Prevention, how to treat, and commonly injured muscle groups.

Commonly injured muscle groups: Knees, lower back, and shoulders.

When done correctly, weightlifting is a wonderful tool to enhance your overall health. You will not only look better, but you will also feel better. Unfortunately, the majority of people who lift weights on any sort of regular basis will suffer some type of injury. Injuries can and will happen but, proper handling and preventative measures can greatly reduce the stress on your training and life.

Correct form and proper weight are proven methods to work at preventing injuries. The weight that you use should allow you to comfortably complete your sets, using only the muscles that the exercise is designed for. For instance, if you are doing a set of 8 repetitions on shoulder press and fatigue on the 6th rep, finishing the last 2 repetitions using your lower back and legs as help are not worth it. This will not make you stronger since you are incorporating muscles that should not be used. The key for this situation would be to either do less reps per set at the current weight or bump down to a lower weight and complete the desired amount of repetitions. Any way you look at it, cheating does not have many benefits in the weight room.

Proper warm up is also essential. A proper warm up does not involve a static stretch for each muscle as many people do. In order to properly warm up, you must warm your body up for the desired exercise. If you will be doing flat bench press at 225lbs, than you can not just jump right into that. Three warm up sets before a major exercise like that is usually fine. The first warm up set is always an empty bar. Ten or so reps on the empty bar is usually a benchmark figure. The next warm up set could be 135lbs for four reps. The final warm up could be 185lbs for two reps. This can be spaced however you like, as long as you are doing the exercise first at a lower weight, with lower reps, without actually fatiguing yourself.

If you do get injured, do not continue lifting. If the injury is not an emergency, icing for the first 48 hours will provide pain and swelling relief. Ice should not be applied longer than 20 minutes at a time. If the problem persists beyond a few days, you should see a doctor. Alternative treatment methods include chiropractic care and physical therapy. The most important thing you can do while injured is not lift until you are fully recovered. Also make sure you get plenty of rest, drink plenty of fluids, and eat a healthy diet to allow your body to have the nutrients necessary for full recovery.