Tips on How To Avoid Injuries While Training
Injury is that road block in your fitness journey that may stall you for a couple of days, perhaps weeks or months. Sometimes a higher level of ignorance towards these can make it last lifelong and this effectively knocks you out of the gym forever, while causing much further damage to your body. Needless to say, you as a responsible adult wouldn’t want that. Nobody goes in the gym looking forward to getting injured. It can be an absolute disaster especially if you are very passionate about exercising and working out. But still, many people face such problems. Whether be their lower back, shoulder girdles or even their knee caps, people develop some serious problems just after a few months or an year’s training. What are these people doing wrong? The hard work they put in seems legitimate, but at the end of the day they are still going in the inverse direction of achieving any results.
So, How To Avoid Injuries While Training?
The answer to this question is multiplexed. Many incorrect training methods contribute in damaging one’s body and you may be doing many things horribly wrong in the gym that are propelling you to self destruction. Here’s a good guide, with tips referenced from top fitness athletes in India to help you convert your body into an injury proof weight crushing machine.
Incorrect Exercise Technique
It’s hard to correct flawed form once a person has been doing the same for some time. You need to be extra cautious right from the beginning about the way you are executing a movement. Whatever your goal is, incorrect form shouldn’t be overlooked. Try to get a responsible trainer right by your side while performing compound movements if you are a beginner. Monitor the way your body is feeling when you are moving the weights. If you don’t feel it on your target muscle, then you may be doing it wrong. Bad exercise form in the heavy compound movements like The Bench Press and the overhead press would definitely hurt your elbow tendons, ultimately causing inflammation because of the tendinitis caused their and Exercises like Deadlifts and Squats done without proper form would mess up your spine.
Going Super Heavy all the time
Getting pumped for a session is great. Just don’t be over- zealous in your approach and go hardcore all the time. You could damage your central nervous system this way. Alternate heavy workouts with light weight, pump up type workouts. 1:3 ratio is perfect for many. Always keep one person around whenever you are going heavy. Many people try to be ego lift heavy without a spotter and end up injuring themselves in the process. This spotter should be right behind you in case anything goes wrong in the entire set. Also it isn’t wise to put more on the bar than you could handle. Don’t rely on your spotter to help you to complete all of your reps. Things can go south anywhere in such sets and the only way to avoid it is not doing this on a regular basis.
Disproportionate Muscle Growth and Unbalanced Training Approach.
Focusing on one part way too much while ignoring or under training the others would lead you to grow a disproportionate musculature. This would make your body unbalanced. Not only would the heavier muscles take load for generally all the exercises you do, other muscle groups would lag further away from the strong muscles. That’s why you need to concentrate on every muscle when you start training. Let me take an example. You train your shoulders with three exercises for the front deltoid, one for the side and one for the upper traps, completely ignoring your rear deltoids. So what would happen when you do a violent jerking movement like throwing a punch or swimming? Since the front would execute a lot more force than the rear, it would pop the shoulder out from its cap.That’s why you need to balance out all the opposing muscles to avoid injuries.
Extreme dieting measures
Proper dieting is an essential for achieving your dream physique. Whether you want to be bigger and stronger or stouter and leaner, your diet needs to reflect that goal of yours. But going overboard with your diet, which many often do, becomes counterproductive. Sure you would rapidly achieve your goals, but altering your body composition shouldn’t be done like this. If you gain too much weight too quickly, you could face heart problems or other problems fat people face. If you lose weight quickly, it would take thrice the effort to regain your lost strength. Also, the muscle tendons require adequate nutrition to perform; hence going on an extreme cutting diet without proper supplementation wouldn’t be a great idea. Just pace yourself with your diet for the longevity of your results and avoid injuries. Not listening to the signs your body is trying to give you.
Your body gives you signals when you are over trained. That’s when you don’t feel like training. The deal with some people is that they over indulge in their every commitment. You need to let go every once in a while so that your body gets a breather from your intense regimen. Try this analogy. Your body is like a machine. And like every machine it needs cool down time to vent out all the exertion that it has carried out in the past.
Plan regular de-load weeks from training in which you train very less or don’t train at all.
Not resting an injured area properly
Ok so you have injured yourself already. So what next? If you feel a certain amount of pain while training, forfeit training for that body part or any other body part that inflames the irritation. Resume training once that pain is completely out of the way. Visit a physician who will instruct you when to resume your training. Yes you may have all the enthusiasm to get back but REST is the BEST thing to do here. Follow these tips every time you hit the gym or exercise and keep them in your mind throughout your training program.
