31 March 2023
How to Recover From a Sports Injury With Exercise, Without Making It Worse
Massimo Massaro's Must-Try Exercise Regimen for Quick Results
Achieving fast results in weight loss and muscle-building requires a well-designed exercise regimen.
Massimo Massaro, a Personal Trainer and Functional Range Conditioning Mobility Specialist, shares his must-try exercise regimen for those seeking quick results without sacrificing safety and effectiveness.
- High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT):
HIIT involves alternating between short bursts of intense exercise and brief recovery periods.
This type of workout is efficient, burns a significant number of calories, and helps to increase both aerobic and anaerobic fitness.
Incorporate HIIT workouts 2-3 times per week, focusing on exercises like sprints, jump squats, or burpees.
2. Full-body compound exercises:
Compound exercises engage multiple muscle groups simultaneously, making them efficient and effective for building muscle and burning calories.
Include exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, and pull-ups in your regimen, aiming for 3-4 sets of 8-12 repetitions each.
3. Targeted isolation exercises:
To address specific muscle groups and ensure balanced development, incorporate isolation exercises into your routine.
Examples include bicep curls, tricep extensions, hamstring curls, and calf raises.
Perform 2-3 sets of 10-15 repetitions for each exercise.
4. Progressive overload:
To continually challenge your muscles and promote growth, gradually increase the weight, repetitions, or intensity of your workouts.
This principle ensures that your body adapts to the increased demands, leading to consistent progress in strength and muscle mass.
5. Active recovery and mobility work:
To prevent injury and promote optimal performance, include active recovery and mobility exercises in your routine.
Perform low-intensity activities like walking, swimming, or yoga on your rest days.
Additionally, incorporate mobility work like Functional Range Conditioning (FRC) to enhance joint function and flexibility.
6. Consistency and variety:
Stick to a regular workout schedule, aiming for 4-5 sessions per week. To prevent plateaus and maintain motivation, periodically change your exercises, intensity, or workout structure.
7. Proper nutrition and rest:
Support your exercise regimen with a balanced diet, focusing on whole foods, adequate protein, and healthy fats. Prioritize sleep and rest days to allow your body to recover and rebuild muscle tissue.
By following Massimo Massaro's must-try exercise regimen, you can achieve quick results in weight loss and muscle-building while ensuring your workouts are safe and effective. Remember that consistency, proper nutrition, and adequate rest are key components of any successful fitness journey.
If you've got a persistent sports injury, a dodgy knee, a shoulder that never fully healed, a lower back that flares up every time you try to train, you're probably frustrated.
You might have had physio. You might have rested for months. And yet the problem keeps coming back.
Here's why: rest and passive treatment alone rarely fix the underlying cause of a sports injury.
The root of most recurring injuries is weakness or movement dysfunction and the only way to address those is through progressive, targeted exercise.
The Most Common Mistake in Injury Recovery
Most people either rest completely (which weakens the area further) or return to full training too soon (which re-injures the same structures).
The sweet spot is a structured rehabilitation programme that progressively loads the injured area in a controlled way.
As a Functional Range Conditioning Mobility Specialist (FRCms), I assess joint function before building a programme that specifically targets the movement restrictions and weaknesses driving your injury.
What an Exercise-Based Rehab Programme Looks Like
- Week 1–2: Joint assessment and movement re-education, teaching the body to move properly around the injury
- Week 3–4: Controlled strength work at the end of the available range of motion
- Week 5–8: Progressive loading, building strength and resilience in the injured tissue
- Week 9–12: Sport or activity-specific conditioning, preparing for return to full training
Why This Works
Tendons, ligaments and muscles respond to load. When you progressively challenge them with controlled exercise, they adapt and become stronger.
When you avoid using them, they weaken. The research is clear: exercise-based rehabilitation produces better long-term outcomes than rest alone for the vast majority of musculoskeletal injuries.
Getting Started in Orpington
Conditioned Fitness in Orpington offers sports injury rehabilitation programmes with Massimo Massaro BSc FRCms. One of very few personal trainers in South East London with an advanced qualification specifically in joint health and mobility.
Sessions are 100% private, 1:1, and tailored to your injury and your goals.
If you're dealing with a persistent sports injury in the Orpington, Bromley, or Sevenoaks area, call
07950 398025 to book a free assessment.
