Did you know that all it takes is just one injury to stop you from working out for a long time, maybe even side-lining you permanently? The good news is that avoiding them just takes a little practice and some common sense. Read up on these four common exercise mistakes and watch the videos to learn how to avoid them.

Not Warming Up First

Jumping into a workout right away without warming up is a bad idea. The reason is that it makes you more liable to injury, especially since your muscles are tight and your joints are not as mobile as they are after a few minutes of movement. Practice dynamic stretching to prep your muscles for activity:



Doing Squats That Make Your Knees Hurt

If you’re prone to knee pain, more often that not it’s because you’re doing your squats wrong. The reason for this is that the axis of your knee is probably ahead of your foot, so when you squat, you’ll end up loading your knee instead of your glutes. Focus on keeping your knee behind your ankle. Squatting against a wall helps make it easier and stabilizes your form.




Putting Your Back at Risk by Standing Wrong

Lifting weights with the wrong stance is dangerous, since it can seriously overload the discs in your back leading to injury. Before you lift, always make sure that you’re standing in a staggered stance prior to curling a weight up. This will naturally extend your back with your hips forward and your back in its natural position. 

Running Downhill

Running downhill is simply putting yourself in injury’s way, especially if you’re going too fast. The reason is that you have to rely on your hamstrings to counteract your quads, and if they’re weak, they can’t tolerate twisting or instability. The wrong twist and BAM! Get ready for some knee, ankle, and ACL injuries. Leave the sprints for the uphill portions of your workout; you can still strengthen your hamstrings with exercises using this Swiss ball move: