, we get excited to just jump right in and get started. Though most classes have a warm up session integrated into the class, different people need different types and lengths of warm ups, so some people may need to warm up before they start their class warm up. Warming up is important to get muscles warm, increase blood flow, and to get start dynamic stretching.
- Dynamic Stretching before, Static stretches after
Dynamic stretching mimics movements made during the exercise while static stretching is used to improve flexibility and cool down the body so it is done while staying still. Many trainers recommend that athletes do dynamic stretching before a work out in order to properly lubricate joints and warm up muscles. Those trainers also recommend that athletes save static stretching for after the work out because though it increases flexibility, static stretching can decrease strength in the hour after the static stretching.
- Let injuries heal
One of the most concerning things that athletes do is to “train around injuries”. With extremely engaging sports like jiu jitsu, judo, and Muay Thai, it is difficult to “train around injuries” because almost all muscle groups and body parts are used. Many people think that if they injure their finger, they can simply “take it easy” on that hand and train as usual. However, in the moment, it is easy to forget to even to have your training partner accidentally re-injure or keep injuring that injured hand. That is why it is important to let injuries fully heal before coming back to train intensely.
Trying a new sport, joining a new class, or coming to a new gym, like Sampa, is a great supplement to healthier eating habits. When you join a gym like Sampa jiu jitsu , you get exposed to diverse classes such as Muay Thai Kickboxing, Wrestling, Brazillian Jiu Jitsu, and Fitness classes. At these classes, you’ll be able to meet local people from the Walnut, Glendora, Diamond Bar, West Covina, and Azusa areas that all want to improve themselves too! If you are interested in joining our Sampa Martial arts Family to improve your health, confidence, and fitness, you can join us in Walnut by calling (909) 444-9944 or in Glendora at (626) 335-4971.