Top 5 Ways to Prevent Injury

Injuries associated with weight training are most often associated with the force of eccentric, or negative actions of the lift. When the muscles are under tension while they lengthen they can handle greater force than the shortening phase of the lift.

If you lower the weights too fast during weight training, gravity and momentum can create more force than your muscles, tendons and joints can handle which increases the chance of injury dramatically.

Your weight training experience largely determines the speed in which you can perform repetitions of your weight training exercises.

To stay injury free, it is best to perform each rep in a completely controlled manner. Around 1 second for all three phases of the lift should be controlled enough to get the benefits of weight training without having increased chances of injuries.

4. Proper Rest Proper Rest helps prevent Injury

Regardless of your goals for your fitness program, hard training means very little if your body does not recover from it.

Proper rest, which includes sleep as well as taking days off allows your body to utilize the food you put in your body to keep your body performing at peak condition.

Without proper rest, your body may become weak and the likelihood of injury is increased dramatically.

How much sleep every night you need to keep your chances of injury low varies from person to person. If you feel full of energy when you wake up, you are most likely getting enough sleep.

Rest in between workout sessions is important. An intense full body weight training session usually requires 1 or 2 days of rest (no structured weight training).

3. Proper Exercise Form Exercise Form Goes a Long way to Prevent Injuries

The human body is built a certain way. Your body may be different from others but the general structure of your body (bones, joints, & muscles) very similar across the human race.

Since weight training and cardio exercise consists of repetitive motions, proper form is important for reducing the chance of injury. Perform exercises properly in the proper planes of motion and your body will not likely get injured.

If you perform exercises improperly, your body will respond like a rubber band. You can stretch it and stretch it and it won't break, but eventually it will snap.

Most exercises are meant for a specific muscle group. If you perform exercises for one muscle group and you feel pain, or discomfort in another, you may not be performing exercises properly.

It is best to receive thorough instruction before you take part in an exercise program. If you have never had a personal trainer or weight training instructor you may want to check out the Exercise Video Library for many exercises with verbal descriptions of the proper form.

2. Know Your Own Body

In order to prevent injury it is important for you to know how read the warning signs your body tells you.

You should always perform exercises within your envelope of function, this simply means, "if it hurts, don't do it." If you are feeling tired and could take a nap, an exercise session is probably best to put on the back burner until you have sufficient energy.

If you think your doing something wrong, make sure you do your research or seek answers from a professional to make sure your exercise program is not doing more harm than good.

Exercise is important to build a healthy mind-body connection. Since your body adapts to exercise rather rapidly, it is a good idea to perform a variety of exercises. Keep your body guessing and you will be able to improve your mind-body connection by learning how your body responds to different stimuli.

Yoga has been used for thousands of years to help you improve your mind-body connection. Consider practicing yoga either in a class or along with a DVD.

1. General Warm-up General Warm-up is Cardio Exercise to Increase Blood Flow

It may seem too good to be true, or too simple, but a simple 5-10 minute general warm up before any exercise session is perhaps the best way to prevent injuries.

When you are at rest, the majority of your blood is stored in the core of your body where your vital organs and digestive tract is. Your extremities have less blood flow (think cold hands & feet) and are less flexible.

A general warm-up helps warm the muscles in your extremity by getting your heard pumping and circulating your blood. Once your muscles are warmed up, injuries will be less likely simply because your muscles will be more flexible and ready for the upcoming exercise or stretching.

A general warm-up simply involves 5-10 minutes of low to moderate intensity cardio. The best cardio warm-up exercises involve large muscle groups so anything other than twiddling your thumbs will be sufficient to get your body temperature up, circulate the blood to your extremities and prevent injury.

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Prevent Injury the Scientific Way

Posture Problems
Muscle imbalances can cause posture problems. Learn the mechanism behind the common issues with posture. You can also check out upper body stretches which will help correct muscle imbalances.

Leg Stretches
Learn most of the corrective exercise strategies for the lower body to achieve proper muscle balance and reduce the chance of overuse injuries.

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5. Controlled Resistance (Weight) Training

4. Proper Rest

3. Proper Exercise Form

2. Know Your Own Body

1. General Warm-up

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Prevent Injury the Scientific Way