How to lift weights without injury

When it comes to advice on how to lift weights, the setup is just as important as the actual lift. Vaughan noted that you should have safety straps, pins or a spotter, and that you should adjust the bar to suit your height before you begin to lift. Ensure that you can comfortably unrack it and don’t need to bend over too far or stretch too much, both of which will make you more likely to be injured.

Tips for safer back squats:

• Maintain a tight grip on the bar, just wider than your shoulders
• Keep a straight posture when moving into a back squat, as if you were sitting straight down into a chair and then rising again
• If you feel yourself having to bend your back, you’re too low
• If your heels leave the floor, you have bent too far forward
• Make sure your torso rises before you push up with your legs.
• Keep your knees facing out, not turning in towards each other

Tips for safer deadlifts:

• Touch your shins to the bar to double-check your positioning
• Keep your feet about shoulder width apart
• Use a double overhand grip, with hands just wider apart than your legs
• Squeeze your shoulders back with your posterior low to build the tension needed to lift
• Shins should be vertical to the floor
• As you lift, think about dragging the bar straight along the shins
• As you begin to lower the bar, move your hips back with bar kept tight to your legs
• You should not need to bend to avoid your knees when lifting! If you do, the bar is too far away from your legs
• Do NOT round your back or bend far backwards, both of which put too much stress on your lower back

The video also includes further ways to ensure safer trap deadlifts, as well as ways to perform a push press and dip press while preventing injury.

Find more advice on how to avoid common athletic injuries here on Flourish.