Tip from Marianne Timmer:Prevent injuries

Santé is a co-subsponsor of Team Continu:the skating team led by Marianne Timmer. Marianne shares a tip every day to keep fit with Santé.

Marianne: An injury is a physical injury that interferes with your sport. The injury is caused by a trauma or accident or by (long-term) overload of the body. Physique, age and condition determine the risk of injury. When physical complaints arise that cannot be traced back to the training sessions that were done a few days before the onset, it makes sense to have this looked at by a physiotherapist or doctor. It is often easier to do something about the complaints when they have not been present for that long. There may be an increased risk of injury if you suffer from stress.

Before you start training, always make sure that your muscles are nice and warm:stretch a little to loosen your back and legs and then start the training. Prolonged stretching is unnecessary. Someone who sports every day warms up faster than someone who does less sports.

Various warm-ups

The warm-up consists of three parts:the general warm-up, stretching exercises and the sport-specific warm-up.

• The general warm-up involves taking all the functions of your heart, lungs, nervous system and muscles to a higher level by walking for ten minutes while making light movements with the arms, legs and torso.
• The second part of the warm-up consists of stretching exercises † Good breathing is an important part of this. Make sure you always breathe freely. If you notice during a certain action that you unconsciously hold your breath, then it is too heavy and you should adjust the exercise.
• The sport-specific warm-up finally, it is for sharpening your judgment by making the same movements you make during training or competition.

Just as important as the warm-up is the cool-down By gradually reducing the effort, you ensure proper removal of waste products from the muscles. This is to prevent muscle soreness. A good cool-down consists of three parts:decrease the movement you did during the sport to a slower pace, then repeat the same stretches you used in the warm-up and finally take an alternating hot and cold shower.'

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