Is Stretching Truly An Important Bodybuilding Method For Avoiding Muscle Injuries?
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By :
Francesco Castano
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Stretching has long been touted as the most potent muscle injury prevention mechanism available, and thus is used by bodybuilders around the world prior to weight lifting workouts to reduce the chance of muscle strains and tears. Much time is spent executing various types of stretches depending upon which muscle group is to be trained, and there is no doubt that increasing flexibility can allow for superior range of motion during weight lifting exercises, and also can reduce the likelihood of numerous muscle injuries.
Yet, despite the benefits of stretching, for the bodybuilder who is lifting heavy poundage during weight training workout sessions, there is a far more potent injury prevention technique that can be executed in addition to, or even in lieu of stretching, and is neglected by far too many weight lifters. Warm up sets are, by far, the most effective weight lifting workout injury prevention method, as they prepare a muscle for pending stress, and when integrated properly within a weight lifting workout plan, they can prevent the pain and discomfort that often plagues joints and muscles.
We all know that fully depressing the gas pedal on an automobile shortly after starting its engine can cause severe damage, as the oil has yet to circulate properly through the various sections of the engine, and operating a vehicle at full power when engine temperature has yet to rise will greatly boost the opportunity for potential engine failure, and although we all apply this concept to our car by way of a prerequisite engine warm up period, many weight lifters neglect to use the same idea on their own body, which acts nearly identical to an automobile in such a situation, except instead of waiting for oil to flow through the engine compartments and forcing engine temperature to slowly rise, we are attempting to increase blood flow into the muscles so that they are prepared to handle heavy weights during an intense weight lifting workout session. By doing so, the muscles, like an automobile engine, are in essence lubricated, preparing them for intense stress that follows, but when warm up sets are avoided, the muscles are performing at maximum capacity from a cold state, and can easily experience injuries ranging in severity from minor muscle strains to major tears.
Many bodybuilders may worry that engaging in warm ups will negatively impact the amount of weight used during a workout set, but this is not only false, but surprisingly to many, the opposite is true, meaning that by performing warms ups properly, the muscle are capable of lifting greater amounts of weight during a workout set than if they were attempting to perform the weight lifting exercise without any warm ups, which makes this method much more attractive to those who wish to achieve maximum muscle gain. But even if warm ups were not to offer this substantial benefit, the injury prevention advantage itself is extremely important to any bodybuilder who wishes to achieve long term muscle gain, as other than improper weight lifting workout and bodybuilding diet techniques creating lackluster progress, the next likely reason why most weight lifters never achieve desired muscle gain is due to injuries derailing future results, and one reason why this occurs is that far too many weight lifters avoid proper warm up sets for every weight lifting exercise.
My friend decided to experiment with some weight lifting exercises in my basement, and he expressed interest in testing his strength on the squat, so I urged him to warm up prior to doing so, but he rejected my advice, and shortly thereafter, he suffered a painful lower back injury. As he and so many have shown, warm ups are one of the most important yet often neglected keys to maximum muscle gain, but make sure not to use warm up weights that are excessive, otherwise you will reduce the impact of your actual weight lifting workout sets, but you should also avoid selecting weights that are too light, as this will not properly prepare a muscle for the workout stress that is to follow. The correct balance has you using a weight for warm ups that does not cause any fatigue, but which properly stimulates blood flow to the muscle groups being trained, and also ensure you always implement warm ups for each weight lifting exercise, as there is no available total body warm up technique that substitutes for performing each specific workout exercise with lighter weight. Warm ups should not extend your weight lifting session length by a significant margin since such sets do not require you to rest for longer than is necessary to modify weight on the bar or machine.
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Author Resource:-
Francesco Castano authors MuscleNOW.com, a diet and weight training program teaching the exact techniques for muscle growth without supplements or drugs. He also owns FatVanish.com, where you will find his natural fat reduction program.
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2009-08-04 01:40:23
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