Prevent Injuries While Lifting Weights with Proactive Steps

Of course you try to prevent injuries while lifting weights, but sometimes you still find yourself nursing pain.

Injuries from lifting weights can be demoralizing.

The moment you feel that pain and know something is not quite right, you are filled with worry and a ton of questions.

Injuries don’t just stop at the pain. There are potential medical treatments and high costs waiting for you. Also, you’ll likely need to take some time off from lifting weights.

If you are a skinny person trying to bulk up, that time off can be a killer for your gains.

Types of injuries while lifting weights

There are a wide variety of potential injuries while lifting weights, that can sideline your training. You can suffer from tendonitis, which is a repetitive use injury.

Sprains and strains result from stretching your body’s tissues beyond their limits. The former is specific to ligaments, while the latter affects muscles and tendons. Both can be painful and take a while to heal. Common parts of the body for these injuries includes the groin, hamstrings, biceps, and back.

You might feel cramping, which again, can be the result of overusing a muscle. However, it can also be a symptom of a sprain.

Sometimes, the injuries can be more serious, like a herniated disk in your spine.

Prevent injuries from lifting weights

Injuries are avoidable in many circumstances. You can take actions to develop a lifestyle and habits that are less likely to result in an injury. Even if you get injured, you want the impact to be as minimal as possible.

There are many examples of top-level athletes who have had long careers that avoided major injuries over the course of time. Lebron James and Simeon Panda are two examples that come to mind. The latter is someone who made a career of lifting weights.

In that linked post he describes his long time without injury, and also the impact of an injury on his training.

Let’s dive into ways to prevent injuries in the first place.

Prevent injuries BEFORE lifting weights

There are actions you can take before you lift weights to prevent injuries.

• Learn proper form. Take time before you are in the weight room to understand the exercises you plan to use in your program. Lifting takes practice, but to prevent injury you should take time to actually study the exercises you plan to perform. Imagine trying to squat or deadlift without having any idea of what is safe and what is not. Take the time to understand how to perform an exercise correctly.
• Learn to use equipment appropriately. There are all kinds of cool gadgets in gyms. Before you jump onto a machine, take the time to learn the right way to use it safely. At a commercial gym, you can talk to the staff about your questions.
• Hydrate. Keep on eye out for this one, as you’ll see if become a recurring theme in this article. Our bodies are mostly water, and for our muscles to work, they need plenty of it. Ensure you drink enough water daily to keep yourself healthy.
• Warm up before lifting weights. Jumping in and immediately putting your body under immense pressure can be a recipe for disaster. Instead, start off slow and lift light weights. Gradually build up to your working weight to give your body time to adjust and prepare for your training.
• Dynamic stretching. This type of stretching in particular can be incorporated into the process of warming up. Check out more information in my post describing how I stretch before lifting weights.

Prevent injuries WHILE lifting weights

It is important to put safety first and ensure you are preventing injuries during a training session.

• Use proper form. Before you hit the weight room, the advice is to take time to learn proper form. While you are lifting, make sure you actually use what you learned. Stay strict to your form. This is especially true when you start to fatigue and just want to cheat the weight up. If you can’t perform the rep in a safe and controlled manner, that means you can’t perform the rep.
• Hurt your ego, not your body. Ego lifting is never beneficial. At best, you will stagnate your progress by pretending to handle weights heavier than you can actually control. At worst, you will really hurt yourself. You are more likely to drop or lose control of weight that is too heavy for you. Also, in your attempt to show off, you will use terrible form to perform the exercise.
• Use safety equipment. There are various safety bars and other equipment available to prevent a bar from crushing you during a lift. Make use of this equipment when you need it.
• Do not use equipment that doesn’t seem to be working. This one seems obvious, but I’ve seen many people ignore warning signs on equipment, or ignore their instinct that something isn’t functioning properly. Don’t use suspicious equipment. It can lead to you stretching your body beyond its limit or dropping a crushing amount of weight.
• Ask for a spotter. If you know you are pushing your limits, ask for help. Whether the weight is on the higher range of your ability or you are getting tired as you approach the later sets, a spotter can help prevent injuries. A lot of people get hurt when trying to rerack a heavy weight on a rep where they failed. A spotter can help you get the weight back on the rack safely.
• Drink water. I told you this one would become a theme. Take sips of water while you rest between sets when lifting weights. You will sweat and lose water, that you should replace to keep your body fueled.
• Stop if you need to! Again, this one might sound obvious, but ego and clouded judgement causes us to do the exact opposite. If you feel like you just suffered an injury, or there is unexplained pain, stop. You could be doing the exercise incorrectly, or maybe there’s a small injury that you are now making worse.

Prevent injuries AFTER lifting weights

• Cool down after lifting weights. I can’t say I do this particularly well. However, studies show static stretching after a workout can have benefits for flexibility and recovery that can help prevent injuries over time. This is the opposite of warming up before an intense workout. Give your body time to slowly come back down to a normal state.
• Eat enough protein to rebuild your muscles. The process of lifting weights tears up your muscles and depletes them. After this, your body craves nutrients to rebuild stronger and recover from training. Make sure to consume a healthy dose of protein to enable this recovery.
• Remember water? Again, stay hydrated. Refuel your muscles and give them the tools they need to recover from the intensity of your training. Hydration is a great way to keep our bodies healthy in general.
• Prioritize rest. When we’re amped up and excited to lift weights, it’s easy to want to jump around and stay active. However, sleep builds muscle, not lifting weights. So, give your body the time it needs to fully recover from lifting weights. Exhausted and overworked muscles are more prone to injuries. The lack of rest will eventually catch up to you.

With just a few changes to how you approach lifting weights, and consistency in applying these concepts, you will benefit from a lower risk of injuries.

Thoughts or questions? Let me know in the comments!