The bodybuilding community has a famous saying that in order to get the most from your workouts, it must be “no pain, no gain”. Unfortunately, anybody who abides by that is likely to cause long term and irreversible damage to their bodies through painful injuries. The only benefit pain has for us is telling us that we are doing something wrong and that it must be corrected, including bad form and dangerous exercises.
If you want to get the best results from bodybuilding, pain is wrong and safety is right. Apart from sticking to safer workouts and sound training methods, there are also a few important details to take note of in order to have a lifelong ability to bodybuild. They are:
1. Use free weight exercises as they are the only true safe movements that your body was made for. Exercises done using machines are mostly dangerous in a subversive way and it does not help that most mainstream exercise literature promote them. Machines force your body to move in unnatural motion planes that lead to injuries, while free weights force your body to adapt to pressure using movements that it is familiar with.
2. Other than sticking to free weights, perform exercises that work your major muscle groups. These include squats, bench pressures and deadlifts. Again, they have been given bad press for being dangerous exercises. However, they provide a more balanced workout and all exercises can be considered dangerous if they are executed in poor form in the first place.
3. There is no need to neglect your small muscle groups, but they should not be the priority. Include a small number of related exercises such as bicep and hamstring curls.
4. Working out in the gym is the stimulus your muscles require to grow in response. However, you need adequate amounts of rest and nutrition as a foundation for the muscles to recover and become stronger. After a heavy workout with the major exercise, there should be at least 24 to 48 hours of rest before the next training session, plus the right levels of nutrition. Failing to do so would invariably lead to a tired body and mind, which in turn brings one down the path of injury and overtraining.
5. Never go into a workout set with cold muscles. Perform a few warm up sets to get blood flowing to the muscles and keep them warm. This will also help your mind and body get in focus for the proper sets when the heavier weights are in place. Again, all this is done to avoid injuries that might result from ill preparation and a lack of concentration.
You will be able to enjoy safer and more productive bodybuilding workouts by observing the suggestions listed above. In order for muscles to grow well safely, you need to push them to their limits sensibly. Pain is always negative and should be avoided at all costs.