If you’re truly serious about making progress, you might head to the gym every day with the intention of pushing each set to the max. However, when you put your mind, muscles, joints, and nervous system through such stress on a daily basis, the occasional injury is bound to occur. And while it is not a huge issue to manifest some aches and pains now and again, it should be the exception and not the rule.
In other words, if you find yourself in constant agony, often needing to take pain meds, avoiding various exercises, or taking extended time off, then you definitely have a serious problem. This isn’t about how to treat your injuries but why they’re happening and how to prevent them. Train with prevention in mind and you can keep pumping iron pain-free.
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Mistake #1: Skipping the Warmup
Before pounding on your muscles and joints, it’s a good idea to increase systemic core temperature and get some blood flow going into the muscle groups you are about to target. A short walk on a treadmill or quick, five-minute ride on a stationary bike is a perfect way to kick things off.
Follow this up with some simple calisthenics like neck rotations, shoulder rolls, torso twists, and side bends. Finish with a high rep set of bench presses, pull downs, lateral raises, and squats to finish priming your body for the workout ahead.
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Mistake #2: Using Poor Technique
Nothing causes more sudden injuries than lifting with improper form. Jerking and swinging the weights will not only rob you of muscle stimulation, but also create major (and unnecessary) wear and tear on your joints.
Bouncing out of the bottom of a squat, row or press can put you at serious risk of a strain or tear. Poor attention to your alignment on major lifts can rapidly send you to the chiropractor. By paying close attention to your technique, and lifting and lowering the weights with care, you will not only avoid injury, but also gain far more muscle.
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Mistake #3: Always Lifting Heavy
Even if you are not guilty of mistake number two above, you can still invite injury to a muscle or joint by constantly performing low-rep (4 to 7), heavy-weight training. Heavy weights are very taxing to tendons, ligaments, and the central nervous system. Even if your muscles can take the pounding, it can eventually cause a chink in your armor.
Instead, cycle your poundage so that every third week you perform your sets in the range of 12 to 15 repetitions. This will not only insure that your attachments and nervous system get a break, but will also stimulate a different set of muscle fibers.
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Mistake #4: Performing the Same Exercise Over and Over
One of the lesser known causes for muscle and joint injuries is utilizing the same exercise, or set of exercises, for each body part at every workout. Known as overuse injuries, this practice causes excessive wear and tear via the constant overload of the same movement patterns again and again.
This kind of injury is seen quite often in those who focus too heavily on popular exercises, such as the bench press, squat, deadlift, military press, and upright row. By simply rotating somewhat different movements in and out of your program on a weekly basis, you will go a long way toward training pain-free.
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Mistake #5: Ignoring Therapy and Recovery
Just as a hardworking car needs regular oil changes, tire rotations, and engine tune-ups, so does the intensely training gym rat. Just because you are not world class or pro level, this doesn’t mean you’re not in need of some muscular and structural maintenance—especially if you are serious about maximizing progress towards your own personal goals.
Those who don’t take some time for regular therapeutic modalities like chiropractic, massage, physical therapy, and others are inviting pains, pulls, strains, and even tears to occur.
Trust me, it’s far better, cheaper, and less painful to prevent, rather than treat, injuries. Not to mention how much more valuable it is to spend time in the gym smashing the weights rather than in bed nursing your aches and pains.
