Today we talk about what are the three errors that are most often seen in the gym and how to avoid them to avoid injuries, focusing on some good rules to be put in place to protect us from inconvenient inconveniences such as:
- injuries and inflammation;
- overtraining;
- lack of progress;
- incorrect postures;
- not optimal aesthetics.
1. Not performing a good warm-up
Warm-up should be considered an integral part of our training. Its fundamental function is to prepare our muscles, our joints and the cardio-respiratory system (in the case of more dynamic sports such as Cross training) to face the effort that will follow in the best possible way and maximum safety. Doing good cardio and joint warm-up helps protect us from:
- Muscle injuries (contractures, strains or tears in severe cases);
- Tendon and/or joint injuries (inflammations of various magnitudes, total and/or partial ruptures of articular cartilages or tendons);
- Tachycardia and hyper-ventilation with delay in regulating them during anaerobic effort.
Warm-up also has a purpose that we could define as "long-term preventive": doing specific warm-up routines for different joints and/or different muscle groups helps us to fortify areas of the body that could be weaker by one's constitution, by injuries previously suffered or by stress, for example, the shoulders in the Cross training, where most of the movements that are performed are "overhead".
2. Be in a hurry to get results
To achieve the results that we hope for, it takes sacrifice, patience, and a lot of perseverance. Skipping a few stages of this path and being in a hurry to get there could be risky. Having a good technique while performing the movements saves us from numerous errors which, if prolonged and repeated over time, could cause chronic pain and even injuries.
For example, imagine performing a deadlift with a curved back, without engaging the entire posterior muscle chain... in your opinion how likely are we to suffer an injury, a pain in the lumbar part? The odds are very high. Maybe we could save ourselves the first few times but in the long run, it will lead our body not to work in a functional but dysfunctional way (dysfunction = inflammation = pain).
Furthermore, we must consider that our body must be ready to bear the volumes that we do
we choose to give it. Here I bring to light two classic examples:
- The first day at the gym, I feel strong and up to being able to lift 100kg with a deadlift. Mistake to avoid absolutely! We may indeed have the strength to do it, but our body and all its structures are not trained in such an effort. The first thing to do is to assimilate the technique, even with the rocker unloaded. Subsequently, we can increase the weight but always gradually.
- The occasional soccer game with friends. In these situations, the player's intentions are usually to make the best performance of his life in order not to disappoint the great expectations of his teammates. The player will then give 200% but with a high probability of returning home with pain or injury.
3. Plan your training yourself
Whatever sport we practice, the workouts we perform must have logical sense and be preparatory to each other. For this reason, if we are not able to plan our training on our own, we must rely on an expert coach. I recommend, however, in the choice of the latter: we spend time to make sure that they are qualified and competent people. Superficiality and incompetence can be lethal for our performances and for the safety of our body.
I hope these tips have been helpful and can help you avoid unpleasant inconveniences.
Enjoy your training everyone!
Do you know other common mistakes for those who start doing gym? Write them in the comments!
