There is nothing more energising and motivating than working out and exercising. After all, it enhances cognitive function, boosts self-esteem, and helps eliminate negative emotions. But exercise is also the riskiest thing you can do. Please don’t misunderstand us, but the risk of injury from exercising is well known. No matter how experienced you are, anyone can get hurt during a workout. But you can lessen the risk by avoiding a few mistakes.

How to avoid injuries while exercising?

The risk of injuries is higher, especially during winter season. While there’s no stipulation that you can’t exercise during this time, it’s not unknown that cold weather can increase your risk of injury due to a lack of body movements and muscle stiffness.

Rujuta Diwekar, a celebrity nutritionist and fitness expert, recently shared advice on how to avoid workout injuries on her Instagram page.

According to Diwekar, “If you use these suggestions, you can make sure that you genuinely get in shape for the new year and avoid injuring any of your body parts.”

Here are 3 top tips to prevent injuries while exercising:

1. Don’t exercise on an empty stomach

Avoid working out on an empty stomach by eating fruit 15 minutes before your workout. Diwekar says, “Make sure that you never exercise on an empty stomach. Eat a banana and then go for your training, you land up burning more calories.” This might also help the body to use protein as fuel. On the other hand, exercising on an empty stomach may cause you to lose energy or feel dizzy or jittery. In the long run, it’s not a good idea because your body may start reserving fat for energy.

Also read: Are you over exercising? These 8 signs reveal you’re working out too hard

2. Don’t skip the warm-up

Always stretch before and after exercising to increase flexibility and reduce the risk of injury. Diwekar says, “Warm up and stretch for at least 10 to 12 minutes. This will help your bones, tendons, ligaments, and joints to know that they are now going to be exercising.” Additionally, always finish your workout with a cool-down period. As a result, your heart rate will be controlled, your muscles will be able to relax and recuperate, and injuries will be avoided.

3. Don’t do strenuous workouts daily

Instead of focusing on one type of exercise, include a different type of exercise in your fitness routine. Include low-impact exercises like yoga, meditation, walking, swimming or and jogging in addition to intense training. Diwekar says, “Don’t do the same exercise every day. Give your neuro-muscular pathways a break. If you have done yoga today, go walking tomorrow. If you did weights today, do cardio or swimming tomorrow.”

Also read: Exercising alone is not enough! Follow these do’s and don’ts of working out for better results

This will help prevent the overuse of muscles and allow your body to use different muscle groups as well.

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A pro tip from Diwekar: Don’t exercise all days a week. Give at least 1 day break to your body.