1) Warm-up. This may sound like the king of cliches, but guess what? A large percentage of the gymrats out there, especially the younger ones, are so eager to hit the bench press that they skimp on or ignore the warm-up altogether. This is a big mistake.

Properly warming up will raise your core temperature, get your metabolism into gear and “pre-lubricate” the joints in preparation for the actual workout. Simply put, your body is ready to tackle the big weights.

A warm-up should consist of 5 to 10 minutes of middle of the road cardio intensity on a treadmill or stationary bike followed by 5 minutes of light stretching and 1 to 2 light sets prior to your “real” sets begin.

2) Stretch. Failure to stretch will make your muscle bellies shorten over time, making you less flexible. While it may seem like a minor aesthetic detail to get that slightly-hunched, gorilla-look, your muscles and joints become a lot more vulnerable.

When a supporting muscle stiffens or ends up becoming shortened, it may start interfering with the proper groove of your exercises. This may not prove problematic at first, but over time, training increasingly “wrong” will place a lot of extra stress on the joints, ligaments and even unintended secondary muscle groups. The cumulative effect of this over several years can greatly undermine your bodybuilding efforts.

Stretching in between sets will flushes out lactic acid byproducts while also delivering fresh nutrients to the body which, in turn, allows you to be stronger in the next set. Post workout stretching also allows you to recover a lot faster in between workouts which may prove to be another excellent plus. Just be sure to stretch slowly and in a controlled manner to make sure you get positive results.

3) Control. It can be tempting to load up the big weights and cheat your way through the set. And sure enough, controlled cheating is a tried-and-true intensity boosting technique advocated by many prominent bodybuilders.

Cheating should only be done at the end of a normal set to squeeze out a few “bonus” reps. If you have to sway or use momentum from the second rep on, you’re using too much weight.

Another aspect of control is avoiding any type of bouncing, jerking or partial moves forced by necessity. In other words, if you stop halfway down in the negative phase of your biceps curls because you wouldn’t be able to curl up otherwise, you’re using too much weight.

4) Strong Abs. The midsection is the core of the body and that is why it is also the stabilizer that holds all muscle groups together. When you lack a solid midsection, your ability to stabilize other lifts is in questions.

Think about a barbell military press. From feet to hips, you’re pretty much standing straight. Then you lean backwards so that you can stay balanced while pushing up the barbell and the only thing protecting your spine is your abs. In fact, ab tension is a prerequisite for getting into the starting position.

5) Safety Precautions. You don’t buckle up in your car because you expect to crash. However, if it does happen, you’re very, very happy that you took the two seconds to do it. The gym works the same way.

You would not want to step on a calf machine only to discover problems with it that lead to an injury. Nor would you want to lift heavy weights on the bench press without a spotter. Again, safety should always be of paramount importance to anyone working out.

None of this is rocket-science, keeping these 5 steps in mind won’t guarantee an injury-free life, but the odds and the severity of any incident should be drastically reduced.

Don’t waste your time, effort and cash on B.S. “Miracle Programs” that don’t deliver results! Learn the honest truth revealed by a genuine Body Building expert and finally start noticing the gains you deserve. Visit us if you want to read more Bodybuilding Articles