The best way to avoid training injuries
There is a fine line between overuse and chronic strain due to heavy workouts. Intense bodybuilding workouts are bound to lead to occasional residual muscular soreness or soreness of the muscle/tendon complex. This kind of overuse is not exactly an injury, and most bodybuilders take it as a sign that they have workout hard enough. However, if you are so sore that you can hardly move and the intensity of your subsequent workouts is diminished, you have probably gone too far.
Muscles that are tight, tired, and sore are more prone to injury. If you insist on working out even under these conditions, there is a good chance that you will pull or tear some part of the muscle/tendon complex. The best preventive under these conditions is gradual stretching, warm ups, or, when the condition is severe, light bodybuilding workouts. Stretching involves the entire muscle/tendon complex, lengthening it so that the chance of an exercise movements suddenly stretching these structures past their limits and causing damage is reduced. Warming up pumps blood and oxygen to the muscles and literally raises the temperature of the muscles involved, allowing them to contract with greater force.
The best way to avoid training injuries is by taking care to stretch and warm up before working out and by observing proper technique when training with heavy weights. Remember, the stronger you are, the more strain you are able to put on your muscles and tendons, but often the muscles gain strength at a faster rate than the tendons, thus creating an imbalance that can cause problems. You must allow yourself to progress at a reasonable rate, and not attempt to train too intensely or with too much weight without proper preparation.
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