Safety First

I’m a safety freak.

Throughout my physical therapy career, I’ve seen the results of falls, mishaps, injuries, accidents, crazy circumstances, and just dumb-ass choices.

Sometimes bad things just happen, but trying to avoid them is a good idea.

Not injuring ourselves when we strength train is an even better idea.

When I was younger, my top 3 goals with exercise were to get stronger, faster, and better.

Now, my top three goals are:

1- Don’t get injured.

2- Don’t get injured.

3- Don’t get injured.

This may seem wimpy, but the bottom line is this:

We can’t get stronger when we’re hurt.

I’d be a liar if I said we can’t get injured with our 2nd 50 strong program, because really, anything can happen.

So we chose exercises and organized them in a way that dramatically reduces the chance of injury. That much is already done for you.

Your job is to have the correct safety mindset. So let’s take a look......

One of the most difficult things for most of us, including myself, is being patient with progress. Once we decide to get stronger, we want it now. This unfortunately isn’t reality.

Strength is slow to gain, and worth the wait.

This process is a marathon, not a sprint. Doing the program over weeks, months, and years is what miraculously changes our body - and our life.

Throwing a ton of weight on the bar because we want to be strong now. This is the biggest mistake we make as men, and the biggest cause of injury. One of my friends deadlifted 500 lbs the other day because he wanted to know "that he could still do it." He visited his doctor a week later for some groin/testicle problem that resulted from his deadlift.

Don’t down play recovery, it’s the most important part of your program. You get stronger in the 1-3 days after your workout. Proper rest and good food choices allow this to happen. Overtraining is a miserable experience, and a total disaster to any kind of progress you’re making.

Don’t rip through the exercises like a kid opening presents on Christmas. There’s no points for speed. Slow with control is the way to go.

When we’re performing the Core 4, our brain is working just as hard as our body. We actively pay attention to our technique. There’s a definite way to perform them correctly, and a lot of ways to do them wrong. It’s not rocket science, and no harder than learning to shave your face. We just need to pay attention.

Don’t skip the warm up. It’s vital to get your body ready to perform. Skipping the warm up is a guarantee that you’ll eventually get injured. You like yourself too much to let that happen. Warm up sets are necessary, not a waste of time.

Running your plans by your doctor is mandatory. He probably has zero knowledge of weight training, but he still must know about it.

The 2nd 50 strong program is well thought out:

Correctly chosen exercises.

Performed through your body’s natural range of motion.

With attention to detail.

Steadily progressed through time.

With the right amount of recovery.

This makes for a very safe weight training program.

It’s much safer than taking up a sport, jogging, or kayaking. And it’s certainly safer than doing nothing at all. That’ll kill you.

So join me and be a safety freak. Get ready to change your life and turn aging upside down.

Do the program safely, and impress the ones around you with your new strength, looks and abilities.

Grow or Die,