Injury Prevention: 3 Strategies that will keep you Training Hard while Staying Safe
Training hard has to be at the very core of every session you endure and put yourself through. The body grows as a byproduct of the unwanted resistance you place upon it and without the adaptation stimulus, which must be present within each workout, there will be little to no growth. In understanding this concept, many of us have taken things to the next level with our training and have pushed our physical limits and capabilities far beyond what our body was willing to accept. In doing so, we experienced injury, be it minor in nature of more significant. This is an inherent risk that we all take in our quest to be the biggest and strongest that we can possibly be, but there may be a more strategic way to look at things. Rather than simply getting in the gym, gripping and ripping everything in sight, you may want to consider embedding these three strategies into your game plan prior to heading off for your next torture session at the gym.
Strategy #1: Instinctive Training Approach
Probably the best thing you will ever do for yourself as it pertains to training and the styles you enjoy employing, is incorporating the instinctive approach with everything you do. I understand there are training programs that are very detailed, and you want to follow them to the tee, and I also realize there are those of you out there who are using the log book as a means of reference for improvement and hitting certain numbers every week is important. But, the fact of the matter is, if your program is telling you one thing but your body is saying another, listen to your body first. If you don’t and you go ahead and force something upon yourself that your body cannot handle in that moment, not to say you’re not ready for a jump in weight, it’s just on that day you’re not, then you significantly increase the chances of injuring yourself and further delaying gains. So, be instinctive in your approach along with your other chosen style and be much better for it in the long run.
Strategy #2: Ensure Best Exercise to Fit
There are certain exercises you have undoubtedly heard will bring about or promise all the gains you could ever hope for with certain body parts. Squats are supposed to give you the biggest quads, barbell curls the biggest biceps, dead lifts the biggest back and so forth. However, if you don’t feel right in any of those exercises or any other exercise for that matter, then it’s not designed for you and your structure. When an exercise doesn’t move smoothly for you as you transition from the eccentric to the concentric or vice versa, then don’t force it. Leave it alone because you are structurally not meant to utilize that specific exercise and that’s totally fine. There are plenty other options that you can do so why waste your time and energy trying to make something work for you that will most likely lead you to injury anyhow. Always ensure you are using the exercise of best fit for you and your body prior to stepping things up and employing maximal intensity. Your chances of injury will diminish and again, you’ll be better for it.
Strategy #3: Have a Trained Eye Present
This strategy may not be feasible for all of you but if it is, then take advantage of it every chance you get. If you can train alongside someone who has a trained eye for everything you are doing and understands form, biomechanics, movement patterns and even more importantly, how you look when you train, then they are able to identify when things look wrong before things really go wrong. Someone who has been training with you for some time and has been watching you train can easily spot an issue before it leads to injury. Second to that, anyone who has experience in the gym and with training knows how exercises are supposed to look and can see when a person’s form is off or inefficient and again, can point that out. There is so much to gain from having this type of support when you’re training at your most intense levels because of the safety factor alone. Aside from that, you can always trust that they’ll have your back when you need a spot, which is a skill in itself, and you know that you can take yourself to failure without any worry. If this person exists for you, then consider yourself to be one of the lucky ones.
With the importance level being so high when it comes to the type of intensity you have to employ when training to get anywhere significant, you would be remise if you did not consider the possibly of injury going up in conjunction with your efforts. It’s just the way it goes but it’s also something we accept in our endeavour. Our best course of action is to put in place some strategies that can help us steer away from injury as much as possible and the three mentioned here, are just that. You can decide to include all or some of these strategies but not doing so, is probably a bad idea altogether. You can also do yourself a huge favour in the recovery department here by utilizing AMMO-8 which has been formulated to heal positively damaged muscle tissues so that you are in fact ready for intense training every single day and I suggest including two scoops of AMMO-8 in your intra-workout shake every day. This will go a long way to helping you stay healthy while working towards getting huge!
Author: Dana Bushell
Dana Bushell, a graduate of St. Francis Xavier University (BAHK, B.Ed) is an Educator, Writer, Strength and Conditioning Coach, Nutrition Advisor, Contest Prep/Lifestyle Coach and former competitive bodybuilder, who has been involved in the Fitness Industry for over 25 years. He has worked and written for major fitness publications and many popular bodybuilding sites, is a Gym Star Team member and works hard at teaching and promoting a fitness-based lifestyle in his career as a Physical Education Specialist.
Strategy #2: Ensure Best Exercise to Fit
There are certain exercises you have undoubtedly heard will bring about or promise all the gains you could ever hope for with certain body parts. Squats are supposed to give you the biggest quads, barbell curls the biggest biceps, dead lifts the biggest back and so forth. However, if you don’t feel right in any of those exercises or any other exercise for that matter, then it’s not designed for you and your structure. When an exercise doesn’t move smoothly for you as you transition from the eccentric to the concentric or vice versa, then don’t force it. Leave it alone because you are structurally not meant to utilize that specific exercise and that’s totally fine. There are plenty other options that you can do so why waste your time and energy trying to make something work for you that will most likely lead you to injury anyhow. Always ensure you are using the exercise of best fit for you and your body prior to stepping things up and employing maximal intensity. Your chances of injury will diminish and again, you’ll be better for it.
Strategy #3: Have a Trained Eye Present
This strategy may not be feasible for all of you but if it is, then take advantage of it every chance you get. If you can train alongside someone who has a trained eye for everything you are doing and understands form, biomechanics, movement patterns and even more importantly, how you look when you train, then they are able to identify when things look wrong before things really go wrong. Someone who has been training with you for some time and has been watching you train can easily spot an issue before it leads to injury. Second to that, anyone who has experience in the gym and with training knows how exercises are supposed to look and can see when a person’s form is off or inefficient and again, can point that out. There is so much to gain from having this type of support when you’re training at your most intense levels because of the safety factor alone. Aside from that, you can always trust that they’ll have your back when you need a spot, which is a skill in itself, and you know that you can take yourself to failure without any worry. If this person exists for you, then consider yourself to be one of the lucky ones.
With the importance level being so high when it comes to the type of intensity you have to employ when training to get anywhere significant, you would be remise if you did not consider the possibly of injury going up in conjunction with your efforts. It’s just the way it goes but it’s also something we accept in our endeavour. Our best course of action is to put in place some strategies that can help us steer away from injury as much as possible and the three mentioned here, are just that. You can decide to include all or some of these strategies but not doing so, is probably a bad idea altogether. You can also do yourself a huge favour in the recovery department here by utilizing AMMO-8 which has been formulated to heal positively damaged muscle tissues so that you are in fact ready for intense training every single day and I suggest including two scoops of AMMO-8 in your intra-workout shake every day. This will go a long way to helping you stay healthy while working towards getting huge!
Author: Dana Bushell
Dana Bushell, a graduate of St. Francis Xavier University (BAHK, B.Ed) is an Educator, Writer, Strength and Conditioning Coach, Nutrition Advisor, Contest Prep/Lifestyle Coach and former competitive bodybuilder, who has been involved in the Fitness Industry for over 25 years. He has worked and written for major fitness publications and many popular bodybuilding sites, is a Gym Star Team member and works hard at teaching and promoting a fitness-based lifestyle in his career as a Physical Education Specialist.