When It Comes To Working Out, Put Safety First!

I'm not only writing this to remind others, but also to remind myself.

I just found out I have tendinitis from overuse of my biceps during exercise. This extremely painful condition is a wake up call. I need to not overdo it as I always want to put health first.

It's important to not overdo any exercise, but especially biceps. These muscles don't need to be loaded with a lot of heavy weight and reps to grow. I don't know why I did so much last Monday. I did 15 sets of dumbbell swings, squat thrusts (some with pushups), bicep curls, tricep curls, skull crushers and even walked around the gym with weight in both hands. It was way too much. From what I've been reading, you don't really need more than a couple different arm exercises and no more than three sets. I learned the tough way. I'm just grateful that it's only tendinitis. But tendinitis is painful enough, believe me!

Aside from overdoing it, make sure you are not going too heavy with weights too soon.  This is another way to cause injury. Too many people think they should go heavy and cause themselves unnecessary injury. Always do weight that you can handle. If you do want to go heavier make sure you have a spotter, especially for the chest press.

Another common source for injury: doing an exercise incorrectly. This was the case for me last month when I rushed through the deadlifts. I hurt my lower back for a week after that. This also brings up another point, never rush through workouts! When you rush through it, you forget about proper form. What's the point of rushing through a workout if you are going to be sore for a week or longer from doing the exercise incorrectly?

I would rather not have to deal with pain. I'm exercising to be healthy. I did get caught up thinking my arms looked good last week and that got me to overwork them. But it's not worth the injury. I'd rather take my time building muscle properly than cause pain. I know too many body builders that overdo it and have to live with chronic pain. That's something I'm not interested in at all. For me, and I think everyone else should agree, health should come first, with less emphasis on how you look.