Exercise is a great thing and is very much needed. However, there are so many people out there exercising improperly and I know this because I am in gyms on a daily basis; that is why I have decided to write about exercise tips for a safe workout. There are many items that go into working out; working out is not just about getting your run in, seeing how much you can lift, following the next fun craze, or performing exercises that you learned off of a DVD. It’s about understanding the science of the body particular to a specific exercise.
Now, this may sound a bit much—but it’s the truth. How many of you out there found an exercise that promised you flat abs in a week in some exercise magazine? You found yourself trying them and either you hurt yourself or you saw no results. This is because you did not have the proper education and this is how injury happens and exercise goals are not met.
For the purpose of this article, I am going to keep it simple but you do need to understand that having the correct exercise prescription entails having a routine that includes reps, sets, tempo, intensity, and volume. Now, some of these words may make sense to you and others may not. All of the variables that I listed above influence how your body responds. So many times I see in the gym individuals both male and female lifting weights that are too heavy.
For example, let’s take a bicep curl; you hold weights in your hands with your arms hanging down by your sides, you bend your elbows and move your hands up towards your shoulder and then you lower the weight back down to the start position. That is all the exercise should be, is the elbow bending and straightening but what I see so many times in the gym are people arching their backs or using momentum (rocking back and forth) to get the weight lifted up. You are doing nothing good for your body here, you may think you are but you are a back injury or bicep tear waiting to happen. When lifting weights it is about isolating the muscles, what do I mean by this … well, if you are performing a bicep exercise, then why does your back need to come into the picture? When you are moving too fast through an exercise and most people do because they “just want to get it done,” you are not working the muscles the way that they are to be worked in order to get results. This is one reason why so many people don’t get the results they are looking for because they don’t have a clear understanding of what needs to go into a program to make change happen and prevent injury.
Remember this: one exercise program does not fit all. What works for Mary is not going to work for Jane; everyone has different needs and different bodies. Therefore, the safe exercise tips you will be reading below are general but very important and are usually not taught. If you have specific questions or concerns, feel free to ask us on our blog.
Safe Workout Tips:
1. Never use momentum. If you find that you need momentum to complete the exercise lower your weight and finish your set. When you use other muscles then the ones that are meant to be used then this gives your nervous system the wrong information and injury can occur. There are exceptions to this rule such as when you are working in the power phase but we will not be discussing this for this article.
2. Breathe. When performing an exercise you must remember to breathe. For more specific information about how and when to breathe read our blog article entitled “To breathe or not to breathe”.
3. Never put your hands under your lower back when doing abdominal leg raises. If you are placing your hands under your lower back because your lower back is lifting off the floor, then guess what? You need to alter this exercise. If your lower back is lifting off the floor, then you have an imbalance between your hip muscles and your abdominals and most likely have lower back discomfort or hip muscle tightness. By placing your hands behind your lower back, you’re not correcting the problem but just disguising it.
