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Setting a new workout goal for yourself can inspire you to push your body extra hard, which is perfectly understandable. After all, you want results. But if you don't exercise prudence while you exercise your body, your initial enthusiasm could cause frustrating injuries that ultimately set you back.

When you begin a physical activity that you haven't done before, or step up the intensity or your workout, your muscles, tendons and bones receive more than their ordinary ration of pounding, pulling and pushing. Sore muscles are the consequence. But after a few days, your muscles heal and strengthen. In as little as a couple of weeks you notice improved performance.

Since you feel stronger, it may seem to make perfect sense to take your workout to the next level, in order to get more benefit. But this is where the danger lies. Inflammation in your tendons and bones can begin and become established long before you feel anything.

While your muscles become strong quickly, making you feel able to do more, your tendons and bones don't strengthen as fast. Also, tendons and bones don't have a dense network of nerves to send pain signals that tell you it's time to stop. So by the time you feel tendon or bone pain, the injury has been developing for a few days or even weeks. By that time rest is the only remedy, which means you can't exercise as usual.

Preventing overuse injuries is often as simple as exercising a little restraint. Begin by evaluating your fitness level. Then plan a workout routine that's just challenging enough to gradually build your muscles and cardiovascular capacity.

Keep a workout log. Record how much and how long you exercise, and also note when you feel tired or have pain. Use these notes as a guide for adjusting the duration and intensity of your workout.

Before you make changes to your routine, map out your exercise goals and plan gradual workout increases accordingly. Generally, every three to six weeks is often enough to moderately increase intensity, but this will vary depending on your age and health. Stick to your plan and resist the urge to spontaneously run more miles, swim more laps, lift more weight or do more reps, just because you feel like you can.

Don't forget to warm up before every workout. This, more than any other habit, is associated with preventing injury. But here's a surprising recent change in stretching philosophy. Stretching is important for improving range of motion and flexibility, but a study at the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences and Physical Therapy at Ghent University in Belgium finds little evidence that stretching BEFORE a workout prevents injury. In one study by David A. Lally, Ph.D. at the University of Hawaii-Manoa. the frequency of injury actually increased with before workout stretching. Stretching AFTER working out seems to be associated with fewer injuries. And stretching should be particular to your sport. Research suggests that for some people, stretching beyond the range of motion required for the activity may increase injury risk because very loose muscles may not support joints well.

During vigorous exercise, you should expect a little discomfort. However, genuine pain in your joints, bones or muscles is a signal that you need to change what you're doing. The time you take to address the cause of your pain will more than make up for itself in injury prevention. In the event that you develop an overuse injury like tendinitis, give it time to heal. Continuing to exercise with pain can cause such injuries to become chronic.

Nutrition is another key factor in injury prevention. Without protein and the right vitamins and minerals, your muscles, bones and connective tissues cannot rebuild and strengthen. If your fitness program is inspired by a desire to lose weight, you need to be especially vigilant. Be sure that your protein intake is appropriate for your activity level, and that your daily dietary fat does not fall below 20%. And though low-carb diets are all the rage, be aware that carbohydrates are what give you energy for vigorous exercise. Without adequate evergy, you're actually more prone to injury.

Finally, one of the most important thing you can do to avoid injury and reach your fitness goals quickly, is to not exercise. Yes, that's right. You need regularly scheduled rest so that your body can recuperate and rebuild; without it, you become primed for injury. Proper rest includes not only a good amount of sleep each night, but also at least one workout free day each week. If you notice that you're frequently fatigued, this is a cue to take some additional rest time or scale back your workouts. Remember, you get no physical benefit from pain or exhaustion, only increased risk of getting hurt.

Learn more about this author, Ysabel J. Doran.
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