Post-holiday fitness craze can be dangerous

January is a boom time for the fitness industry, as millions of guilt-ridden Americans flock — at least temporarily — to health clubs to try to shed excess pounds acquired over the holidays.

“People eat too much, drink too much, and everyone wants to come back to the gym,” said Jose Velasquez, 40, a restaurant worker who regularly works out at an LA Fitness gym in Washington, D.C., and has seen the post-holiday boom-and-bust phenomenon again and again.

But for the inexperienced, the gym can pose unexpected hazards. Many fitness wannabes are not familiar with how to use exercise machines and other equipment and can easily sustain head, eye, back, neck, hip, leg and ankle injuries.

“Right after the holidays, there’s a mad rush of people who have never exercised before or haven’t exercised in a long time,” said Leon E. Popovitz, a veteran orthopedic surgeon at New York Bone and Joint Specialists in Manhattan. “That leads to a lot of injuries that normally could be avoided.”

Hundreds of thousands of Americans suffer injuries every year while working out — stumbling on treadmills, falling off exercise balls, getting snapped in the face by resistance bands, dropping weights on their toes and wrenching their backs by lifting too much weight.

Here are some tips from Popovitz and other fitness experts to avoid mishaps on the gym floor:

Use a professional trainer to show you the ropes. The biggest mistake a newcomer can make is springing to action on treadmills, elliptical trainers, leg presses, pulleys and other equipment without basic instructions for avoiding accidents and injuries.

Beware of treadmills. While they may seem to be the most basic and benign piece of equipment on the floor, studies and media reports suggest that treadmills cause the most injuries — to young and old — of any type of exercise equipment.

Moderate your weightlifting. Many novices mistakenly obsess over maximizing the weight they are lifting and the number of repetitions rather than concentrating on good form and sensible weight loads.

Know your own limitations. While this may be more of a problem for exercise fanatics than health club newbies, experts warn that people who regularly push their bodies to the breaking point can do serious damage to their shoulders and joints and risk life-threatening breakdowns of their muscles.