How to Lift Weights Safely

Free weight success requires that you follow certain safety precautions for the duration of your workout, lest you harm yourself sufficiently to prevent working out altogether. Familiarizing yourself with proper form and injury prevention should precede any exercise program. Use spotters and adhere to a number of other safety precautions to prevent injury.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Free weights

Follow Safety Precautions When Lifting Free Weights

1. Use a spotter for any weights you cannot easily manage on your own, or when increasing weight and taking your muscles to total fatigue and failure.
2. Maintain a neutral spine and fully engaged abdominal muscles at all times while lifting free weights. This precaution is the number-one back injury prevention mechanism employed by fitness pros worldwide.
3. Ask if you are unsure how to do an exercise. Ask the staff at your local gym, or find information at a Web site like Muscle and Fitness (see Resources below). Most fitness professionals are happy to demonstrate proper form for the sake of injury prevention. Follow their lead for maximum gains with minimal risk.
4. Do not swing or jerk weights around. Use smooth movements to control your free weights at all times.
5. Follow the basic rules of thumb for weight lifting: tuck your tailbone, keep your eyes up, inhale as you lower the weight and exhale as you exert maximum pressure on the weight.
6. Take care not to pinch your fingers under the weights when reracking. Many a broken, pinched or crushed finger has foiled a bodybuilder's workout.
7. Rotate your spine without weight or with a spotter. Never engage in twisting and spinal rotation with heavy weights, as disk displacement and other severe back trauma can result.

Tips & Warnings

• Consult with both a physician and a certified fitness professional prior to undertaking your workout routine to avoid injury and health risk. Many people are unaware of underlying health issues which may prevent them from getting the green light to lift free weights or engage in any sort of lifting routine.
• Don't let pride or impatience prompt you to lift weights that are too heavy. Injuries among the over-zealous are among the most common and detrimental in the world of weight lifting! Take the proper precautions to prevent overuse and abuse of your body.

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