1. Prevent Common Sports Injuries by Warming Up
Whether you're a golfer, swimmer, football player or runner, warming up is essential to preventing injuries. A proper warm-up should include aerobic exercise, dynamic stretching and sport-specific movements that prepare your body for the rigors of competition. Each of these gets your blood pumping and loosens up your muscles, which are an important part of injury prevention. Unless you're a dancer or gymnast, avoid static or passive stretching during your warm-up. According to several research studies, this kind of stretching actually increases your risk for injury.
2. Pump That Iron
One of the best ways to prevent injuries to your muscles and connective tissues is by increasing their strength. Even the knee, which is notoriously susceptible to injury, can be beefed up and stabilized with the right weight-training exercises. When beginning a strength-training routine, talk to a physician, trainer or coach about what exercises are right for you. Olympic lifts, circuit training, free weights and body weight exercises are all good ways of building strength and insulating your muscles against injury. Also, if you're new to weightlifting, spend a few weeks doing easier workouts before hitting the heavy weights. This lays down a foundation of overall body strength that lets you get more out of your later sessions.
3. Bendable Bodies Don't Break
Increasing your flexibility reduces your risk for both overuse and acute sports injuries. If your muscles and joints can bend in response to stress, they're less likely to break, helping to prevent all kinds of injuries. The best way to develop your flexibility is to establish a regular stretching routine that you can use alongside your normal workouts. Most athletes will benefit from performing dynamic stretches before working out, saving the reach-and-hold kind of passive stretches for after the workout. Activities such as yoga and Pilates are also good for developing flexibility. Whichever route you choose, make stretching a habit, or you'll have a hard time making permanent gains.
4. Polish Your Technique
Even in a single-movement sport like running, technique plays an incredibly important role in preventing injuries. If you're not running, jumping, kicking or swinging as efficiently as possible, you're exposing your body to a higher amount of force with each movement than you should be. Because of this, it's vital that you spend time polishing your technique. To help you along the way, use whatever resources are available to you. Coaches, video taping, biofeedback and visualization are just a few of the tools you can use to improve your technique.
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