Weight Training Safety

Weight Training SafetyDon’t End Up Damaging Your Body!

Weight training in general can be pretty dangerous, especially if you don’t know what you’re doing. It’s very important to note that while training you should follow proper precautions in weight training safety to avoid injuries to yourself. While you continuously use heavier weights or increase your resistance makes muscles stronger, make sure to you are using the correct form and its best to not over do it on the weight amount. This in turn could cause you to injure your muscles such as muscle pulls, tears and much more.

Using progressively heavier weights or increasing resistance makes muscles stronger. This kind of exercise increase your muscle mass, tones muscles, and strengthens bones. When you use these weight training safety tips, you’ll find yourself maintaining these tips you need for everyday activities such as lifting your groceries, climbing stairs, rising from a chair, or rush for the bus. When you’re weight training you should be training specific parts of your body like your legs, hips, back, chest, abdomen, shoulders and arms. If you skip out on working out one of these muscles your body will not function properly.

What Are Weight Training Safety Tips?

It is said that the national guidelines for physical activity recommend strengthening exercises for all major muscle groups at least twice a week. These muscle groups include legs, hips, back, chest, abdomen, shoulders and arms. Your first set should require 8 to 12 reps in the same movement and it is suggested two to three sets should increase. It’s important to also note that your muscles need at least 48 hrs to recover before your next workout. Below are other tips to make note of to avoid all possible injuries.

  1. Make sure you warm up your body before and after your workout. This can involve a 10-15 minute walk or run or stretching. This will warm up you’re muscles and have them ready for the workout and won’t leave you feeling incredibly sore the next day.
  2. Focus on your form instead of the weight. Make sure you are aligning your body correctly and move smoothly through each exercise. If you don’t you could end up injuring yourself. Many experts also suggest that if you’re new to weight training to start without any weights to learn proper form.
  3. Make sure you work at the right tempo to help you stay in control rather than compromise those strength gains through momentum. In example, count to three while lowering a weight, hold, then count to three while raising it to the starting position.
  4. Pay attention to your breathing. This is a big thing that a lot people miss out on and can be really beneficial to your exercises. Exhale as you work against resistance by lifting, pushing or pulling; inhale as you release.
  5. Challenge your muscles by slowly increasing weight or resistance. Remember, the right weight depends on the exercise you’re performing. Chose a weight that tires the muscle or muscles in the appropriate amount of repetitions and sets. If you add weight, you should be able to do all the repetitions with good form and the targeted muscles.
  6. Keep sticking to your routine and keep working all those major muscle groups at least two to three times per week.
  7. Give yourself and your body time to recover. Strength training actually causes tiny tears in muscle tissue. They aren’t necessarily harmful because as our muscles strengthen they knit back together. Make sure you’re giving yourself at least 48 hours of rest before your next workout.