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Is Stretching Truly An Important Weight Lifting Technique For Preventing Muscle Injuries?

Stretching has long been proclaimed the most potent muscle injury prevention technique available, and thus is used by many bodybuilders prior to weight lifting workouts to reduce the risk of muscle strains and tears. Much time is spent performing various types of stretches depending upon which muscle group is focused upon, and there is no doubt that increasing flexibility can allow for enhanced range of motion during weight lifting exercises, and also can reduce the likelihood of various muscle injuries.

Yet, despite the advantages of stretching, for the bodybuilder who is hoisting heavy poundage during weight training sessions, there is a far more potent injury prevention technique that can be executed in connection with, or even in replacement of stretching, and is ignored by far too many weight lifters. Warm up sets are, by far, the most powerful weight lifting workout injury avoidance method, as they prepare a muscle for upcoming stress, and when implemented properly within a weight lifting workout plan, they can prevent the pain and discomfort that often surfaces in joints and muscles.

We realize 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 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 chances for wear, tear and potential engine failure, and although we all apply this wisdom to our automobile by way of an engine warm up period, many weight lifters neglect to use the same idea on their own body, which acts similar to an automobile in such circumstances, except instead of allowing oil to circulate through the engine compartments and forcing engine temperature to systematically rise, we are attempting to increase blood flow into the muscles so that they are ready to handle heavy weights during an intense bodybuilding workout session. By doing so, the muscles, like an automobile engine, are in essence lubricated, preparing them for intense stress, but when warm up sets are neglected, the muscles are forced to perform at maximum capacity from a cold state, and can quickly experience injuries ranging in severity from minor muscle strains to major tears.

Many bodybuilders may fear that engaging in warm ups will negatively impact the actual weight used during a workout set, but this is not only a false notion, but surprisingly to many, the opposite is true, meaning that by performing warms ups properly, the muscle are able to use greater amounts of weight during a workout set than if they were attempting to perform the weight lifting exercise absent any warm up efforts, which makes this technique much more plausible to those who wish to achieve maximum muscle gain. But even if warm ups were not to offer this substantial benefit, the injury prevention component 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 numerous injuries derailing future results, and one reason why this occurs is that far too many weight lifters dedicate themselves to proper warm up sets for every weight lifting exercise.

A friend of mine decided to experiment with some weight lifting exercises in my basement, and he expressed interest in testing his squat strength, so I urged him to warm up prior to doing so, but he ignored my advice, and within several reps, he suffered an agonizing lower back injury. As he and so many have proven, warm ups are one of the most important yet often ignored keys to maximum muscle gain, but make sure not to select warm up weights that are excessive, otherwise you will reduce the impact of your weight lifting workout sets, but you should also avoid selecting weights that are too light, as this will not properly prepare a muscle for pending workout stress. The proper balance has you using a weight for warm ups that does not result in any fatigue, but which properly stimulates blood flow to the muscles you wish to train, and also ensure you always implement warm ups for each weight lifting exercise, as there is no available total body warm up method that can replace performing each specific workout movement 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 change weight on the bar or machine.

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