In this video I explain that people are not injured because they perform exercises to momentary muscle failure; they are injured because they use poor form, usually with excessive weight, and sometimes choose poor exercises.
If you are injured during exercise it is because a tissue is exposed to a level of force that exceeds its structural strength. The force your body is exposed to during exercise can reach dangerous levels due to excessive acceleration, excessive load, and incorrect body positioning, path, and/or range of motion.
If you perform exercises correctly your risk of injury is minimal:
- Use only enough resistance to achieve MMF within 1-2 min of continuous muscular loading
- Use proper body positioning, path, and range of motion
- Apply force gradually
- Accelerate and move slowly
- Reverse direction smoothly
- Breathe freely (avoid ValSalva’s maneuver, grunting, yelling, and other vocalization)
- Maintain a neutral head and neck
- Minimize instability
People aren’t injured because they perform exercises to momentary muscle failure; they are injured because they loosen their form as they approach momentary muscle failure. If you perform the last repetition as strictly as the first you can safely exercise with maximum effort.
I have instructed tens of thousands of high intensity training workouts without a single injury by teaching the guidelines I discuss in the video.
If you want to learn more about how you can exercise intensely with minimal risk of injury, or want to learn how to improve your ability to perform exercises to momentary muscle failure while maintaining strict form, I discuss these in detail in several videos in my private high intensity training community The HIT List, and I demonstrate correct exercise form weekly in workout videos with commentary and Q&A,