Return To Activity

When returning to activity, it’s important to build yourself up slowly. Returning to vigorous activity too quickly can leave you with an increased likelihood of injury.

It is ideal to start small. The best way to do so is to plan! Be sure to plan out what you want your routine to look like. A simple way to begin this process is by identifying times throughout your busy weekly schedule that you can dedicate to exercising. Another critical process to do before exercising is setting out realistic and specific goals. An example of a non-specific goal would be “I want to get fitter”. Compared to a specific goal such as “I want to be able to run 5km continuously in 3 months”. Having this core information now allows you to work backwards from your big goal to achieve many smaller goals.

As a podiatrist, I see many patients with musculoskeletal related pain caused by a rapid increase in load. Although the thought process is often good (trying to work harder and get fitter quickly), it ultimately slows this process by significantly reducing your workload or stopping altogether to deal with an injury. The recommended increase in load is 10% of the total load per week. An example for a runner would be if you ran 10km in your first week, building the load for your second week to a total of 11km. This should be spaced out evenly across the activities in the week rather than just an additional 1km added to a run.

It is crucial to incorporate planned rest days throughout your schedule to allow your body the opportunity to recover and ultimately perform better the next time you exercise. If you are feeling determined and want to do something every day, consider incorporating a designated stretching/foam rolling recovery session into your day off.