Injury Prevention... Your 3 Rules to Avoid Injury

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Follow your 3 Rules for Injury Prevention, and put a roadblock on injury.

Sports Injuries... your ounce of prevention, and how to avoid them

There is an old proverb which says: an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.

What does this proverb mean to the muscle building trainee?

Simply...

It is better to try to keep a bad thing from happening than it is to fix the bad thing once it has happened.

So am I saying we should practice prevention rather than try to fix the problem later?

Heck, yeah!

By following 3 simple rules, you can avoid injury in the first place, which means you stay safe, fit and healthy :-)

Your 3 Injury Prevention Rules

1. Be fit for the task!

Even if you are generally fit, make sure you are fit for the rigors of your specific task. Methodical exercise rather than violent, sudden effort should be used to build the correct balance of strength, flexibility and endurance.

For example: do not suddenly launch into 20 rep squats without first conditioning yourself to the exercise. Make steady progression in the squat exercise FIRST. Do this, and you will gain the tools required to exercise safely while avoiding injury.

2. Warm Up and Warm Down!

Your body will perform better if it is first warm, just like a car engine. However, a warm up requires MORE than a few minutes spent waving your arms :-(

An excellent warm up is one that gets the heart thumping and the blood pumping; five minutes spent engaged in a warm up will PREPARE you for the rigors of your workout.

For example: make the hindu squat part of your warm up. However, a word of caution: do NOT make your warm up so intense that it detracts from your routine.

3. Use the right equipment and technique!

Your body is different in shape and size from everybody else's - you are unique! This fact means you should tailor your choice of equipment and exercise to your own particular needs, talents and abilities. Furthermore, your technique when exercising is vital. If faulty, poor technique can even cause injury. Instead, choose what works for you!

For example: hex bar squats might result in great gains for one person's body shape and produce injuries in you. The answer? Find an exercise that fits you, and that doesn't produce injuries. NEVER blindly follow a routine or exercise protocol without tailoring it to your own requirements and needs first.

Always go at your own pace. Be safe.

In Summary

If there is one lesson to be learned, it is that millions of sports injuries are needlessly caused by sudden, unaccustomed exercise or by training too hard. Injuries commonly occur when the body has been asked to do TOO MUCH.

Quality rather than quantity is what counts. More is NOT necessarily better.

Practice your 3 Rules to Injury Prevention, and you will discover prevention is better than cure :-)

For more injury tips, see First Aid Kit... your 3 stage injury kit

Injury Prevention to Muscle Building