Top 10 ways to Injure yourself working out!

Terrio’s Top Ten Ways Men Can Injury themselves working out!

There is something magical about our “Y” Chromosome, the resultant high levels of testosterone and its effect on our mentality when it comes to working out.  After 35 years of working out and 25 years of putting people back together I present my top ten list of sure fired ways to assure you will get injured working out…

10.  Consider a Couple Arm circles adequate warm up before lifting weights. 

While quick in reality our bodies are primarily fluid and as such function better when warmed up, to avoid injury do 5 minutes of cardio to increase your core body temperature before you launch into your program. 

9.  Quantity over Quality

One of the biggest mistakes men make it to think more is better when it comes to exercise and sacrifice proper technique for more repetitions or more weight.  Poor technique leads to compensations which leads to increased stress on other tissues.

8.  Hitting the Wall

If your goal is to improve overall fitness then you need to know your target heart rate zone (60-85% of Max Heart Rate).  The closer you get to Max Heart Rate the less time you can continue the exercise.  Warning if you are on Heart or BP medications check with a medical professional about appropriate level of intensity and how to track it.

7. Occasional Exerciser

Lack of consistency in working out does not allow your body to adapt to the stresses placed upon it and thus no improvement.

6. One Trick Pony

Strong people like to lift weight, flexible people like stretching and then there’s the endurance junkies.   If there is something you don’t like, that is probably what your workout needs to focus on. 

5.  We’re not in Kansas anymore (40 is not 18)

News flash!  As we age our body’s change, just because you could bench press 300 lbs in high school doesn’t mean you still can. 

4. Keeping up with Jones

The amount of exercise your body can tolerate or amount of weight you can lift is a gradual progression built up overtime not dictated by the guy next to you in the gym.

3. Mirror Training

Just because you can’t see them when you look in the mirror doesn’t mean you should neglect the muscles you can’t see. 

2. 0-60 in 5.0

Men love acceleration but our bodies don’t.  Going from the couch to a high intensity workout is an excellent way to get injured.

1. Pop goes the tendon, when the tendon goes pop!

If you skip past the first nine and decide to relive your youth with the right amount of stress at the right speed our tissues will be stressed beyond their limits and will break.  Our bodies don’t come with a rewind button so stick with the principles of conditioning and avoid injury!