Most Common Causes of Injuries at the Gym

When you plan to get serious with your physical fitness, the last thing you want to get is an injury. Some injuries will leave you out for weeks and some can be so fatal that you’ll have to leave the gym indefinitely! Of course, nobody wants to suffer any kind of pain that can put them away from the gym for food. And knowing about the common causes of injuries will safeguard you from them.

Equating soreness with a good workout

A common idea between gym-goers is that being sore after a workout means you had a good one. Let me tell you straight out that this isn’t exactly true. The soreness you feel comes from the build-up of lactic acid in the muscle when you flex and contract them with each rep. Now, lactic acid is important for muscle growth but having too much will eat away at your muscle tissues. As a result, you’ll make lesser gains and make yourself more susceptible to injury. That’s why you shouldn’t equate soreness with a good workout.

Not learning the proper form

Having bad form when lifting is probably the most common cause of injuries at the gym. It’s especially important that you learn the proper form as a beginner. For one, having the correct form will help you maximize your strength and muscle growth. And more importantly, you’ll put yourself in less danger! Obviously, the longer you stay at the gym without having the proper form, the more likely that you’ll pull a joint or rip a muscle.

Ego lifting

If you don’t know what this is, ego lifting is basically lifting heavier weight (well, to feed one’s ego of course) at the expense of proper form. If your hands are already shaking too much at the downstroke of a bench press or if you have to jerk up just to lift the weight for a shoulder press, then you’re ego lifting. This is also a high-risk mistake because, as said earlier, you’re disregarding your form just to lift a heavier weight. In most cases, this can be way more dangerous because you’re holding a heavier weight than usual.

Having a bad spotter

If you’re not new at the gym, you already know that some like to test their strength every few weeks with “heavy days”. No matter which gym you go to in Singapore, you’ll see one or two people lifting heavy with the assistance of a spotter. Now the spotter’s main role is to provide a little help when the bar gets too heavy for you to finish the rep. If you’re doing a heavy bench press and your spotter is looking elsewhere or messing around, the bar might fall on your chest or face without him even having time to catch it.

Great Reasons to Spend Some Alone Time

Spending time alone can be annoying for some and therapeutic for others. For some reason, there are also people who think that when you enjoy spending time alone, then you’re a loner. But this isn’t exactly the case as there’s nothing wrong with having some time for yourself at all. You don’t have to always be in a crowd to stay happy. In fact, there are many great reasons to spend some time alone often.

You really won’t miss out if you’re alone

We all know that in Singapore, kiasu or the attitude that comes from a fear of missing out is a big thing. But really, if you take a step back and really think about it, you won’t miss out on a lot of things at all! Because of how fast-paced the world is now, it’s easy to think that you’ll get left behind if you don’t follow the crowd.

However, in reality, life is quite repetitive and there’s really not much to miss. Sure, if you decide to stay at home instead of going out with your friends, you will miss the fun. But you could always go again next time so there’s really no problem there. Once you spend time alone more often, you’ll see how true this is.

You will learn to stop thinking like others

When you spend too much time interacting with others, it’s highly likely that you become accustomed to doing and saying things that will please them. Sometimes you’ll make decisions not based on your own beliefs but in accordance with how everybody else thinks.

Of course, this isn’t always the case and you can still obviously act on your own. We only want to show that it is very much possible to get sucked in and start thinking like everybody else. This is the importance of spending time alone. You can follow your own beliefs and ideas much easier and become free from outside influence.

You can simply give your mind and body some rest

Introverts, for example, know much about their social battery running out. It’s simply the feeling that you want to limit your interactions and just spend some quality alone time. And again, this isn’t a bad thing at all. Even the extroverts, believe it or not, need some time away from interacting with others every now and then.

Taking a break from social interactions is a great way to give your mind and body time to replenish. If you spend some alone time, you won’t really drain yourself of energy since you don’t have to cater to anybody else. Plus, you can use that time to relieve stress and focus on things you want to do.