Some Simple & Sensible Rules for Safe Training

FORM! Always make sure your form is perfect. Do not wiggle your body around, contort yourself, decrease the range of motion, etc., just so you can achieve your reps. When you can attain the required reps with a specific weight in a comfortable manner, then you may progress upward. Remember, cheating on an exercise is really cheating yourself.

FOCUS! Your concentration while training is imperative to your progress as well as to your safety. Wandering eyes or mind can certainly hinder your performance and set you up for injury, so when you are training, focus on the matter at hand.

BREATHE! There is a proper way to breathe when lifting weights and not breathing properly can elevate blood pressure to abnormal levels and can cause blackouts. The proper sequence of breathing is to gradually inhale as you are lowering the weight, then gradually exhale as you are raising the weight.

CONTROL! You are always in control of the weight; the weight should never be in control of you. What that means is that a weight, even if it is light enough for you to handle, should always be under control throughout the movement. You should NOT use momentum to perform the repetition, bounce the weight, lower it quickly, ignore the contraction, explode the weight up or lose FORM.

STABILIZE! When you perform an exercise you need to stay “tight.” What
I mean by that is you cannot relax your body (or mind) while performing an
exercise. If you do, there is a good chance you will injure yourself, maybe not
immediately, but eventually. When doing exercises lying down, you need to
retract your scapula (pull your shoulder blades together slightly) to support
your shoulders and stabilize yourself so you don’t move. If you are performing
an exercise standing, you need to keep your “core” tight. Your core is your midsection, lower back and hip area and, depending on the exercise, you may need to retract your scapula as well (like in an over head press). Movements involving pulling will also require you to have a tight midsection and a slight retraction of the shoulder blades to prevent your shoulders from “rounding,” which again can lead to shoulder problems.

EXECUTION! The physical aspect of executing a repetition is quite simple. In the “start” position you flex and squeeze the muscles being worked and proceed through the full ROM (range of motion) of the movement in a CONTROLLED manner, pausing and flexing in the contracted position. You then slowly and under control lower the weight to benefit from the negative (eccentric) portion of the exercise, pause briefly and perform another rep. When the weight is in the start position and you pause briefly, it is not a relaxed state at all; it is merely a means to reduce momentum and make the most out of the exercise.