Many of us are well aware of bodybuilding benefits, but there are few risks associated with bodybuilding workouts that we are simply unfamiliar.
By gaining knowledge of these risks, it becomes easy for you to prevent injuries while performing bodybuilding workouts.
Though injuries are very common for any athlete, it is highly prevalent in bodybuilders.
It is because bodybuilders place physical as well as psychological stress on the body to build muscles.
Body building injuries may cause you to lose the hard-earned gains, skip workouts, and may eventually lead to an end to your promising career.
Now, you may be thinking what injuries cause these adverse effects, right! Here are the injuries that most body builders commonly come across:
Bodybuilding injuries and its types
Bodybuilding injuries often occur with improper technique, excess workout, wrong spotting, poor concentration, lack of proper nutrition, and inadequate warm-ups.
On the other hand, injuries occasionally occur without any flaw of your own. So, body builders can develop injuries in several forms:
- Tendonitis (inflammation of the tendon)
- Strain (over stretch of the muscle)
- Sprain (over-stretch of a ligament)
- Sore muscles (soreness in the muscles)
- Bursitis (inflammation of the bursa sack)
- Avulsion (complete muscle tears)
- Contusion (bruise)
- Fracture (breakage of the bone)
The most common injuries that bodybuilders often develop are:
Neck Strain: It is an injury resulting from placing reverse stress on the neck muscles.
Pectoral Tear: It is an injury resulting from tearing of the tendon connecting pectoralis major to the humerous.
Triceps Tendonitis: The injury that occurs as a pain along the tendon of the triceps [Tricep exercises] that connects to the edge of the elbow.
Lateral Epicondylitis: Injury developing with pain along the outer epicondyle, the outer bone of the forearm.
Back Strain/Sprain: Injury occurs with pain at middle of lower back, all along the top of gluteal muscles, or para-spinal muscles.
Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness: Injury occurs as soreness in the muscle, the muscle involved in the workout.
Ways to prevent bodybuilding injuries
Preventing injuries should be the major concern of every bodybuilder. So, here are a few ways to prevent your bodybuilding injuries:
Warm Up: The major factor in preventing injuries is warm-up. Warm-up exercises are to prepare the body so as to face whatever comes next. It relaxes the muscles and helps regulate proper blood circulation to the joints and muscles. So, perform about 20 repetitions of the workout you intend to do using a very light-weight.
Do Correctly: No matter which workout you prefer doing, but ensure that you perform it in a proper technique. Undergo a training session if you are new to the workout.
Never Try To Compete: It is an obvious temptation that if one of the weight lifters in the gym works hard, you too definitely attempt to overtake him. Well, if you come across these kinds of situations then do not tempt to it, as it is a simplest way of inviting troubles and injuries.
Determine Your Limits: Prior to beginning an exercise, try to determine your limits in doing the exercise. This is because over-training the workout can harm the body and lead to injuries. So, a strong recommendation is to avoid over-training. In case, if you feel difficulty in handling the workout anymore, better stop the workout and relax for a while. Doing this is perhaps the better way of injury-prevention that you can do for yourself.
Carefully Observe Signs: Paying attention towards the signs is probably the best way to prevent a forthcoming injury. If you notice pain after an intense workout, then stop immediately and take rest for 1-2 days until you get relieved from pain.