Train Hard but Train Safe

A very good friend of mine went under the knife today after a freakish accident while working out a few days ago. He's in good spirits (very light spirited, positive guy I've known for years even through trials like this) and am sure as hell he'll get back to doing something he loves and that's working out and pumping iron. If anything, it's taught both of us the importance of knowing our limits and always workout with safety in mind: always.

Always warm up before exercise and always know what you can and can't do. Leave the ego at home if you're at a commercial gym or leave the ego in bed before you hit your home gym or where ever you may be working out. If we can't do that, then I would suggest it's best to simply stay at home in bed and massage that ego a bit first. But never neglect the good ol warm up and train with safety in mind always. Never underestimate those 2 things and you'll be training til your geriatric life!

I've learned to appreciate the importance of warming up since doing Turbulence Training and most especially after what's happened with my knees over a month or so ago, and after this very sad event that happened to a good friend of mine - it has really changed my perspective in regards to training and opened my eyes some. And because of taking that extra step to take that extra precaution necessary to prevent from further aggravating them, my knees are now much, MUCH better now and tolerable with leg exercises/movements more than ever and has allowed me to enjoy other things in life out of the gym such as playing volleyball once again. There may be some slight ill effects every now and then but they are far and between now and that's great for me from a personal fitness standpoint. I'm almost pain free now.

Never bite more than you can chew in a gym or in anything in life for that matter. Practice safety and moderation while trying to keep it as intense as you can. Warm up before you hit the weights. If we don't do the prementioned...we are simply bound to injury 99% of the time if we don't keep our wits about ourselves with the iron. It's just bound to happen. Keep it simple: Learn the movement, go light and progressively work your way up to heavier weights when you feel comfortable enough, get a spotter if you have to. But let's not be a power lifter if we aren't trained to be one. It's nice to challenge ourselves but always practice safety first!

Accidents in weight training happen but they can be prevented!

Heck, I may even get into Yoga at least once a week here on out. Flexibility in my age group is important! :)

I've read up on alot of training programs in dozens of fitness magazines and on the internet and not one single program preaches the importance of a good warm up than Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training Programs. He always preaches to "Never Skip a Warm up" in practically all of his TT programs. If pressed for time, skip some exercises but "never skip a warm up."

Words of true wisdom from Craig..