It’s 2019! A New Year, a fresh start for many and no doubt, getting fit and healthy is likely to be on the New Year’s resolution list. Embarking on getting fitter and healthier is awesome, takes commitment and patience - well done on taking the first step! To reach this goal, to remain injury free and to maintain steady training throughout the year (and beyond), it is important to consider and integrate load management. If you are still sticking to your resolution by now, you are flying; if you have fallen off the resolution – now is a good time to try and get on to it again!
What is load and load management?
Load, in the context of fitness/exercise, is either internal or external. Internal load is something that is directly associated with the athlete and can be heart rate, perception of effort or desire to train. In contrast, external load is seen as work completed by the athlete, which includes weight lifted, distance, duration or frequency. Therefore, load management is the process of controlling and monitoring internal-external loads, which is important for injury prevention.
Why is load management important?
Load management is important because increasing training load by more than 10% per week can lead to a greater risk of injury. For example, increasing training load by just 15% per week increases the risk of injury to 21-49%, whereas keeping it within the range of 5% or less than 10% minimises the risk of injury to less than 10%.
How can I manage my load?
Keep an exercise log of the activity you are completing including details such as weights/distance and rate how hard you worked for that session. Consider a section for how much and the quality of sleep you are getting, as research indicates enough and good quality sleep is important for preventing injuries.
Rule #1
In summary, stick to increasing training by up to 10% per week to reduce the risk of sustaining an injury. You want to gradually increase training in all aspects to allow muscles, tendons and bone to adapt to your exercise. This will allow you continue working towards getting fitter and healthier with fewer or no injuries. Train smarter, not harder and be a wise tortoise like in Aesop’s fable as slow and steady wins the race.
A note on starting training
During the Christmas holidays or a training break, training schedules either temporarily go out the window or reduce dramatically. When returning to your exercise regimen after the a break, it is important to continue observing the 10% rule even for those who have consistently exercised/trained before the festive season. Ease back into your training.
Respect Niggles, Don’t Ignore!
Finally, if you do have niggles, give us a call on 9580 1985 to get some FREE advice. The quicker an injury is addressed the less time there is away from training.