1) Warm-up. For some, the notion of being told to warm up is akin to a clich. Well, it is never a good idea to rush in and hit the weights because this can lead to a number of problems along the lines of serious injuries.
Performing a proper warm up raises the body’s core temperature which aids in making the metabolism shift into gear while also “pre-lubricating” the joints in preparation for the upcoming workout. This allows the body to be ready to handle the weights.
A warm-up should consist of 5-10 minutes of moderate cardio work on a treadmill, stationary bike or other such device. Investing a little time with light stretching will also help prepare for the weights. It is also helpful to take the weights and perform 1-2 light sets before your “real” sets begin.
2) Stretch. Failure to stretch will make your muscle bellies shorten over time, making you less flexible. While it may seem like a minor aesthetic detail to get that slightly-hunched, gorilla-look, your muscles and joints become a lot more vulnerable.
If a supporting muscle stiffens or becomes shortened, it will start interfering with the normal groove of your exercises. Not a big deal at first, but over time you train increasingly “wrong” and put a lot of extra stress on joints, ligaments and unintended secondary muscle groups. The cumulative effect over a couple of years can throw some serious curveballs at your bodybuilding efforts.
Stretching between sets flushes out lactic acid and byproducts while bringing in fresh nutrients, thus making your stronger for your next set. Finally, the post-stretching helps you recover faster between workouts. In a nutshell, you stretch slowly, without bouncing, for 30 seconds or more taking care not to inadvertently put undue stress on the joints.
3) Control. There is great temptation with loading up on heavy weights and cheat your way to the conclusion of a set. Controlled cheating is an intensity boosting technique many prominent bodybuilders advocate.
But, cheating should really only be performed at the end of a normal set in order to gain additional reps. Swaying or using momentum from the second rep on means you have selected too much weight and you can’t workout effectively.
Another aspect of control to employ will center on avoiding any means of bouncing, jerking or partially moving through the sheer force of necessity. In other words, when you stop halfway down in the negative phase of a biceps curl due to being unable to handle the exercise you are using way too much weight.
4) Strong Abs. The midsection is home to the stabilizer muscles that hold the body together. When you fail to build a solid, balanced midsection, you will always be in danger of suffering a problem when performing overhead presses of other such exercise.
Think about a barbell military press. From feet to hips, you’re pretty much standing straight. Then you lean backwards so that you can stay balanced while pushing up the barbell and the only thing protecting your spine is your abs. In fact, ab tension is a prerequisite for getting into the starting position.
5) Safety Precautions. You don’t buckle up in your car because you expect to crash. You do it so just in case one occurs your injuries will be minimized. The gym works the same way.
Likewise, attempting heavy barbell bench presses to failure without a spotter is little more than Russian roulette. You can even up the ante by using “monkey grip” (thumbs on the same side as the rest of the fingers) for the added thrill of potentially dropping 300 lbs on your face.
None of this is too difficult to comprehend and all of these 5 steps can help reduce the chances of an injury from occurring.
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