Summer Body Injury-Proofing
Learn Get-Fit Guy’s 2 awesome workouts to injury-proof your body for the summer.
Just imagine – you’re working on the perfect summer body. You’re doing the perfect workouts, eating well, and you’re perfectly primed to look good in a swimsuit by the time beach weather arrives. And then you injure your back. Or your knee. Or your shoulder. Your workout routine is all messed up and suddenly, getting a summer body becomes much more of an annoying chore!
Or maybe you plan on participating in summer sports like beach volleyball, wakeboarding, or surfing, but you’re a bit nervous about how your body might actually hold up during these activities.
So in today’s episode, you’re going to learn how to injury proof your body for the summer and make sure that you don’t get injured while getting your summer body.
Weak Links in Your Body
Even though everyone has their own personal “weak links” when it comes to muscles, joints, or ligaments that tend to be prone to injury, there are certainly common trouble spots for nearly any active individual.
Many of these trouble spots tend to include the small, supportive muscles that are notoriously neglected during the large motor movements we do when performing our summer body workouts, or even summer activities like waterskiing, volleyball, surfing or throwing a football on the beach. These supportive areas include the shoulder’s rotator cuff, the outer butt’s gluteus medius, the small scapula muscles along the shoulder blades, and the abdominal, hip, and low back region (or “core”).
So how can you address these notoriously weak areas, and ensure that you injury proof your summer body? In this episode, you’re going to get two routines: one longer, more comprehensive workout that you can do in a traditional gym environment, and another shorter workout conducive to quickly performing at home or the office.
You can view any of the exercises I mention in this episode at BenGreenfieldFitness.
Summer Body Injury-Proofing Workout #1
Begin with a brief 3-5 minutes of aerobic exercise such as jogging, cycling, or elliptical trainer, which simply serves to warm your muscles and make them more pliable. Then continue to a warm up that includes:
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8-10 Arm Swings
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8-10 Arm Circles
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8-10 Side-To-Side Leg Swings
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8-10 Front-To-Back Leg Swings
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8-10 Hip Flexor Kickouts
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30-60 seconds Foam Roller Hamstrings
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30-60 seconds Foam Roller Quadriceps
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30-60 seconds Foam Roller Calves
Next, complete the following rotator cuff exercises as a circuit, 3-4 times through, with 30-60 seconds rest after each set:
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Elastic Band or Cable External Rotation, 20-25 reps
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Elastic Band or Cable External Rotation, 20-25 reps
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Dumbbell Front Raising, 15-20 reps
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Dumbbell Side Raising, 15-20 reps
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Dumbbell Empty Cans, 15-20 reps
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Dumbbell Uppercuts, 15-20 reps
Next, complete the following gluteus medius and lateral hip strengthening exercises as a circuit, 3-4 times through, with 30-60 seconds rest after each set:
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Fire Hydrants, 20-25 reps per side
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Lateral Lunges, 10-12 reps per side
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Hip Hikes, 10-12 reps per side
Next, complete the following core stabilizing exercises as a circuit, 3-4 times through, with 30-60 seconds rest after each set:
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Front Plank Taps, 10-15 reps per side
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Side Plank Rotation, 10-15 reps per side
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Back Bridges, 20-25 reps
Finally, finish by opening the hip flexors with a yoga sequence of 3-5 Learn how to breathe during and after workouts in each of the following positions (or, if you’re familiar with sun salutations, simply perform several sequences of those):
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Warrior 1
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Warrior 2
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Warrior 3
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Downward Dog
While this is a longer workout, simply including it once per week during the entire year will help you to move more efficiently while also protecting the common “weak links” of the human body.
Summer Body Injury-Proofing Workout #2
This shorter injury prevention workout is a series of 4 exercises that you simply perform in sequence:
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25-50 Shoulder Wall Slides
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25-50 Side Lying Leg Raises per Side
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25-50 Broomstick Front Raises (preferably prone on a stability ball)
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2.5-5 minutes Front Plank
I guarantee that if you can complete “50, 50, 50 and 5 minutes” of the 4 exercises in the short workout above, you will significantly reduce your risk of injury when performing nearly any sport or activity on the face of the planet, and your summer body will truly become injury proof!
Enjoy these two summer body injury-proofing routines, and if you have questions, feel free to surf over to GetFitGuy Facebook and join the conversation there.
Man Exercising image from Shutterstock
About the Author
Ben Greenfield received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from University of Idaho in sports science and exercise physiology; personal training and strength and conditioning certifications from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA); a sports nutrition certification from the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN), an advanced bicycle fitting certification from Serotta. He has over 11 years’ experience in coaching professional, collegiate, and recreational athletes from all sports, and as helped hundreds of clients achieve weight loss and fitness success.
