Working out at home? Here are some tips on how to avoid injuries

TORONTO -- The COVID-19 pandemic has forced people to shift their fitness routines from the gym to their living room.

While in self-isolation, many are turning to online fitness videos for the first time ever, leading health and wellness professionals to warn that good intentions may lead to bad outcomes.

“People run into a lot of difficulty with exercise selection,” Sathish Mueen, a personal trainer at Fit Squad in Toronto said. “People try things that are way too advanced too soon.”

“I have clients who have so much more free time and they’re upping the intensity too fast and too soon.”

He said workouts found through social media can fool beginners into thinking they can perform complex movements as quickly and effortlessly as fitness professionals make them appear in these short videos.

“Whenever I post a video myself, I ask people to reach out before they try it. What stands out on Instagram is how creative you can be. There are definitely a lot of good tips you can get on Instagram, but the workout doesn’t need to kill you, it only needs to make you a little bit better at a time.”

Kim McKinnon, a spokesperson for Toronto EMS, said statistics regarding the nature of injuries suffered at home are not kept. But, the owner of a local health-care clinic said he’s seeing a spike in patients hurting themselves while trying to help stave off sedentary isolation behaviours.

“In the last two months the percentage of calls we’ve received about home workout injuries is probably 25 to 50 per cent,” Richard Lobbenberg, owner of Yellow Gazebo, a private health-care centre offering services such as physiotherapy, massage and chiropractic treatments, said. “We are seeing a lot of shoulder injuries from people doing overhead lifting movements.”

“Anytime you start a new exercise program you’re prone to injury. A program where no one is watching what you’re doing makes you much more prone to injury, especially in a home setting where maybe you can’t see yourself in a mirror like you could at the gym. We are all sitting around a lot more at home so the muscles in our back are quite stiff. I encourage people to take it very easy to start.”

Mueen concurs and he said his advice is form trumps speed.

“Focus internally on the little intricate details of the muscle instead of the weight load,” he said, adding that this practice will “subconsciously help you when you return to the gym.”