As most people in the sports community have heard, Stafon Johnson, USC running back was injured earlier this month in a weight room accident. This incident has triggered many athletes to question their weight room abilities and knowledge. I know that as an athlete there are times where I wasn't 100% focused on spotting, just because I knew that the person I was spotting has done the weight hundreds of times before with ease. I also found myself wondering had I ever in my 10 years of lifting weights gone through a weight room safety course or even learned proper spotting technique. I found the answers to these questions to be no! Below is a list of ideas that could prevent injury in the weight room:
- Have a medical check up before you begin working out, especially if you have been living a sedentary lifestyle over the past year or more.
- Always warm up prior to working out. Most injuries are the result of jumping into a heavy workout too quickly. A good warm up only takes a few minutes, but it can prevent pulled muscles and injured joints.
- Use collars on all barbells. If you forget to put the collars on the barbell, the plates may fall off. This can cause serious injuries such as muscle tears, pulled tendons, etc. Play it safe, and use the collars.
- Use a spotter when necessary. When doing exercises such as bench press, squats, shoulder press, lying tricep extensions, etc. have someone stand behind you and provide assistance lifting the weight if necessary.
- Where applicable, use catch racks such as the squat rack or power rack. The rack will prevent you from getting pined under a heavy barbell. This is a must if you are working out alone and do not have a spotter.
- Use proper exercise form at all times. Training with poor exercise technique will produce poor results and increase the risk of injury.
- When unsure how to do an exercise, ask a knowledgeable instructor or experienced gym member.
- Use a weight lifting belt when doing heavy squats, dead lifts, or heavy rowing exercises. A good belt can help support the lower back muscles and help keep your back in proper alignment. However, do not use a belt for lighter exercises. Your lower back muscles need to be exercised just like any other muscle and if you wear a belt all of the time the lower back muscles will get weak.
- Dress appropriately for your workouts. If it is a cold winter’s day, make sure to wear a sweat shirt and sweat pants. This will keep the muscles warm and prevent injury. The opposite applies during a warm summer’s day, wear lighter clothing to keep cooler and prevent dehydration.
- Put your weights back when you are finished with them. It is not safe to have barbells and plates laying around on the floor or left on the exercise equipment. Return all equipment to it correct location when you are finished, this is good gym etiquette.
- Drink water during your workouts. This will prevent dehydration and help maintain your energy levels. Carry around a water bottle and sip water between sets. It is best to drink water that is at room temperature because cold water can cause stomach cramps while working out.
http://www.leehayward.com/safetytips.htm
If you follow these tips and think safety first, you may be able to prevent a weight room accident such as the one that occurred to Stafon Johnson.
Those are all great tips for someone who works out a lot and I agree with you that the USC running back inncodent was a major eye opener for most people who work out. I see people all the time in the gym that don't use spotters, and I think that's bad considering what happened to that Running back. It's not hard to ask someone around you to help with spot. I was actually squatting a couple years ago with 350pds and that was the most i've ever done and my buddy was really paying attention with the spot and I actually collapsed on my 6th rep. luckily i didn't get hurt, but thats a good post.
ReplyDeleteYeah i agree, weight room safety needs to be considered and educated to many people who just start to jump into a routine. I can garantee if you went into the wellness center here, more than half of the kids in the gym throwing around weights aren't using correct form or proper spotting methods while lifting weights. Luckily, I've only seen one serious injury so farm from improper technique, hopefully more people will become aware. Good post.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. I know from personal experience that it is easy to neglect proper safety in the weight room. Sometimes you are so focused on performing your next set that sometimes you do not go through proper safety methods. The tips you gave for weight room safety are all important factors in protecting yourself and others.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post especially after the incident with the USC player. Just the other day I was in the gym with my buddy who goes with me all the time but we do different workouts when we're there. He was doing a decline barbell press with a band and just lost it on his last rep. he never will ask me for a spot unless he absolutely needs it. Weight room safty should be a taken a lot more serious, great post.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all the helpful tips. I am not a hard core football player lifter but I do my share of weight lifting and find myself always tripping over un-racked weights and how dangerous something as simple as that can be. I always need a spotter when doing the bench press and if I don't have one I just use the machine. It isn't the same but it is better than nothing. I really feel like people don't take weight room safety seriously enough and it is constantly overlooked.
ReplyDeleteThose are really good tips. The simplest thing that a person does wrong when lifting can cause huge problems physically for you. Having someone spot you, knowing your limits, and knowing proper technique are all very crutial to safe lifting.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really good post. Safety in the weight room is really overlooked and so very important. So many injuries happen due to poor form and exercise methods. All teams should be taught the proper form and methods for all exercise sessions to avoid both short and long term injuries.
ReplyDeleteI agree Matt. Weight room safety is huge now. More athletes definitely need to take a weight room safety class so they know what they are doing and how to safely spot their partner. I know that after observing the strength and conditioning facility at UMASS Amherst with Coach O, he prides himself on making sure everyone who walks into his facility knows how to safely operate the equipment inside. More facilities need to be run like this to ensure the safety of all the individuals who are inside.
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