People ask me often, if weight training could be dangerous for them. My answer usually is, that it could be. And it all depends on how they weight train and mainly how consistent they are.
Weight training is very beneficial for our health. But it has to be done right. Otherwise weight training becomes dangerous.
Weight training dangers
The only way you can reap great benefits from weight training is to lift heavy weights. When you are lifting them, it should feel uncomfortable, heavy and hard. If it doesn’t, you are simply wasting your time. Your muscles should be burning.
But this intensity of weight training can also become dangerous to your health. You can get hurt. You can pull muscle, or tear muscle. You can permanently damage your joints, tendons and ligaments. You can develop hernia or seriously injure your back.
Weight training dangers can be offset by consistency
The weight training stops being dangerous to your health when you get consistent. When you weight train regularly and don’t miss your workouts, you are protecting yourself from dangers of weight training.
That means that, you start slowly. And you increase intensity over time. And than and only than you deserve to strength train very intensively. And of course get the most benefits out of it. And finally, you stick with it forever.
The only way to get great benefits from weight training is to lift heavy enough weights. And the only way the weight training can be dangerous is to lift heavy enough weights too.
So, you have to choose: To do intensive weight training and than sticking with it, or to not do it at all and stay safe.
I don’t recommend the second option. Simply because passing the benefits of weight training are just too big to miss. And you are not going to stay safe at all. Your body will be weak, and you will get hurt somewhere else other than in gym sooner or later.
The safe weight training
So, your only option is to start with weight training. Slowly increasing the intensity until the weight is dangerously high and than sticking with it. You will reap the benefits and you will stay safe without injury.
The most injuries in gyms, lifting weights don’t happen because of a wrong technique. They happen to weight lifters because of their inconsistency.
The guy who comes back to the gym after 2 weeks of not doing anything physical, will probably get hurt, if he starts where he left of. His body is not ready for that weight. And he needs to build it up slowly over time, to get to the level he was before.
Your muscles start getting weaker 4 days after you last overloaded them with weight training. Ideally, you shouldn’t leave more than 3 days between your weight training sessions. That’s considering, you weight train all muscle parts on your body in one session.
Another way to stay safe while weight training is to do, or to be able to do at least 15 repetitions in your set. You can do 20 repetitions if you want to be even safer.
This weight will usually be very safe. It’s a little bit lighter and you have to do many repetitions to make that muscle part tired. And than, when you are super consistent, you can add very heavy weight training sessions with less repetitions to your weekly plan.
I usually have a very heavy weight training day on Sundays. I warm up very well. Start with 2 sets of 15 repetitions and than I increase the load to the point that I can hardly do 7, than 5, and than 3 repetitions.
I use multiple joint exercises, that employ big muscles like: lat pull downs, bench press, shoulder press and leg press, for this super heavy day only.
This kind of overload is very beneficial to my strength. But it will be very, very dangerous for somebody, that doesn’t weight train regularly. And injury will certainly happens.
As you can see, weight training can be dangerous to your health. The only way to stay safe is to do it regularly, built the intensity over time and than religiously sticking with it forever.
Than, and only than, not only weight training will become safe for you, but many daily activities you do too.
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