Training to build muscle and avoiding injury
Training to build muscle is a very delicate balance. You have to train hard and heavy enough to encourage new growth, but not so hard and heavy that you injure yourself, even a little bit. The strain that happened on my right shoulder last April was very minor, but it was enough to hold back my training for at least two months. Injuries happen, that's just the way it is, so you can't always avoid injury, but you can do things that give you better odds of staying healthy. And it's like everything else, it's not enough to just know those things, you gotta do them.
I train at home, and I like to press from the floor, so once I'm warmed up (which could occupy the first half-hour of my workout), I'll be ready to go heavy. But not until then. Safety first, because injuries suck.
Here's the video version if you prefer:
One of the most frustrating things to do when you've been looking forward to a workout is warming up with light weights, but it's just the way that your body works. I'm old enough to know better, but there have been times when I've been impatient, and went too heavy too soon in the workout. Bad mistake!
I just set out some weights for tomorrow's workout, and it includes some very light weights that I got at a garage sale, only five pounds (maybe even a little less). I also have some twelve pound dumbbells (which no self-respecting man would ever touch in a public gym), and some twenties.
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