How To Avoid Training Injuries

Here are some very important tips on how to avoid injuries.  Adhere to them and you should be able to train for a long time without suffering anything more that perhaps occasional minor injuries.

• Ensure you use immaculate exercise technique, never cheat, take shortcuts or use loose form.

• Ensure you stick to a smooth and controlled rep speed.

• Even if you feel your body can tolerate singles and very low-rep work, avoid using such high-force training for long periods, and use maximum-effort singles only very cautiously. If your body is not accustomed to singles and very low reps, stick to medium and high reps and use a rep counter for a given exercise that suits your body.

• It is true that no exercise is good for you if it hurts you.  Therefore only use exercises which are appropriate for you, and where any modifications are required that you make them safe for you.

• Stay well clear of any risky movements, e.g. behind-neck movements.

• Ensure that you use only exercise poundages that are correct for you, and only use a weight which lets you just about squeeze out your target reps in good form.

• Avoid any excessive range of motion.

• Show consideration for your physical limitations.

• Personalize your training – you are the only one who knows what works best for you, who knows your weaknesses, strengths, and limitations.  What works well for someone else, including a training partner, does not necessarily work for you, and could in effect ruin you.

• Avoid “rushes of blood” that often lead to reckless training.

• Always be 100% focused on your training, and be attentive whilst training.

• Ensure you do not over train, e.g. if you squat hard twice a week, you may get sore knees, but squat once a week and you may feel no soreness.  It is well known that excessive training frequently causes injuries.

• Always ensure you warm up properly and keep yourself supple.

• If you use spotters, make sure they are alert and competent.

• Ensure equipment is robust and secure.

• Perform inversion therapy on a regular basis.

• Stay away from medium and high impact aerobic work.

• In case of injury, and to avoid it, use a skilled, and preferably sports minded, chiropractor to sound out whether or not a specific injury needs some related adjustment to hasten its recovery, and it is advisable to have periodic checkups with a chiropractor.

• Watch your diet and eat healthily.

• Do not cut corners when it comes to your rest and sleep schedule.

• Avoid extreme muscular soreness by gradually introducing changes to your exercises and training formats.

Cumulative Fatigue Training

Here are some guidelines on how to make cumulative fatigue training work for you.

• Experiment first with just one single-joint exercise, e.g. the curl, or calf raise.  Take an accurate measurement of the muscular girth, and then once a week, or three times every two weeks, train the exercise exactly as described as before. After two months measure the muscular girth again, and if it has grown, even by just a little, then you have a technique that works for you. If it didn’t grow, and assuming that you trained as directed, along with all the recovery factors, then just put the experiment down to a learning process.

• If you were happy with the test, then apply cumulative fatigue training to no more than two exercises for each routine, but remembering to rotate which two exercises you select.  As your gains diminish in any given exercise, revert to another format for that exercise, and if you like select another exercise for cumulative fatigue training. The reason for only selecting two exercises per routine is that the six sets per exercise of this type of training exert a severe demand on your recovery system,  and that is why you should be conservative and use only one or two exercises per routine in this format.  If you do use cumulative fatigue training on two exercises, make sure only one of them is a major core movement, because if you apply it to two core movements you are likely to be over training.

• To minimize the chance of over training, use no more that 6-8 exercises total per routine, and ensure that only one or two of them are done in the cumulative fatigue format.

• Persist with cumulative fatigue training for any exercise for as long as you are making gains.  As long as you can add a little extra weight every week or so, while holding consistently good form, keep at it.

• Be sure to use cumulative fatigue training on exercises that you regularly incorporate into your training program, to minimize post workout soreness. You may even still get sore if you are used to performing no more than 3 work sets per exercise.

• If you would rather not drop your regular style of exercising, which uses maximum weights, it is best to alternate both formats in the same cycle. On one day train with your maximum weight for 2-3 work sets, and on the following day train that exercise using the cumulative fatigue method.

• The need to religiously satisfy all the factors of recovery is just as important as technique in any exercise routine.

Trapezius Exercise – Upright Cable Row

In this post you’ll learn the correct way to complete the upright cable row exercise for the traps or trapezius.

Exercise Details

• Main Muscle Worked: Traps (Trapezius)

• Other Muscles Worked: Shoulders

• Equipment Needed: Cable

• Exercise Type: Compound

Starting Position:

Standing upright, grasp a straight bar connected to a cable machine with your hands about shoulder width apart.

Let the bar hang straight down in front of you.

Keep your body and wrists straight.

Pull the bar straight up towards your chin, keeping it close to your body.

Concentrate on either pulling with your traps or the front of your shoulders, depending on what you want to work most.

Finishing Position:

Lower slowly to the starting position.

Don’t cheat by leaning forward or backward.

Don’t swing!

Watch Upright Cable Row  Exercise On Video:

Windows Media

Real Media

Media Courtesy of Bodybuilding.com

Trapezius Exercise – Upright Barbell Row

In this post you’ll learn the correct way to complete the upright barbell row exercise for the traps or trapezius.

Exercise Details

• Main Muscle Worked: Traps (Trapezius)

• Other Muscles Worked: Biceps, Shoulders

• Equipment Needed: Barbell

• Exercise Type: Compound

Starting Position:

Standing upright, grasp a barbell with your hands about shoulder width apart.

Let the bar hang straight down in front of you.

Keep your body and wrists straight.

Pull the bar straight up towards your chin, keeping it close to your body.

Concentrate on either pulling with your traps or the front of your shoulders, depending on what you want to work most.

Finishing Position:

Lower slowly to the starting position.

Don’t cheat by leaning forward or backward.

Don’t swing!

Watch Upright Barbell Row  Exercise On Video:

Windows Media

Real Player

Media Courtesy of Bodybuilding.com

How To Recognize Over Training

When it comes to over training many people will simply state that too many sets, exercises and workouts are the main contributory factors. However, there is much more to it than this over simplification. If you are knowledgeable as to the symptoms of over training, and become aware as soon as you start to overdo your training, you are in a position to take action and stop it before it gets really serious.

Don’t try to be the hero and battle on to see how many of the symptoms of over training you can withstand, and yet continue to at least maintain your strength. It is the inability of some bodybuilders to recognize the symptoms of over training which is at the root of their training problems. Recognizing the symptoms is only the start, you need to know how to respond to the early signs – immediately – if you are to escape the annoyance and misery which accompanies chronic over training. This must be treated as a very serious issue and not ignored.

When it comes to the serious hard-gaining bodybuilders there is no doubt that they have the grit and character to soldier on even when the going gets tough. This is an admirable trait but when it comes to dealing with the warning signs of over training, this determination and grit can be extremely destructive. It is important that you don’t let your emotions get the better of you. You must learn to train within your body’s own ability to recuperate. Never mind what someone else can recuperate from, that someone else is not you.

Over training comes about when the body is exposed to more stress than it can deal with. It could be that you are training too frequently for the exercise regime you are under, or that you are training too much at each workout for this frequency of training. Generally speaking, over training is a little more complex than this. It doesn’t occur overnight unless you greatly increase your training load and or have some drastic loss in the quality of your sleep, rest and nutrition, and or have some personal problems that wipe you out.

Over training is usually a cumulative process of weeks and weeks of demanding too much from your body, and by ignoring the warning signs of impending chronic over training. When you are approaching the edge of over training you may still be able to function in the gym, but things will start to fall apart when you reach the exhaustion point of your recovery abilities. If you don’t curtail things at this stage, your body will start to crumble.

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