If you are truly serious about making progress, then you more than likely head to the gym every day with the intention of pushing your workout 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, avoid various exercises, or take days off – well then, you definitely have a (serious) problem. What follows is not an article on how to treat your injuries but a discussion about why they may be occurring too often. My hope is that with some preventative medicine, you may soon be lifting, pumping, and playing pain-free.
Mistake #1: No Warm-up
Before pounding on your muscles and joints, increasing systemic core temperature and getting your blood flowing into the muscle groups you are about to target is a good idea. A short walk on a treadmill or a quick 5-minute ride on a stationary bike is a perfect way to kick things off. Follow this with 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.
Mistake #2: Poor Technique
Nothing causes more sudden injuries than lifting with improper form. Jerking and swinging the weights will rob you of muscle stimulation, creating significant 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 under control and with care, you will avoid injury and gain far more muscle and strength.
Mistake #3: Always Lifting Heavy
Even if you are not guilty of mistake #2 above, you can still invite injury to a muscle or joint by constantly performing low rep (4-6 per set) training. Heavy weights are very taxing to tendons, ligaments, and the central nervous system. Thus, even if your muscles can take the heavy weight, you will still eventually cause a chink in your armor. I suggest that you cycle your poundage so that at least every 3rd week, you perform your sets in the range of 12-20 repetitions. This will ensure that your attachments and nervous system get a break and stimulate different muscle fibers.
Mistake #4: Over and Over
Lesser known by the average lifter, one of the causes of muscle and joint injuries is utilizing the same exercise or exercises, for each body part at every workout. These are referred to as overuse injuries. Overusing the same exercise can cause excessive wear and tear by repeatedly overloading the same movement patterns. This type of injury is often seen in those who focus too heavily on popular exercises such as the bench press, squat, deadlift, military press, and upright row. You will go a long way toward pain-free training by rotating somewhat different movements in and out of your program weekly.
Mistake #5: Lack of Therapy
Just as a hard-working car needs regular oil changes, tire rotations, and engine tune-ups, so does the intensely training gym-goer. Just because you are not world-class or pro-level doesn’t mean you do not need some consistent muscular and structural maintenance — especially if you are serious about maximizing progress toward your personal goals. Those who do not take some time for regular therapeutic modalities such as chiropractic, massage, physical therapy, and others are literally inviting pains, pulls, strains, and even tears to occur.
Trust me – I know. It is 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 pursuing your goals rather than nursing your aches and pains in bed.
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