Welcome to the first in what I hope will be a long series, If I Could Begin Again.

As I have blogged about before, we did some crazy workouts when we were young and if I am to be totally truthful, not so young.

And while we had fun, recovering from some of those workouts was not something we’d like to do again.

So this is going to be my first IF I COULD BEGIN AGAIN post.

Preventing injuries by not doing any crazy stuff in the gym.

I will go back to something I posted about before,

I got it in my head that I was going to do twenty-rep squats.

And for anyone who doesn’t know what a twenty rep squat routine is let me explain.

For twenty rep squats, at least as I understand it, you pick a weight that you can only do for ten reps and get twenty with it.

This is achieved by taking as many deep breaths as needed between reps.

So for example, when you get to rep say thirteen you would take a couple of deep breaths and do a rep, then take more deep breaths and do one more and continue on until you were finished with all twenty reps.

Naturally, by the time you are done you are wiped out.

However, the real beauty of twenty-rep squats is the indirect effect it has on your whole body, plus in my opinion the rib cage stretching effects of all the deep breathing.

Anyway, I got it into my head that I was going to do twenty-rep squats, but of course, I couldn’t do just one set of twenty I had to do three.

This resulted in a VERY bad thigh muscle pull and in truth I was lucky that I did not tear my thigh.

Or there was another time when I did something like three-hundred reps of up-right rows—non-stop.

Now, I did not know it at the time, but up-right rows really are not so good for your rotator cuffs, but that explains why my shoulders never felt that good for a while after.

SOME COMMENTS

As cool as it may be to show off for your friends at the gym or basement gym, trust me, you will be the one to pay for it.

Either by having an ache and pain that lasts for years or an injury and requires surgery and rehab, just to get back where you were.

So, one thing I would do differently if I could go back would be to avoid all of the stupid stuff I did.

It would have saved me a lot of time healing up from injuries.

Yes, it will be difficult, when all your buddies are egging you on, but trust me, when your workout is over, and you leave the gym healthy and raring to go, for your next workout…

You will be smiling and not worrying about your injury.

Until Next Time

TAKE CARE