At the start of each year, Ping Center employees see a major influx of students trying to make good on their New Year's resolutions, but if those students start off on their resolutions too quickly, it could do more harm than good.
About 41 percent of Americans make New Year's resolutions every year. According to Statistic Brain, an online statistic platform, one of the top resolutions for the 41 percent is weight loss.
“The first week is always ridiculous. Everything’s packed; nobody can get to the machines they want,” James O’Toole, an employee at Ping and an Ohio University student who studies sports management, said.
"Overworking your body while exercising is much easier than one would think," personal trainer and group fitness instructor Miranda Vandagriff said. "When people who aren’t used to working out multiple times a week throw themselves into an intense routine, their bodies can’t sustain the changes and are more prone to injury."
“You’re putting your body through exercise and stress … your endurance is not going to be where it needs to be to sustain that,” Vandagriff said.
"Signs of overworking include tight joints, stiff tendons, soreness, dizziness and weakness during a workout," she said.
Many students ignore the warnings to start slow and throw themselves into a workout, much like Eva Bugg, a junior studying health services administration, did with her New Year's resolution last year. As a former cross country athlete, Bugg decided to start running again to stay fit but didn’t take into account her body’s change in endurance.
“I started running how I did in high school — five miles a day — which is really not smart,” Bugg said.
By overworking herself in the gym, Bugg strained her iliotibial band, or IT band, and had to quit running.
"I had to go to physical therapy, and I ended up worse off than when I began my New Year's resolution," she said.
In order to ease into a workout, Vandagriff tells her clients to know their abilities and limitations, rather than go overboard with expectations they know they can't reach.
"If you know you are not going to wake up at six in the morning because you never wake up at six in the morning to go running, do not tell yourself you’re going to do that," Vandagriff said.
