Preventing Injuries During Bodybuilding
Bodybuilding requires regular stimulation of the body’s muscles to promote the muscles to increase in size. However, in order to achieve steady gains and hypertrophy we also need to encourage more healthy adaptation of the body’s tendons, ligaments and nerves. Ligaments and tendons can easily be damaged as they are very rigid and not very flexible. Therefore, it is important that some time is acquired applying some work on the tendons and ligaments to allow them to adapt.
In order for the ligaments and tendons to adapt it is of importance to stretch slowly prior to your workout program. This point should not be left out if you are to prevent tearing. It requires about thirty seconds of good stretching to perform an adequate stretch. It is a good idea to stimulate the flow of blood to the ligaments and muscles with a warm-up aerobic session. This will increase the flow of oxygen and nutrients to the muscles and tendons and gets them ready for the workout exercises. These aerobic workouts also assist in stretching the tendons and ligaments, allow you to keep working longer and ultimately allow you to get ripped quicker.
During the work-out program it is ideal to have another training, or spot partner to help whilst using the weights. When you reach fatigue, your training or spot partner can help you to lift the weight and help avoid injury. Overstraining will be reduced by stopping the requirement to move the weights when exhausted. The duration of time between exercises or sets is of much debate. It is under debate whether longer will reduce injury. The problem with this advice is that we do still need to work the muscles and taking ninety to one hundred and twenty seconds in between the sets appears to be an optimal duration of time. This amount of time helps also to keep you focused.
The duration of time spent after working out is also as vital as the time before and during the routine. This is a critical time to focus on a stretching program as the tendons and muscles are now warmed up and flexible and as such are able to get more of a benefit from these particular routines. After the workout nutrition is also especially important to supply the ligaments, tendons and muscles with optimal supplies of nutrients, including protein and glucose to quickly repair all the exercise induced injury to the muscle cells. During the process of repairing the muscle cells often compensate by undergoing hypertrophy and therefore increasing muscle size and growth. The risks of experiencing and injury can be significantly lowered in the longer term as the tendons will also develop their strength and flexibility.
It is no surprising matter more and more people are taking up bodybuilding, trying to get ripped and doing weight training as we see many pictures nowadays and films of fit looking people. As more people start weight training and body building then there is a rising incidence of injury. You should be able to diminish the risks of potential injury by following the advice in this article.
Wheelchair Users Can Be Top-Class Bodybuilders
When Dan Smith was offered a guest spot at the recent Portsmouth UKBFF (United Kingdom Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation) Show he really felt all his training was coming together. His performance was such a success that he has been invited to another guest posing spot at the British finals on October 17th 2009, in Nottingham.
“This is such an honour,” says Dan. “It brings my goal of being a professional bodybuilder that bit nearer.”
Being a professional bodybuilder is a difficult enough goal for anyone to set their sights on but for wheelchair-user Dan it is an even tougher path. He made his bodybuilding debut in 2004. Tragically, a couple of years later he fell 20ft from a roof at work and shattered his T12 vertebrae, resulting in paralysis from the chest down.
“After the accident I spent about six months at National Spinal Injuries Centre in Stoke Mandeville. At first I lost a lot of weight. I wasn’t eating well and was suffering from muscle wastage. But once I was able to get to the gym I started to pick up,” he explains. “I’d always been active and found the specialised physio literally life-saving.”
Once home Dan kitted out his house with exercise equipment but realised that he could quickly become housebound that way. So he chatted to Paul Smith of Fitness Development who suggested starting back on CNP Professional supplements and getting into a regular exercise regime at a local gym again.
“I haven’t looked back since then,” says Dan. “Interestingly enough my upper-body muscle shape soon came back. Once you start exercising, a sort of muscle memory takes over and the definition and bulk quickly returns.
“My routine now is to train in the gym four days per week and do an intensive one and a half hours exercise concentrating on a different muscles each time, for example chest one day, arms another and so on.
“The CNP supplements have become an essential part of my training. They are brilliant. Being in a wheelchair I have to be careful with my fluid intake and don’t want to get any stomach problems. I am really confident using CNP’s products. They are easy to digest and don’t cause bloating. What’s more, they taste nice, and are easy to swallow. In the past I’ve tried others but they’re just not as pleasant.”
Recently Dan approached CNP for sponsorship since he was so impressed with the quality of their supplements and was regularly using Pro Peptide, Pro Recover, Pro Slam, Pro Vital and Whey Protein.
“When Dan came to us we were happy to offer him sponsorship in the form of supplements,” says Kerry Kayes, former champion bodybuilder and founder of CNP. “I was really impressed with the progress he had made getting back into shape and wanted to encourage him as much as possible. I was also able to offer him advice and suggest he start using Pro Creatine regularly for maximum muscle definition.”
After using Pro Creatine E2 ethyl ester for only a month Dan has already noticed the shape and quality of his muscles changing for the better. Pro Creatine E2 is supplied in tablet form, and is used by those wanting to increase muscle size, strength and power.
During training Dan uses his sticks quite a bit. He can now walk about 1/4 mile on level ground with them and is building on this distance all the time. “My muscles can feel tired after training but Pro Recover is especially formulated to help them recover without causing any damage.”
And on those days where the thought of training seems a bit much, Dan finds that Pro Slam gives him the boost that’s needed to put him back on the right track. With zero fat and zero carbohydrate, Pro Slam is primarily designed as a pre-training booster drink.
Dan is a very positive and highly motivated person. Alongside his professional bodybuilding goal and fund-raising activities, he would also like to own his own gym and raise the profile of wheelchair bodybuilders in the UK.
“With this sponsorship from CNP I can keep my body in tip top shape,” says Dan. “I can look forward to more guest appearances and hopefully competing in competitions one day.”
CNP Professional is one of the UK’s leading sports nutrition specialist companies. For more information visit www.cnpprofessional.co.uk, or call +44 (0) 161 320 1212 for sports nutrition advice and +44 (0) 161 320 8145 for sales.