Warning: Weightlifting Can Be Dangerous

An Ohio State University report of weightlifting injuries by those age 25 to 34 during the period 1990 to 2207, found the most common cause of injuries were dropped weights (66%).  No other cause was even close.  The most common body parts injuried were torso (28%) and hips (24%).  Now armed with the reality that the very place you choose to improve your health can harm it, one must ask what to do about it?

A few precautionary tips from the folks at realweightlifting.com:

Warm Up - A simple way to maximise weight lifting safety is to warm-up before your session. It’s a good idea to get the heart pumping and blood flowing before you begin your weight lifting. Five minutes on the exercise bike at a moderate pace is sufficient. The goal is to get your muscles and joints warm and pliable to reduce the chance of tearing anything as you lift.

Stretch - Unless you’re a competitive lifter or strength athlete, it’s a good idea to do some light stretching before lifting weights. Stretch the relevant muscles before your session begins, holding the static stretches for 8-10 seconds each.


Avoid Failure  - “Muscular failure” is defined as the point in a set where you have reached your physical limit, and have to exert all your strength and will to complete the last rep. Training to failure means you do repetitions up to the point where you couldn’t even begin to lift the bar for one more. Aside from it's negative effect on your gains, muscular failure is simply unsafe. Pushing yourself that far can be very dangerous – a lot can go wrong (think ligaments, tendons, blood vessels) when you’re that close to your physical limit. Training to failure is a surefire way to compromise your weight lifting safety.

Always use locks - Sounds simple, but sometimes, people get lazy. If the locks are on, weight doesn’t go flying everywhere should you drop a barbell or accidentally overload one side. Toes don’t like 45lb plates!

Train with ample space around you - Should something go wrong, especially with standing barbell movements like the military press, squat or snatch, you want ample space around you to offload the barbell.

Use proper form -  The importance of proper form really can not be stressed too heavily. Poor form is probably the number one cause of injuries in the weights room. If you train in the gym, have a trainer watch your form and give you feedback. Only increase the weight on a lift if you can maintain perfect form. For the majority of lifts, good form includes lifting the weight smoothly and under control - that means no extra jerking or swinging motions to get the weight up.