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Proven strategies to help you aviod injuries and increase workout performance.

One of the most overlooked aspects of becoming a champion is the pitfalls that lie on the road towards those championships. Everybody want to just go train, and compete without a care in the world, thats not how this stuff goes. When you are training towards a elite level in any sport especially bodybuilding you will go through so very tough aches and pains along the way. Here are some proven strategies to help keep you in the gym and not in rehab.

GET THE BODY WARM: When we talk about getting the body warm we mean choosing an activity that involves moving you whole body and not just the muscles your going to train. 2 of the best are 5 minutes on the Treadmill set at a 10° incline or Elliptical Bike also for about 5 minutes. Both done at low steady speeds. This is for getting you warm not burning fat or cardio work.

WARMUP YOUR MUSCLES: Now we have the body warm its time to warmup those specific muscle being trained. this involves very light sets of the target muscle being worked and also the antagonistic muscle. You say why am I working both it because putting blood on the opposing muscle group act as a cushion if you will against over extension and lessen the occurrences of injury. One of the main reasons behind supersets.

PUT THE MIND IN THE MUSCLE: I don't have enough finger and toes on both our bodies to tell you how many time I have seen someone get hurt by not staying focused on what they are doing. Today's gym atmosphere is ripe with way to many distraction. Your mind should be 1000% focused on the exercise and muscle or muscle group you are training and NOTHING ELSE.

DON'T WORK IN EXCESS: We have all seen this, well most advanced lifter have at least. They usually come in 2 form the Tag Team or the Forced Reppers. First you got the tag team where every lift is a joint effort, then comes the force reppers who go beyond failure on just about every set. Eventually both these groups have injuries and once they start they seem to never go away. We wonder why? 2 basic rules come to mind - 1)If you can't lift it don't put it on the bar. 2)Forced reps are only good on your last set if your are truly going to failure.

GOOD PAIN vs BAD PAIN: Now doing all these rule will keep you in the gym and training hard, but shit does happen and we need to know how to distinguish between good pain and bad pain. Good pain is muscle soreness like your chest hurting from a hard chest workout the day before. Your hurting but the pain subside as the day goes along. Bad pain is having shoulder stiffness and discomfort the day after training your chest and the pain worsening through out the day. Daily aches and pains are part of the weight training game, but joint pain and stiffness of movement are not and should always be examine before pressing forward.

ACTIVE COOL DOWN: An active cool-down is done after everything is complete. This includes and cardio work. Active cool-down is almost the same warming up your muscle but this time the emphasis is going to be on stretch and release of the muscles, ligament, tendons and surrounding joints to help release lactic acid buildup and help you muscle relax. 5-10 minutes of light fascia stretching is exactly what is ordered here and you done with your training session.

THE EXTRA's

GET PROPER NUTRITION: Whole foods provide the fuel and building blocks for the body. Eat as clean as you can and take in a wide variety of foods. Supplements won't ever replace food, so use supplements wisely. Begin with a Multivitamin / Multimineral supplement like the Animal Pak. Vitamins are the metabolic "catalysts" for the body. You can think of them as spark plugs, igniting metabolic processes like muscle-building. Minerals provide support for growth. When training hard or when dieting down, make sure you eat better and use proper supplements.

Tags: Bodybuilding Life