Sure it is great that you want to workout and build muscle up but at the same time one bad injury, one forgetful moment can put you out of action for months and with possible health and financial consequences.

Many of the traumatic incidents you see in a gym can be avoided by taking the proper precautions. We recommend following the guidelines we’ve listed below so you can build muscle safely.

1) Always check and double check you have put the barbell collars on before you start lifting. One side can be made heavier by just a slight looseness of a collar. The heavier side will drop down and the weight disc can slip further and drop off. The heavy side will now force up the light side. The barbell will then swing through the air and could do some real damage to people or equipment!

2) Use a spotter if you are doing one rep maximums. This is a person who watches you and is ready to help you out if you start struggling. The last thing you want to occur is to have yourself stuck weighted down by a heavy barbell.

3) If you’re sick, take a day off from the gym. To be honest you won’t have a good workout like you would if you were healthy. If you do go, you could end up losing 3 or 4 days because your sickness got worse. You have to remember that working out will actually lower your immune system, which will affect your illness. So steer clear of the gym, you’ll be happier if you do.

4) Ensure correct technique is always used. If you do Weight Lifting Exercises with poor form like swinging barbells using bodily momentum then you risk serious injury and will also not make much progress due to the fact that you won’t be targeting the muscle group specifically enough. Use strict form all the time.

5) Do not over do it. It is very common when motivation is high especially for newbie’s that you want to lift weights as often as possible. This motivation is fine but working out everyday or even every second day will likely be too much for the majority of people unless a split routine is used. You will actually weaken your muscles if you workout again when they are not yet fully recovered.

6) Not eating properly. Emphasis will have to be placed on muscle building nutrition if you want your muscles to grow. If you do not consume enough calories then you are not going to be able to support muscle growth and will therefore be wasting your time in the gym. During the day eat frequently high quality nutritional meals.

7) Showing off is a big no-no. If you’re lifting too much weight or competing with friends it’s great for motivation, but it can also end in disaster. Just stick with trying to beat your own personal scores. Keep track of what you do each day and figure out what you need to do tomorrow in order to be better. It will be enough motivation and it will reduce the risk of injury.
Take the time to warm-up. Listen, we all get older and what you did 10 years ago probably isn’t going to work today. So it’s very important to warm-up your body and stretch those muscles. Think of it like your car in the dead of winter. You obviously want to let the car warm-up before taking it for a drive. The same approach applies here.

With those above guidelines in mind and with correct muscle building nutrition there is no reason why you should not workout to build muscle happily and safely where ever you train.

Get the #1 weight lifting program, the Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail Method and achieve the best results in a few weeks. You can also read our Weight Lifting Exercises and articles.