Injury Prevention - the easy way

Injuries suck. And that's pretty much it, so avoiding exactly that should be one of the top priorities for every athlete. There are a few time-proven tricks to drastically decrease the risk of injury, and with a little dash of common sense into the mix you'll probably be doing fine.

Warmup

Before you do anything else, five minutes on a stationary bike is a good start. Then you have time to raise your body temperature, getting the blood flowing and generally preparing the body for activity. This will also make your blood pressure more even when you start throwing the weights around - instead of having this huge leap from rest to max effort in seconds, you let yourself adjust gradually.

Besides, it's good for a mental preparation as you can use those five minutes on the bike to rehearse the program ahead of you, visualizing how you go from one exercise to the next, what poundage's you'll use, etc. After the biking, do some light stretching.

Then you're ready to hit the weights. But even though you've had a general body warm-up on the bike, you should do an additional warm-up-set for the muscle which you're about grind the last ounce of power out of. Now, here's a dilemma - you're supposed to warm up the muscle to prepare it for the training, but at the same time you must avoid exhausting it! Personally, I've found the best way to save the power is to go about 50% of max weight and do 8-10 nice and slow reps, focusing on strict form.

Stretching

During the training you should do some stretching between each set, but as opposed to the warm-up stretch after the stationary bike, this stretch is specifically aimed at the muscle you're currently working. Most importantly, by stretching you get fresh blood into the muscle, giving you more power for the next set. The reason for this is because the muscle works by contraction, and while lifting heavy weights and pushing it to the limit, it contracts so forcefully it STAYS somewhat contracted after you've put the weights down. Then the fresh blood can't readily access the muscle, flush away the lactic acid buildup (that comes with anaerobic work), or bring new nutriments as "fuel." Think of the stretching between sets as a pit-stop for refueling between each race / set.

After you've done your sets for the muscle, it's time for the last, more thorough stretch. Take your time, stretch for at least 45 seconds at the time and consciously relax the muscle you're stretching. After about 15-20 seconds you'll experience a second relaxation within the muscles, and then you stretch a little bit further. Do so, but pay attention! There's a slight pain involved in a good stretch, but the second you feel discomfort in a joint or a ligament, STOP! You're supposed to stretch the muscle bellies, not tear off a joint! Normally, it shouldn't be a problem but pay attention if you feel pain near the elbow insertion, kneecap, or whatever you're stretching.

The post-stretching has several advantages, all beneficial to you: less soreness, better flexibility and improved mind-body connection. It also strengthens your joints, and, let's face it... Just the joy of waking up the next day and NOT feeling like you have a body part made out of wood is enough motivation!

Vitamins

Weird as it may sound, what you eat may help in your quest to remain injury-free. Personally, I find products like Twinlab's "Joint Fuel" to be somewhat over the edge, but I'm a strong believer in vitamin C. I've been taking about 4-5 grams a day for the past two years, and I think it has helped me. Supplementation with vitamin C is definitely recommended, but apart from that you should get by with an otherwise sound, all-around diet.

The Mental Part

In spite of all that's written above, the MOST IMPORTANT determining factor remains... Your mind. It's YOU who controls the muscles, determines how much weight to be used and judges when to push it and when to back off. If you feel tired and unmotivated, going heavy is just asking for trouble. If you cheat badly, no warm-up can help you when your shoulder or elbow snaps.

Like I've said before in this column, ego can be a good thing but in these regards it's better to leave it at the door. Strict form is priority #1, not impressing that babe in a sexy thong over by the leg curl machine! For one thing, she probably doesn't care that much anyway, and secondly, how impressed will she be by a guy cheating with a weight he obviously can't handle, with the sole purpose of impressing her?

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