We’ve all been there. When fitness is your life, an injury can be devastating. Whether it’s minor or major, the fact is that you’ll likely have to take a break from your usual regime. When your passion involves gaming, writing or playing an instrument, being inactive for a short period of time doesn’t seem like such a huge burden. Of course, when your passion involves fitness, then inactivity is a horrible form of torture.

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Of course, the main worry here is that you’ll fall out of your routine forever. Depending on your injury, you might be out of action for a few weeks, or perhaps only a few days. Either way, it doesn’t take long for your schedule to become completely messed up and, due to fear of enduring some injury again, you might find that you can’t get back into your fitness routine, even after you’ve physically healed.

Confidence is the key here. If you want to get back on your feet and resume your old routine, whether that involves jogging out on the streets or lifting weights in the gym, you have to put your injury behind you and learn how to better look after your body in the future. Here are some key tips to help you achieve that.

Assess the damage.

Suffering an injury, whether it was inflicted by a sport or a strenuous fitness routine, is something which must be overcome both physically and mentally. The key to the former is patience, but the key to the latter involves confidence and understanding. You need to understand the damage you’ve done to your body before you can truly decide when to start exercising again, and how much your body can endure in the initial period following your healed injury.

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Figure out what went wrong, and fix it in the future.

It’s important to see this injury as a learning experience, so as to ensure that something like it never happens again. If you’re a jogger, perhaps you didn’t warm up properly or perhaps you exerted too much weight on one ankle. Whatever the case, it’s important to ensure that you practice a safe routine, so you should always ensure that you’re conducting all warm-ups and exercises in the proper fashion.

Of course, there’s every chance that you suffered an injury at the gym as a result of faulty equipment. You could look into legal professionals specializing in personal injury if you feel the accident wasn’t your fault. It’s important that equipment is made safe for future use, more than anything.

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Know your limits.

I’m not saying you should hold yourself back. On the contrary, the key to becoming healthier and more active is to gradually push your body further as you improve. However, the gradual part of this process is crucial, because it isn’t a race. Our bodies adapt to changes slowly, but this can’t be forced. If you over-exercise and push yourself beyond your body’s limits, you’ll be doing your muscles damage, rather than building them up. If you want to avoid injuries in the future and exercise properly, you need to be patient and understand what your body cannot do, as well as what it can do.