Part 2 of our October post sport season theme is about staying active.
Rest is great and vital to recovery, but as they say sometimes too much of a good thing can be bad! Who doesn’t like kicking back in the off season and forgetting all about sport and the stress it places on our bodies. However, it is important reasons to stay active in the off season- here are our top 4 reasons to stay active!
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Have you heard of muscle atrophy? This is the process where muscles lose mass and strength, generally due to lack of physical exercise. An example of this is anyone who goes to the gym on and off. Simply, the more you go the stronger you get and if you have periods of time away from the gym you become weaker. So remember a physio’s favourite phrase… USE it or LOSE it!
Physical exercise is also great for your cardiovascular health. Physical exercise and other appropriate lifestyle modifications are well documented to aid in minimising the risk of health issues such as insulin resistance, type II diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease. Finding alternative exercises over the off season to your sport is a great way to minimise your risk to these conditions. Ideas to get your daily exercise include social community based sports, walking/jogging, bike riding, swimming… the ideas are limitless!
As stated in part 1 of this series, exercise helps in the recovery from injuries. Exercise strengthens muscles and aids in tissue healing.
Finally, staying active helps you keep a stable weight and stop those little extra numbers creep on during the off season.
Next in our series of off season tips is some great advice from our physio Mark about diet so watch this space!