The potential to have a workout injury is a big hurdle for many out of shape curvy women. It was never really my concern. I had never had any issues jumping back in after stopping for a while. But um…let me tell you what had happened! I stopped training with my Personal Trainer who I had been working out with for about 3-4 years at the time. Everything was going great and I didn’t want to quit but I was saving for a house and needed to adhere to a strict budget at the time. BIG MISTAKE!!! Though I didn’t know just how horrible it would be! I didn’t wanna stop working out so I found a groupon for a local bootcamp to attend. Before I signed up, I asked around and one of the secretary’s on the hospital unit I worked on vouched for it. So I bought the groupon and was excited to get started.

Hmmm…I had never gone to a bootcamp before so I didn’t really know what to expect. Fast forward…everything is timed and people are racing to do x amount of reps. I knew I wanted to perfect the form because that’s something my Personal Trainer stressed as important. On this particular day, I asked one of the bootcamp trainers to show me a modification to an exercise that I didn’t feel comfortable doing. He looked at me crazy and said they don’t do that and pressured me to do the exercise. I did it and sprained my ankle.😞 I told the owner about what happened and needless to say I was no longer welcome to attend the bootcamp. I don’t remember if he refunded my money, but probably so.

BTW, guess what I did after that…you’ll have to keep reading to find out😁

Moral of the story? Be your own health advocate. Take care of your curvy body and prevent workout injuries by following these tips:

#1 Get Adequate Sleep

Curvyfitsis, sleep is a major foundational piece of health. There’s no getting around it.

“Sleep trumps everything” like my Personal Trainer would say.

The key is to get an adequate amount of sleep that allows you to awake and feel fully rested and prepared for the day. Never underestimate quality in sleep as well as workouts.

• Don’t let the internet streets fool you, you have to be Team Get Sleep to succeed in the curvy fit lifestyle

• Resting the body is a part of the process

• A restored, healed body is ready to do the most in curvy workouts and avoid injuries

• Inadequate sleep means less muscle recovery time, lower immune system function and basically weakens every system of the body making you prone for injury

#2 Adequately Nourish Your Body

• You must be hydrated and nourished to fuel the curvy body

• The body fatigues faster and more easily without proper nutrition making you prone to injury while exercising

• A nourished body can perform well

• Hydrate and eat according to your curvy fitness activity level. Listen to what your curvy body requires and do just that. Don’t be caught up in hitting these generic numbers that you’ve seen on social media or heard from “them”. Learning and listening to your body will allow you to not only know how much you need to intake, but what it desires for you to ingest to support it best

It is disrespectful to ask your curvy body to exert energy in workouts when you haven’t done the minimum of giving it proper nutrients. If you are not going to drink your water and eat adequately, then you need not bother with training at all. Your curvy body functions to the best of its ability with what you give it. Nourish your curvy body as an act of love, so you can stay curvy fit and have the freedom to do as you wish free of injury.

#3 Warmup

If you are reading this, you are either an aspiring or active curvy athlete! You have to remember that you become what you believe. Curvy Fit Chicks are curvy athletes that are continually challenging themselves to be the best. Being the best means doing what is best for your curvy body to perform at peak and prevent anything that will slow you down or cause harm. Healthy curvy athletes warmup to….

• Prepare your body to perform

• Allow the blood and oxygen to circulate throughout the body at a faster rate

• Give muscles the ability to lengthen as needed

• Increase the temperature in the body and muscles for flexibility

• Get your mental faculties ready for what’s to transpire

Click here for a demonstration of one of the warmups I do to prepare for my curvy beach training. Warming up is a great way to spot any areas of concern before getting into anything strenuous. You can make adjustments to the warmup or how you train in response so you can get the most out of the sessions. You are living this curvy fit lifestyle so you can be fit and inury-free. Warming up enables you to keep doing just that.

#4 Listen to Your Body

My Personal Trainer reminds us(Curvy Fit Chicks) that our bodies know more than we do. Look…I have had to rehab and recover from a flip over truck accident and this was one of the hardest lessons to learn. So many times I wanted to push myself when my body was saying…we’re done or I’m good. I’d be struggling to stop and my Fitness Guru would say, “Stop. The body knows its limits. You’ve done the most you can do and that’s enough”. I would stop. At first I’d be disappointed and wishing I could do more as if doing more would cause faster healing. It does not and will not heal the body any faster by going beyond the limits. It will cause greater injury. I’m glad I listened and had the guidance of a fitness professional that understood the importance of listening to your body. Your body will tell you how far it can go.

Don’t let your stubbornness or inadequacy lead you to injury. Protect your curvy body at all cost even if the culprit is YOU.

• Pay attention to the clues

• You know when you should stop

• Listen and stop if need be, otherwise, sis…you will regret it

#5 No Cheating

this is a big one! Most literature I’ve read isn’t direct when it comes to the issue of cheating and how it sabotages and sets you up for injuries and so much more. I’m not going to tell you that it never crossed my mind EVER. What I will say is that I don’t have the gall to dishonor and give myself the minimum. I have worked wayyy too hard to get to where I am. It is a matter of dignity, self-love and respect at this point in the game.

Do I know why you may be tempted to cheat? Of course I do, what happens is you are given an exercise to do that is straight whoopin yo butt! You feel the burn seriously and it feels difficult to hold the correct form so you start to slip into a more comfortable position. This is dangerous because….

• Doing exercises improperly can potentially cause injury

• Skipping the process in one exercise can lead to cheating in other areas like sleep deprivation, poor nutrition, etc.

• Cheating can give you a false sense of strength and you end up attempting exercises outside of your fitness abilities and hurt yourself because your muscles are weaker than you imagined

I know the Curvy Fit Chicks would dare not cheat, but I wanted to cover this anyway. Nothing good comes from cheating yourself out of doing exercises correctly. Do right by your curvy body. Surround yourself around curvy women who workout with integrity so like the Curvy Fit Chicks, there is a culture of doing your best and the most in your curvy workouts.

#6 Stop Comparison

Oooh-wee, where do I begin? First of all, there’s no need to compare yourself to anyone because you are a continual work in progress. I tell everyone that being my best is a 24/7/365 job. The only curvy woman who’s story you fully know is your own. So stop comparing with false info and focus on your curvy fit journey.

When you’re distracted by the performance of another curvy athlete, you will try to outshine her. You know what happens. You start thinking..”Who does she think she is? Shoot I can do that and better.” So you do the exercise, ignore your body’s pain signals, start cheating and next thing you know you’re hurt. Or worse, you lose control running down the hill, fall and begin rolling down the hill. The other women run to your rescue and ask if you’re okay. You say you’re fine with visible scrapes and scratches on your face. You refuse help. Your ego is bruised. You never speak or come back over to workout with them cause you are embarassed. Now this may or may not have happened while I was training at the park and a certain woman made condescending comments about what she could do vs what we were doing.

Don’t get hurt worried about what any other woman is doing. Perfect what you are doing.

I share this pic below of my workout partner and I to share that comparison isn’t necessary. We challenge one another to do our best. Our focus is on form and getting stronger, fitter and faster. Girl…you should catch us doing our beach run. She glides across the sand. I do the absolute best I can do. Do I beat her? Nope! Does it bother me? Nope! Why? I’m doing my best and going at full capacity. If I tried to compare and go beyond that, I’d be injured and have to slow down my pace. I don’t want to digress in my journey. So no comparisons here.

#7 Hire a Personal Trainer

I can’t stress this enough! Do you remember the intro story I shared earlier? Do you recall what happened? If you forgot, go back and read it. Nevertheless, Girlll, it taught me a valuable lesson about priorities, costs and investment. I learned that…

• Not all so called trainers are alike

• I ended paying more by going the cheaper route

  • I injured my ankle

  • Had to stop working out

  • Loss time, money and energy

• Not only did fitness have to remain a priority, but that I had to be willing to make the investment with the right Personal Trainer for the best results

• I am not able to workout with a trainer who is not versatile or knowledgeable enough in their craft to work with different body types

• I cannot work with trainers who do not know how to create modifications of exercises to acclimate to the person’s skill level and thus prevent potential for injury for the client

  Long story short, when my ankle healed, I returned to my Personal Trainer and included the expense in my budget from that point on

Working with a competent Personal Trainer that knows how to navigate and train curvy bodies is crucial. For Curvy Fit Chicks, it is also important that he/she understands the goal of sculpting our bodies to their best version and not attempting to create something unattainable. The best Personal Trainers will…

1. Assess your curvy body and fitness level

2. Train your body to the best of its ability

3. Challenge your curves

4. Know when and how far to push you to greatness

5. Be able to modify exercises when needed

6. Continually evaluate your progress

7. Reinforce all the previous steps discussed in this article so you can prevent the likelihood of an injury

Alright Curvyfitsis, the name of the game is to train safely, efficiently and effectively with all these tips in mind to curb any potential for injuries. We don’t want anything slowing down our results. So be proactive and be responsible in your curvy fit journey.