CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. (WROC) — Starting next week gyms can reopen.  But, Doctors say jumping right back into your pre-COVID workout routine can cause injuries. Severe soreness or pulling a muscle could be the result of not working out properly after months of being inactive.

According to the Medical Director of Rochester Regional Health Sports Medicine, if people have been inactive for more than two weeks, start by cutting your workouts in half. Meaning take it easy and don’t go as frequently as you used to.  Instead, it is recommended to ramp up the intensity of your workout in a four week period. This will allow your muscle groups and joints to recondition to the activity level you were at before the coronavirus pandemic.

MORE | Here’s what gyms in New York state need to do to reopen

“The mistakes that we make are that we are trying to make up for that time off in one workout session or in one week. Then we’re going to injure something. So we’re going to get muscle pulls, we’re going to get overuse injuries. things like that. delayed muscle soreness,” said Dr. Chris Brown, Medical Director of RRH Sports Medicine & orthopaedic surgeon for Finger Lakes Bone and Joint in Canandaigua.

Doctor Brown says if you have been active during the shutdown like doing outdoor fitness classes or doing virtual and weight workouts at home, you can ramp up your gym intensity in a two week period rather than four.

“We want to make sure we are staggering the muscle groups. You want to make sure you’re taking a day or two off if you’re doing upper body or lower body. so you wont get this delayed muscle soreness thing,” said Brown.

Remember to warm up before every workout.