During my 18 years of strength training (wow, that’s over half my lifetime!), I’ve hit some pretty good milestones along the way:
- My first pull-up in college
- Benching 135 for the first time in college
- Squatting double body weight in college
- Ramping those numbers up to weights I never knew possible
I’ve also made some mistakes. When things are going seemingly well in your program, you tend to focus on those things – getting stronger, leaner, bigger, etc. Then all of a sudden, an injury or setback occurs.
I’ve jacked my back up a few times, tweaked my hip and been so out of alignment that I was insanely crooked. And unfortunately, it wasn’t until I reached those jacked up moments that I realized I wasn’t doing the things that I needed to be doing:
- Proper warm-up
- Pre-hab/Rehab exercises
- Massage therapy
- Core work
- Activation work
I know you know what I’m talking about… we try to fix the problem instead of being proactive in preventing it.
Remember, programming and training isn’t just what happens in the weight room – it’s everything from sleep to stress to nutrition to recovery.
Take it seriously.
P.S. Be on the look out for this from my good friends (and co-founders) over at Girls Gone Strong. Molly talked about “bulletproofing your body” too! (I’m helping to get the word out because this is coming from a source I trust. I don’t promote much, but when I do, you know it’s something I trust… and sure, it helps me to keep this site running and give you guys good quality information.)
