Exercise injury is so common no one questions it. You exercise to be healthy yet you injure yourself? If medical treatments caused the amount of injuries exercise tends to it would be the end of healthcare.

The problem is exercise IS NOT SPORT. Playing a sport brings with it risk because your goal is to both win and improve at the sport. This means risk because often you sacrifice form to function. Furthermore, sport only addresses the specific body functions of the sport. This means over time you develop imbalances and overuse injury.

Separate sport and exercise – exercise, to be health protecting, needs to make you strong. Strength requires heavy weights and effort to build. Heavy weight exposes you to possible injury. Safe exercise means choosing and handling your weights and movements carefully. You are free to play with wild abandon but exercise can’t help you if you treat it like play.

Understand that:

A. Activity and sport are for fun and to help off set the effects of sitting around (being sedentary).

B. Exercise means reducing weakness thus reducing wear and tear. Exercise is medicine.

C. Both can include risk so play and exercise safely.

Be well, be strong,

Andrew and Tierney