why in the hell is it so easy to injure yourself while weight training?

[ironmaiden01]

i mean, this is just ridiculous. i have spent more time in rehab than in the gym. i do my exercises right and one day i wake up with an injured body part. the worse is i live in canada and health care here while free is ****ing cheap. two years and you still can be with your injury. doctors also are ignorant head to feet and only thing they seem to say is "gotta have to live with your injury". look dummy, know your **** and maybe i won't.

[MrSinister]

do u even need to ask, lifting heavy weight continuously almost everyday... body isnt perfect... you are EXTREMELY lucky if u never have injuries.

[Zensuji]

do u even need to ask, lifting heavy weight continuously almost everyday... body isnt perfect... you are EXTREMELY lucky if u never have injuries.

when the mind goes slightly out of sync with the body thats when injurys occur. this can happen in a slpit second

[Mr Lee]

Well it can be easy to injure yourself but with good knowledge and common sense you can minimise the chances of it. I've found that doing a little over the long haul really seems to work well for me, if i try to push it too much my body just breaks down. Just take things slow and don't try to push things too hard.

[flexmuscles2003]

Maybe your form isnt right and your probably lifting to heavy.

[maxiw]

Focus on using your muscle; not your tendons, joints and ligaments. In other word(s): form.

[maxiw]

when the mind goes slightly out of sync with the body thats when injurys occur. this can happen in a slpit second

Around here, we call that a microsleep, though it normally pertains to driving.

[ironchest]

2 words - BAD FORM

[RU4A69]

#1Flat barbell bench -that's why. The LAST movement I would recommend maxing out on. It's not even a power movement in my book. "Big 3" my ass. No upper body movement should be amended alongside the glorious squat and deadlift. Damn Communist

#2 WTF is with these ridiculous shoulder exercises that people do?

#3 Using a wide grip on everything. Bad idea. Do snatches if you like using a wide grip

#4 Teenagers-why are they allowed to drive?

#5 Lack of good 80's music radio stations-it's an epidemic that we, as Americans, refuse to acknowledge. We pretend it isn't happening, but it is.

#6 SDflipstyle making us all fantasize about 14 year old girls

#7 The price of Chicken........and you thought gas prices were bad.......

#8 The post I read the other day about how ON is going to increase the price on gold standard Whey by 25%.......that's something I'd rather not know.

#9 Threads created requesting pics of $AJ. Give up already-it's hopeless.

#10 Flouridation

[Worldwide]

#6 SDflipstyle making us all fantasize about 14 year old girls

[SDFlip]

#1Flat barbell bench -that's why. The LAST movement I would recommend maxing out on. It's not even a power movement in my book. "Big 3" my ass. No upper body movement should be amended alongside the glorious squat and deadlift. Damn Communist

incline and dips own flat bench.

#2 WTF is with these ridiculous shoulder exercises that people do?

you talking about my face pulls and incline lying side db raises ?

#3 Using a wide grip on everything. Bad idea. Do snatches if you like using a wide grip

wider grip = wide body

#4 Teenagers-why are they allowed to drive?

so the teenage girls can get to the gym and give me things to look at while i do cardio

#5 Lack of good 80's music radio stations-it's an epidemic that we, as Americans, refuse to acknowledge. We pretend it isn't happening, but it is.

hahaha!

#6 SDflipstyle making us all fantasize about 14 year old girls

fwap fwap fwap.

#7 The price of Chicken........and you thought gas prices were bad.......

forget chicken...... steak prices are crazy.

#8 The post I read the other day about how ON is going to increase the price on gold standard Whey by 25%.......that's something I'd rather not know.

who cares.... we will all still buy it. it's that damn good. (same thing with steak for me)

#9 Threads created requesting pics of $AJ. Give up already-it's hopeless.

I saw a current pic of him about a year ago when i first joined up here. really.....

[$AJ]

usually poor form and too much weight and getting a minor injury which your ignore that turns into a major one. plus then there's luck - sometimes **** just happens.

[Sloandy73]

If you lift with appropriate weight and proper form as well as listen to the signs your body tells you should stay injury free. It is when you sacrifice form, lift too much weight or overtrain you start to develop injuries.

[W8isGR8]

#10 Flouridation

Are you talking about the government conspiricy to dispose of poisionous nuclear waste by dumping it into the water supply and telling us its "good for your teeth", even though it can kill you. Cause if so, you rule.

[wavflow]

Are you talking about the government conspiricy to dispose of poisionous nuclear waste by dumping it into the water supply and telling us its "good for your teeth", even though it can kill you. Cause if so, you rule.

You just made my day...But seriosuly,shh, if the government knows that we know we will all be met by a man wearing a ski mask...Crap, too late.

[amorphic_solid]

Here is a list of the top 10 reasons why people get injured working out.

1. Incorrect Technique
The most common weight training injuries are related to poor exercise technique. Incorrect technique can pull, rip or wrench a muscle, or tear delicate connective tissue quicker than you can strike a match. An out of control barbell or stray dumbbell can wreak havoc in an instant.

Each human body has very specific biomechanical pathways. Arms and legs can only move in certain ways, particularly if you're stress loading a limb with weight. Strive to become a technical perfectionist and respect the integrity of the exercise - no twisting, turning or contorting while pushing a weight. Either make the rep using perfect technique or miss the weight. Learn how to miss a rep safely; learn how to bail out.

2. Too Much Weight
Using too much weight in an exercise is a high risk proposition rife with injury potential. When it's too much: if you can't control a weight as you lower it; if you can't contain a movement within its biomechanical boundaries; and if you have to jerk or heave a weight in order to lift it.

An unchecked barbell or dumbbell assumes a mind of its own; the weight obeys the laws of gravity and seeks the floor. Anything in its way (or attached to it) is in danger.

3. Bad Spotting
If you lift long enough, you'll eventually reach a point where you need to have a spotter for a number of exercises, including the squat and bench press. When you work as hard as you're supposed to, you occasionally miss a rep. Nothing is wrong with that - it's a sign that you're working to your limit, which is a good thing if it isn't overdone. Yet when you work this hard, you need competent spotters. A good spotter should conduct him or herself at all times as though the lifter is on the verge of total failure. Your training partner can also lend a gentle touch that allows you to complete a rep you'd normally miss. A top spotter needs to be strong, sensitive and ever alert to the possibility of failure - not looking around or joking with friends.

4. Incorrect Use of Cheating
Cheating and forced reps are advanced techniques that allow the lifter to train beyond normal. Taken past the point of failure, the muscle is literally forced to grow. When incorrectly performed, a cheating or forced rep can push or pull the lifter out of the groove. The weight collapses and a spotter must come to the rescue.

Cheating movements work; real world data prove this statement. Yet cheating, by definition, is dangerous. Any time you use momentum to artificially goose rep speed, thus allowing you to handle more poundage than when using strict techniques, you risk injury. To play if safe, use the bare minimum cheat to complete the rep. On forced reps, make sure your training partner is on your wave length. Don't go crazy.

5. Training Too Often
How does overtraining relate to injury? It negatively impacts the body's overall level of strength and conditioning. Overtraining saps energy, retarding progress. You can't grow when you're overtrained. It also interferes with both the muscles and the nervous system's ability to recuperate - ATP (adenosine triphosphate, an energy compound in the cells) and glycogen stores are severely depleted when an agitated metabolic status is present. In such a depleted, weakened state, is it any wonder that injury is common, particularly if the athlete insists on handling big weights? The solution is to cut back to 3-4 training sessions per week and keep session length to no more than an hour.

6. Not Stretching
Stretching is different from warming up. Properly performed, a stretch helps relax and elongate a muscle after warm up and before and after weight training. As a result of warming up and stretching, the muscle is warm, loose and neurologically alert - in its most pliable and injury resistant state. In addition, stretching between sets actually helps build muscle by promoting muscular circulation and increasing the elasticity of the fascia casing surrounding the muscle. Finally, if you perform muscle specific stretches at the end of your workout, you'll virtually eliminate next day soreness.

7. Inadequate Warm Up
Let's define our terms. A warm up is usually a high rep, low intensity, quick paced exercise used to increase blood flow to the muscle. This quick, light movement raises the temperature of the involved muscle while decreasing blood viscosity and promoting flexibility and mobility. How? Everyone knows that a warm muscle with blood coursing through it is more elastic and pliable than a cold, stiff muscle. Riding a stationary bike, jogging, swimming, stair climbing and some high rep weight training are recommended forms of warming up.

Try a 5-10 minute formalized warm up before stretching. If you choose high rep weight training, try 25 ultralight, quick reps in the following nonstop sequence: calf raise, squat, leg curl, crunch, pull down, bench press and curl. Do one set each with no rest between sets. This can be accomplished in fewer than five minutes and warms every major muscle in the body.

8. Negatives
Negative (eccentric, or lowering) reps are one of the most difficult and dangerous of all weight training techniques - and very effective at stimulating muscle growth. What makes negatives so risky? The poundage you can handle in negative exercises is likely to be the heaviest you'll ever lift.

Normally, we only lift what we're capable of moving concentrically. In negative training, we handle a lot more weight. Most bodybuilders can control approximately 130% of their concentric maximum on the eccentric phase of a lift. Someone using 200 pounds for reps in the bench press, for example, would bench roughly 260 in the negative press. Because of the increased weight used with negatives, you need strong, experienced spotters. Exercise extreme caution. If the rep gets away from you, the spotters need to grab the weight immediately.

9. Poor Training
If you undereat and continue to train hard and heavy, you're likely to get hurt. Again, it relates to your overall health: Before heavy training when in a weakened state brought on by severe dieting or restricted eating. It's best to save the big weights, low reps, forced reps and negatives for nondiet growth periods. While dieting requires reduced poundage, this doesn't mean you can't be intense in your workout - it just means you need to use lighter weight.

10. Lack of Concentration
If you're distracted, preoccupied or lackadaisical when you work out, you're inviting injury. Watch a champion bodybuilder train and one thing you'll notice is his or her intense level of concentration. This is developed over time, and the athlete systematically develops a preset mental checklist that allows him or her to focus on the task at hand. More concentration equates to more poundage. More poundage equates to more growth. More poundage can lead to getting hurt if you don't pay attention. Train smart.

[W8isGR8]

Here is a list of the top 10 reasons why people get injured working out.

1. Incorrect Technique
The most common weight training injuries are related to poor exercise technique. Incorrect technique can pull, rip or wrench a muscle, or tear delicate connective tissue quicker than you can strike a match. An out of control barbell or stray dumbbell can wreak havoc in an instant.

Each human body has very specific biomechanical pathways. Arms and legs can only move in certain ways, particularly if you're stress loading a limb with weight. Strive to become a technical perfectionist and respect the integrity of the exercise - no twisting, turning or contorting while pushing a weight. Either make the rep using perfect technique or miss the weight. Learn how to miss a rep safely; learn how to bail out.

2. Too Much Weight
Using too much weight in an exercise is a high risk proposition rife with injury potential. When it's too much: if you can't control a weight as you lower it; if you can't contain a movement within its biomechanical boundaries; and if you have to jerk or heave a weight in order to lift it.

An unchecked barbell or dumbbell assumes a mind of its own; the weight obeys the laws of gravity and seeks the floor. Anything in its way (or attached to it) is in danger.

3. Bad Spotting
If you lift long enough, you'll eventually reach a point where you need to have a spotter for a number of exercises, including the squat and bench press. When you work as hard as you're supposed to, you occasionally miss a rep. Nothing is wrong with that - it's a sign that you're working to your limit, which is a good thing if it isn't overdone. Yet when you work this hard, you need competent spotters. A good spotter should conduct him or herself at all times as though the lifter is on the verge of total failure. Your training partner can also lend a gentle touch that allows you to complete a rep you'd normally miss. A top spotter needs to be strong, sensitive and ever alert to the possibility of failure - not looking around or joking with friends.

4. Incorrect Use of Cheating
Cheating and forced reps are advanced techniques that allow the lifter to train beyond normal. Taken past the point of failure, the muscle is literally forced to grow. When incorrectly performed, a cheating or forced rep can push or pull the lifter out of the groove. The weight collapses and a spotter must come to the rescue.

Cheating movements work; real world data prove this statement. Yet cheating, by definition, is dangerous. Any time you use momentum to artificially goose rep speed, thus allowing you to handle more poundage than when using strict techniques, you risk injury. To play if safe, use the bare minimum cheat to complete the rep. On forced reps, make sure your training partner is on your wave length. Don't go crazy.

5. Training Too Often
How does overtraining relate to injury? It negatively impacts the body's overall level of strength and conditioning. Overtraining saps energy, retarding progress. You can't grow when you're overtrained. It also interferes with both the muscles and the nervous system's ability to recuperate - ATP (adenosine triphosphate, an energy compound in the cells) and glycogen stores are severely depleted when an agitated metabolic status is present. In such a depleted, weakened state, is it any wonder that injury is common, particularly if the athlete insists on handling big weights? The solution is to cut back to 3-4 training sessions per week and keep session length to no more than an hour.

6. Not Stretching
Stretching is different from warming up. Properly performed, a stretch helps relax and elongate a muscle after warm up and before and after weight training. As a result of warming up and stretching, the muscle is warm, loose and neurologically alert - in its most pliable and injury resistant state. In addition, stretching between sets actually helps build muscle by promoting muscular circulation and increasing the elasticity of the fascia casing surrounding the muscle. Finally, if you perform muscle specific stretches at the end of your workout, you'll virtually eliminate next day soreness.

7. Inadequate Warm Up
Let's define our terms. A warm up is usually a high rep, low intensity, quick paced exercise used to increase blood flow to the muscle. This quick, light movement raises the temperature of the involved muscle while decreasing blood viscosity and promoting flexibility and mobility. How? Everyone knows that a warm muscle with blood coursing through it is more elastic and pliable than a cold, stiff muscle. Riding a stationary bike, jogging, swimming, stair climbing and some high rep weight training are recommended forms of warming up.

Try a 5-10 minute formalized warm up before stretching. If you choose high rep weight training, try 25 ultralight, quick reps in the following nonstop sequence: calf raise, squat, leg curl, crunch, pull down, bench press and curl. Do one set each with no rest between sets. This can be accomplished in fewer than five minutes and warms every major muscle in the body.

8. Negatives
Negative (eccentric, or lowering) reps are one of the most difficult and dangerous of all weight training techniques - and very effective at stimulating muscle growth. What makes negatives so risky? The poundage you can handle in negative exercises is likely to be the heaviest you'll ever lift.

Normally, we only lift what we're capable of moving concentrically. In negative training, we handle a lot more weight. Most bodybuilders can control approximately 130% of their concentric maximum on the eccentric phase of a lift. Someone using 200 pounds for reps in the bench press, for example, would bench roughly 260 in the negative press. Because of the increased weight used with negatives, you need strong, experienced spotters. Exercise extreme caution. If the rep gets away from you, the spotters need to grab the weight immediately.

9. Poor Training
If you undereat and continue to train hard and heavy, you're likely to get hurt. Again, it relates to your overall health: Before heavy training when in a weakened state brought on by severe dieting or restricted eating. It's best to save the big weights, low reps, forced reps and negatives for nondiet growth periods. While dieting requires reduced poundage, this doesn't mean you can't be intense in your workout - it just means you need to use lighter weight.

10. Lack of Concentration
If you're distracted, preoccupied or lackadaisical when you work out, you're inviting injury. Watch a champion bodybuilder train and one thing you'll notice is his or her intense level of concentration. This is developed over time, and the athlete systematically develops a preset mental checklist that allows him or her to focus on the task at hand. More concentration equates to more poundage. More poundage equates to more growth. More poundage can lead to getting hurt if you don't pay attention. Train smart.

I'm guessing you're either a PT, or you're in the sports medicine type of field.

[jmonty]

mr. amorphic_solid, or anyone else: could overdevolping one muscle group in relation to others lead to an injury? for example, concentrating training on chest, and neglecting shoulders.

[W8isGR8]

mr. amorphic_solid, or anyone else: could overdevolping one muscle group in relation to others lead to an injury? for example, concentrating training on chest, and neglecting shoulders.

Yes, hence the large amount of hamstring injuries due to strength imbalances between the quads and hams.

[BigHulkHogan]

I always hear about injuries and so on. But ive never ever had an injury in my life of sports or weight lifting....
I guess when im training, my thought process is so intense on WORKING OUT, that nothing else enters my mind.
If I get in the gym and my mind starts to wander when I begin to lift, I always have terrible concentration and workouts, but if I get in the gym and my mind is set on working out, then I have WAYYY better lifts.

But regardless if Im in the mood to lift, failure or injuries just dont exist in my mind, I just dont know the meaning of them. And I push HARD with heavy weight nearly everytime, although I make sure I always have proper form.

I dont know, maybe some people are just more prone to injuries than others....

[amorphic_solid]

I am going to piggy back on W8isGR8's reply as I would have to agree with their comment.

To further expand, using the dumbbell chest press as an example. This particular exercise puts stress on the Upper Body/ Chest area. It will effect the major muscle groups: Pectoralis major, anterior deltoid, triceps; however, if you did a large quanity of exercises taht hit the pectoralis major and then made a switch to a isolated tricep movement, the chance injuring the tricep is grealy increased.

Normally, for chest, as an example, you would do 8 to 12 sets of heavy chest movements followed by 2 to 4 tricep movements, normally with lighter weight.

Some people hit the tri's so hard that they affect the growth of their chest when trying to build their pecs. The reason for this is that the tri's are hit very often in any push movement, such as when doing chest and delts and as a result, it's possible to build your tri's faster than your chest can develop from the stress training.

Balance is key when deciding on your workout routine.

Suggestion would be to research a little on the muscle groups and which ones are affected during a given movement.

Hope this help.

[RU4A69]

Are you talking about the government conspiricy to dispose of poisionous nuclear waste by dumping it into the water supply and telling us its "good for your teeth", even though it can kill you. Cause if so, you rule.

I'm talking about the international communist conspiracy to sap and impurify our precious bodily fluids.

[W8isGR8]

I'm talking about the international communist conspiracy to sap and impurify our precious bodily fluids.

Oh, nevermind then. You don't rule.

[niceasey]

Is just me or do most of your injuries happen in warm-up when your not thinking form?

I've never hurt myself on a heavy set, always on a light warm-up when I'm being a complete jack ass and not concentrating.

[mike_d]

I love how people who have never been hurt, assume the people that do get hurt did the excercise wrong, or with too much weight. Seriously. I love it.

[W8isGR8]

I love how people who have never been hurt, assume the people that do get hurt did the excercise wrong, or with too much weight. Seriously. I love it.

Yeah, sometimes "**** happens"

[ironmaiden01]

it's not bad form. when i started using good form is when i got injured. probably overtraining or injury prone because i see a whole of people using EXTREMELY BAD FORM and they don't get injuries. i was told it was because they are much older than me and their bones finished growing so the bones and everything around it are much solid so they don't break. not sure if it's true though.

[amorphic_solid]

re: ironmaiden01

This is part of a much larger debate.

I am not sure what your goals are, but if it's to get stronger and be a power lifter, then form will not be your main staple, it will be heavy weight. On the other hand, if you are into body scuplting and lean more to the side of vanity, then proper form and technique is imperative.

Some will argue that to effectively power lift will still require form, but if you compare what is assumed to be correct power lifting form to the technical precision of isolation lifting, then some will argue that power lifting truly is 'bad technique.'

With that said, try to determine what you interest is and then research the mechanics of the movements required to achieve those results.

In a nutshell, bad form equates to poor development/injury. Since everyone is built differently, it will be a must for you monitor how you feel during a stress movement and modifiy your breathing and position to get the greatest impact possible.

Hope this helps.

[W8isGR8]

re: ironmaiden01

This is part of a much larger debate.

I am not sure what your goals are, but if it's to get stronger and be a power lifter, then form will not be your main staple, it will be heavy weight. On the other hand, if you are into body scuplting and lean more to the side of vanity, then proper form and technique is imperative.

Some will argue that to effectively power lift will still require form, but if you compare what is assumed to be correct power lifting form to the technical precision of isolation lifting, then some will argue that power lifting truly is 'bad technique.'

With that said, try to determine what you interest is and then research the mechanics of the movements required to achieve those results.

In a nutshell, bad form equates to poor development/injury. Since everyone is built differently, it will be a must for you monitor how you feel during a stress movement and modifiy your breathing and position to get the greatest impact possible.

Hope this helps.

And with a single post, your ignorance is revealed

[$AJ]

And with a single post, your ignorance is revealed

heh