Here’s part two of the top ten tips of avoiding injury at the gym:
6. When you’re exhausted, it’s time to go
This one is actually much more complicated than it seems. There are differing schools of thought. Some say that exhaustion is an “event” while others view it as something that can take place in the middle of the workout, indicative to an endspurt of energy that provides peaks in performance, both of these topics discussed in a great post by The Science of Sport.
The overall point I’m trying to get across is that most people exercise to stay healthy and attain goals. So set those goals ahead of time, recognize if you’ve truly “got nothing left in the tanks” and work towards improving your strength and endurance over the long run, not that day! It’s a journey towards improvement, not something that is defined by a last ditch effort, so to speak.
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7. Drink lots of water
I don’t need to point to a scholarly journal on this one! It’s simple, dehydration can cause lapses in judgment, lack of focus and an overall decrease in performance. So drink lots of water!
8. Enlist the help of a spotter
If you are weightlifting to increase your strength, you have to increase the weight you’re lifting gradually. Sometimes its hard to gauge just how much should add on to a specific workout. So don’t be shy, people at the gym really don’t mind spotting you on an exercise because it’s an understood part of the gym culture.
9. Maintain a proper diet
The food you put into your body is similar to the oil and gas you put into your car. Since I truly believe that everyone has the makings to be a Ferrari, then you should only fuel your engine with the best. I mean, if you put 89 grade gas into a 575 Maranello, you’re not going to get the best performance. Therefore, if you’ve got a crappy diet, you won’t be able to perform to the ability that you think you should and may try to overcompensate, which can lead to injury.
10. Workout all of your muscles
Although most guys and girls have a set of muscles that they care about aesthetically, it’s important to workout all your muscles. For example, if you don’t workout your lower back, your core won’t be strong enough to do certain exercises. This can lead to unexpected injuries that could be prevented from a balanced workout routine.
photo provided by Flickr user Celeste33
