Physios are warning people to ease themselves back into exercise, following a spate of injuries in the lead-up to the winter sport season.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Active Physiotherapy's Andrew Preston said some athletes had thrown themselves back into their sport with a little too much gusto, resulting in some injuries to their Achilles, tendons, and knees.
"You're using that joint or muscle in a different pattern than it's used to, and if that's done too quickly or too intensely it can create an injury. It's very important you're training the sports-specific movements," he said.
"That sport-specific conditioning has been lacking, and so when people go back to that sport that they haven't been doing for over 12 months, we're finding a lot of injuries coming through the door."
IN OTHER NEWS:
Exercise physiologist Jake Dargan said many non-athletes had packed on some "COVID kilos" during their stint at home, and were now motivated to reclaim their pre-lockdown physiques.
Mr Dargan said they'd had to come up with creative ways to ease people back into their workout routines.
"It really does vary depending on what you have access to. Sometimes it's doing weights with water bottles if they don't have dumbbells, and a lot of the time it's simple bodyweight exercises," he said.
"There's a saying: the best exercise is the one that you actually get done."
Elite Supplements shopkeeper Rohan McGregor, who is a 125 kilogram bodybuilder, spent his lockdown lunging up stairs and doing pull-ups on his veranda.
The 53-year-old said about 75 per cent of his customers had also kept up their home workout regimes, while others had visibly let themselves go last year.
"Most of my customer base have trodden through and kept on going, but then there's the ones that hadn't come in for six months. You can really tell," Mr McGregor said.
"A lot of people who don't normally venture to the gym are going to the gym because they can't go anywhere, they can't spend their money overseas, so more time to think about their health and longevity."
WorkOut Wagga owner Jared Kahlefeldt said day-to-day life felt "almost normal" at his gym, especially following the further easing of restrictions for fitness centres last fortnight.
He said that some former members were still a little apprehensive about returning to the gym, but that most other gym-goers were happy to be back.
"We're pretty much back to normal which is fantastic, because for a long time people were feeling run down, not just their physical health but their mental health which go hand in hand," he said.
"It's great having people back into their routine and getting active again. It's brilliant to see."
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark dailyadvertiser.com.au
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters