After months of being forced to stay indoors, some people are likely still trying to adjust to exercise outside. There are slight deviations that need to be made whenever a person is making that switch, and if you’re not prepared for these, then the potential for injury is always there.
A new report out of Canada highlights some of the ways to transition from assorted indoor workouts to potentially more demanding outdoor workouts. If you’re in the process of making that leap, or if you’ve already done so but feel like you could be doing more with your fitness regimen, then exercising the advice on hand will be essential.
One thing to take into consideration is the speed differential. When you’re running on a treadmill or doing something like a stair-climber, then you choose precisely how fast you want to go. Each and every day, you know exactly what you’re getting into. But when you head outside, suddenly you don’t have a machine to guide your speed. It’s easy to accidentally start off too fast or to go too slow. Either way, you could end up getting less from your workout than you did before.
Try to accommodate this into your run, realizing that this change will largely be out of your hands at the start. If you’re unable to run as far or as long, take what you are able to do and use that as your new baseline. Once you get an idea of how long it takes you to run a certain distance, you can do that a couple times and then increase either the speed or the distance. This will also help you to get a better sense of how you’re doing on non-uniform terrain, where you’re far more likely to encounter uphill and downhill slopes.
If you’re still having trouble adjusting to the new normal, then you can run in shorter bursts so that your body always benefits from fitness. The author at the link above lays out a typical interval schedule, and what you’ll likely do is shift between intense running and light jogging and walking.
This will also carry over to cycling. The big difference is that you have to follow the demands of the trail when you’re outdoors. You don’t choose when to take a hill or when to glide, and you might also have to stop due to the demands of traffic. Because of this, and because you’re also dealing with environmental concerns like the wind, you’re probably going to start off more slowly, and that’s alright. Just like running, you can adjust things over time.
Avoiding injury is a matter of exercising within certain limitations. When you lower your expectations, you can set yourself up for continued success. For more insights, follow the link above.
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