And while it’s always good practice to take at least one rest day every 7 to 10 days, it’s especially important to embrace downtime as you begin any new routine or sport. As for how often? It depends on your fitness, but extreme soreness, tiredness, and muscles that feel like spaghetti are signs to chill. Also keep in mind that “the body has an intrinsic ability to heal, but the time it takes to do so will go up as you age,” Andrew Carbone, MD, orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine physician at the Orlando Health Jewett Orthopedic Institute, tells SELF. So give yourself more grace with each passing year.
3. You twist or turn to pick up things from the ground.
A sideways lean or twisted reach might seem like the most efficient way to pluck a fallen pen or kid’s toy from the floor. But according to Dr. Shah, the extra effort you might spare isn’t worth the potential pain. Bending and twisting from a standing or seated position creates “torque around your hips and risks you throwing your back into it,” he explains. You could wind up pulling a muscle or even herniating a disc (which is when the soft center of a rubbery cushion in your spine bulges or bursts, triggering nerve pain).
What to do instead: Be mindful of how you’re bending (and snapping), and avoid any spiraling motion. Instead, “face the object head-on so you can stabilize your spine, and then use your legs to generate the power to get down and up,” Dr. Shah says. It might sound like a lot of hubbub if you’re just grabbing something small, but no matter the size, following good lifting mechanics is key to avoiding injury, he says.
4. You bypass a real warm-up before working out.
Let us be the nagging voice in your head the next time you’re tempted to jump into a workout cold: Don’t do it. Not only will you miss out on all the benefits of warming up (like getting a better burn), but also, you’ll be flirting with potential pain. “Muscles and tendons are a material just like any other,” Dr. Backstein explains. “If they’re cold and you put sudden strenuous tension on them, you can get microscopic tears, and it’s those tears that cause the inflammation behind overuse injuries.” That doesn’t mean you can get away with a quickie calf or hamstring stretch either. Static stretches (wherein you hold a pose) don’t get the blood flowing to your muscles and loosen up your joints for movement, Dr. Shah says.
What to do instead: Do a 5- to 10-minute warm-up before you start any physical activity. It should get your heart rate elevated and target the joints you’ll be flexing in the workout to follow, Dr. Shah says. For instance, that means focusing on the movement of your knees and hips if you’re going to be running or bending and loosening up your shoulders if you’ll be doing overhead moves.
5. You mostly exercise the muscles along the front of your body.
The muscles running up the back of your body (a.k.a. your posterior chain) are out of sight, so there’s a good chance they might slip out of mind too. “Everybody loves to work out the stuff that’s right in front of them, like the pecs, biceps, core, and quads,” Dr. Carbone points out. These are the muscles you can see grow in the mirror, after all. But when you create an imbalance—beefy front-side muscles and wimpy backside ones—you risk injury. The strong ones overcompensate for the weak, which messes with your stability and mobility. In particular, pumped-up quads and flimsy hamstrings are a recipe for hip and knee issues, like ACL tears, Dr. Carbone points out. Not to mention, a weak back can foster poor posture and the neck, shoulder, and back issues that come along with it.
