Regaining strength and health after an injury

After an injury or illness it often becomes difficult to bounce back to your former self, especially if it is after a prolonged recuperative period. After assessing present conditioning, begin training again slowly with an abbreviated program. 

Use low intensity aerobic training including walking, bicycling or treadmill exercise, working up gradually to a more intense program. A short weight training routine including basic exercises is great. Movements like leg extensions , leg presses,bench presses, dips, presses, curls, triceps presses, sit-ups or crunches and dumbbell rows are ideal. Avoid any of these exercises if there is an injury present in the particular muscle involved in the performance of the exercise. 

Dumbbells are great tools to use as they are safer than barbells because of spotter issues for certain barbell exercises and the reduced stress on the joints from dumbbell use. Exercise machines are an even better bet because they eliminate the need to balance the weight and are easiest on joints and allow better weight control.

A good, simple program to begin with is:

• leg presses-1 set of 15 reps
• bench presses-1 set of 10 reps
• rows-1 set of 10 reps
• presses-1 set of 10 reps
• curls-1 set of 12 reps
• triceps extensions-1 set of 12 reps
• ab crunches-1 set of 20 reps

This basic program trains every major muscle group using a reduced program for overall conditioning and strength gain.

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