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Exercise can be dangerous. Indeed you could get hurt or even die; this is all true. This is why they make you sign off on all those waiver forms with you join and gym; it could happen. The only way to guarantee you will not get injured from exercising is to stay home and not move at all. For most of us here, that simply is not an option. Training is a way of life and is just something we must do to achieve our physical or even mental goals whatever they may be. Since we established that we are going to be training for a very longtime (hopefully the rest of our lives), let us formulate some strategies for reducing our exposure to injury. I have been training for 13 years, went from a branch-like 143lbs to a decent 220lbs, and have increased my overall strength dramatically. But along the way, I also picked up a few dents and scratches. Here is what my injury chart looks like: Ankle Sprain x 3 (Basketball) While now I only ride in the passenger seat of a golf cart, I still train hard and heavy in the gym, even though as you can see many of my injuries occurred while using heavy loads. Looking back, I can see that many of my injuries could have been prevented if I had just practiced a few anticipatory techniques with greater adherence.
Gone are the days that you do jumping-jacks or swing your arms in big circles as an adequate warm-up movement. A well-designed warm-up will assist the athlete in mentally focusing on the upcoming task and will bring about various physiological changes that will enhance the training activity or competition. An active warm-up that increases the athlete’s core temperature will improve performance by improving range of motion, producing a higher oxygen uptake, lowering lactate accumulations, increasing muscle pH, improving the speed and force of muscle contractions, and increasing the speed of transmission of nerve impulses (1). As you can see, a good warm-up can not only serve as an injury prevention tool but also a physical performance enhancement. Your warm-up routine should be split into two parts: General & Specialized. The goal of your general segment is to raise the core body temperature, increase joint lubrication and enhance mental awareness. This segment basically wakes the body and mind up, giving them full warning that they are both about to be placed under stress. The following are a few examples of general warm-up activities. Brisk walk/light jog. These are your traditional aerobic-based exercises designed to use the larger muscles in the body in a repetitive fashion to elevate heart rate and core body temperature. The specialized segment focuses on movement specific or functional drills that will enhance performance in a particular task. These can range form empty bar drills in which you perfect your exercise form with very small loads (skill rehearsal) to plyometric jumps to increase neuromuscular firing before a lower body workout. Specialized warm-up can also prepare antagonist muscle groups for the workout ahead, this limiting chances of injury and at the same time boosting performance. An example of this would be to perform a very light set of barbell rows before hitting a bench press workout. Keep in mind that your warm-up routine is not an extended aerobic session. You want to be fresh, loose, mentally and physically ready for the training session to come. Therefore you should limit your warm-up times to no more than 5-6 minutes.
It is important to note the difference between stretching and the warm-up. Many people get the two confused with each other and believe they are the same thing. Stretching before a workout is used to increase the range of motion (ROM) of a joint. Joints with larger ROM, to an extent, may have less chance of injury during a movement. But recent studies have shown that static stretch may actually decrease physical performance (2). Although static stretching has been found to be effective in causing an acute increase in the ROM at a joint, research indicating that static stretching can also produce a significant acute decrement, of approximately 5–30%, in strength and power production of the stretched muscle groups has accumulated (3). It should be noted that in many of these studies, the participant performed static stretching for up to 30 minutes. Try stretching of half an hour and see if you are not a bit fatigued by the time you get to you workout. The take home point here is to limit your static stretching to problem areas at which you of ROM issues and to make full use of dynamic stretching during the specialized segment of your warm-up. Also be sure you use stretching after a training session to help with recovery and reduce muscle soreness. Balanced Exercise Prescription How many times have you heard this line? “I used to bench press 300+ pounds, then my shoulder gave out on me”. I would venture to guess that most of these guys pressed 3-5 times per week and did very little else than chest and arms. Two things happen here; overtraining and unbalanced strength development. Overtraining usually stems from our “more is better” mentality. We justify the additional sets, reps, weight or exercises by convincing ourselves that if “X” number of sets, reps etc gives us “Y” results, then “X multiplied by two” will result in “Y times 2”. While progress in the gym does require progressive overload, this equation simply does not work. There are many more variables that go into the equation: genetics, nutrition, age, training age etc. We also overtrain particular movements, such as the bench press, because we like them more than others. Look inside any gym next Monday and count how many guys are doing some sort of bench press, then count how many are deadlifting, squatting or performing weighted chin-ups. Your results will tell all. Many lifters also get caught up in the idea of having to use heavier loads each week. Again, some may take a good idea like progressive overload and over do it. If you have been training any good length of time, you know that you will not get stronger each and every week; some weeks your strong, others not so strong. Planned periods of high intensity training followed by a taper, or planned overreaching followed by super-compensation will allow muscles to be challenged while permitting time for phases of recovery (Periodization). By not allowing the supporting structures of the joint and the muscle tissue to adequately heal, one can open themselves to a larger window for decreased performance and injury. This also leads to unbalanced strength development in the body where some muscles are over or under developed when compared to their opposing muscle group. Imbalances between quadriceps and hamstring strength can lead to knee injuries. Strong pectorals and anterior deltoids coupled with a weak upper back and posterior shoulder complex can cause shoulder issues. This is where a well designed, balanced exercise routine can come into play. An athlete whose strength is well developed and well balanced will perform better and have a smaller window for injury. Balanced development of all the muscle groups is also a key quality to any bodybuilder.
Learning, perfecting and practicing proper exercise form is going to be your #1 tool protecting you from possible injury. Unfortunately, in gyms everywhere sloppy form is the norm, a direct result of the focus on higher and higher loading. Correct form is especially important when performing exercises such as the barbell squat, deadlift, bench press, bent over rows and all types of Olympic power exercises. Multi-joint, compound exercises such as these can take longer to learn and at the same time expose your muscles and joints to larger loads than single joint movements. Another reason you should perfect these exercises is that together they can elicit some amazing muscle gains (read more about this in our “BIG 4” article.) Just remember “Quality before Quantity”.
Safety equipment definitely can reduce your risk of injury if properly used. Belts should be used only with near maximal loads. Overuse of a weight belt can result in weakness in the back erectors and even weak abdominals. It can also dramatically increase blood pressure which can easily be relieved by taking the belt off or loosening it between sets. Knee and wrist wraps also have their place but again these should only be used with high loads or if there is an injury already present. Using ice, Epsom Salt baths, contrasting showers, massage, foam rollers and even some cross-training are all effective means of aiding recovery and reducing the likelihood of injury.
Listen to your body. Remember that you are in this game for life and you only have one body during this time. Treat it with respect. Be flexible with your training protocols as your body changes with time and may not be able to recover as quickly as it did 5-10 years ago. Train hard, but be smart. Make full use of the above techniques as well as your own will go far in keeping you in the gym and ensuring you long-term health and progress. References: 1. John R. Swanson MAEd, MSEd, CSCS, *D; USAW. 2006: A Functional
Approach to Warm-up and Flexibility. Strength and Conditioning
Journal: Vol. 28, No. 5, pp. 30–36.
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