Weight training to prevent injuries

**rw4th** · Posted On: 10/19/2006 9:13pm

I’ve seen people mention "preventative" training on other threads but haven’t managed find any details. What kind of strength and conditioning exercises can be done to help prevent injuries that people in fighting sports often suffer?

**MEGA JESUS-SAMA** · Posted On: 10/19/2006 9:14pm

Simulate punches by hitting yuourself in the face with 10lb plates.

**rw4th** · Posted On: 10/19/2006 9:44pm

Originally Posted by MEGA JESUS-SAN

Simulate punches by hitting yuourself in the face with 10lb plates.

Dumbass

I'm talking about joint and movement related injuries.

**Judah Maccabee** · Posted On: 10/19/2006 11:17pm

Flexibility exercises for major joints and the neck can help prevent serious injury. If you have tight muscles, you will have a limited range of motion and a greater chance for injury if you exert yourself or have a great strain placed on your muscles.

**Bang!** · Posted On: 10/19/2006 11:44pm

Shoulders and knees tend to be the most commonly damaged joints, although any place that the body might possibly consider bending is fair game for grapplers.

Injury prevention -- on a very basic level -- is about ensuring that you're using your muscles, posture and (help me Jesus) your core properly; that you're relatively free of muscular imbalances; that you're capable of stabilizing and otherwise dealing with loads at weird angles; and that you're strong enough to maintain normal range of motion under acute stress.

I can give you examples, but I have a feeling that they'll just bore you. Here's one anyway:

Shoulder separations are fairly common. Prevention includes ensuring adequate strength and functionality of the rotator cuff muscles and the serratus anterior. External rotations (just like this fashionable fellow is performing) would be an example.

**rw4th** · Posted On: 10/20/2006 12:19am

I can give you examples, but I have a feeling that they'll just bore you. Here's one anyway

Examples are exactly what I want. My current weight program is basic and works the big muscles (squats, bench press, should press, rows, etc). I want to add some exercises (such as the one you listed) to help prevent injuries.

**Judah Maccabee** · Posted On: 10/20/2006 1:09am

See Complete Conditioning for Martial Arts by Sean Cochrane for more stuff like that.

**Bang!** · Posted On: 10/20/2006 7:34am

Originally Posted by rw4th

Examples are exactly what I want. My current weight program is basic and works the big muscles (squats, bench press, should press, rows, etc). I want to add some exercises (such as the one you listed) to help prevent injuries.

What you have to understand is that injury prevention for someone who is already working out iis a whole other can of worms.

The exercises you've listed are all swell, but . . . It's overdoing it that usually kills people. You've got to vary both exercises and intensities to let your body recover. Basically, if it hurts, stop doing it. Coming back to the shoulders, you might already have a physical predisposition to injury, so presses may have to be subsituted out altogether if they cause any pain, while rear squats should be occasionally swapped for variations that don't put your shoulders in such an extreme range of movement (front squats, split squats, etc. are fine subs). Even the bench press is a bitch if you're sticking your elbows out like schmoes in gyms across the nation.

You also have to look at muscular imbalances. There are too many details to get into here, but a good general rule of thumb is to look at movement and balance pushing vs. pulling; raising vs. lowering the shoulder blades; and movements where the upper arm is close to the body vs. movements where it's away from the body.

**smillard** · Posted On: 10/20/2006 1:11pm

symetry, proper form and consistancy. Either hire a personal trainer to go over a routine for you or if you feel your form is good enough there are plenty of sport specific workout books out there. Knees and shoulders are the two biggest. I've had problems with both and am predisposed especially for my shoulders. One excercise that has helped immensly for preventing shoulder injury are flys or pecdeck workouts, they help strengthen the front head of the shoulders which is the weakest of the three parts of your deltoids. If you hire a trainer hire them for a couple of days tell them what specifically you want and every two or three months check in with them to tweak the regiment. You shouldn't do the same work out for more thean three to four months since the muscles will develop memory and you will plateau out.

**Teh El Macho** · Posted On: 10/20/2006 1:36pm

Hello. I like these kind of threads by the way.

As pple here have pointed out, it is necessary to have good strenght and flexibility to avoid injuries. Shoulders and knees are usually the ones that pop first, but it can also be hips, ankles, neck, wrists, anything that can be bent or twisted in the human body.

Check out this post I wrote a while ago on flexibility here. In tandem, check out this other post I made last night on how to build streght to minimize the posibility of knee injuries here.

Hope it helps!