How to Stay Injury Free & Build Fast Muscle

By Jason Ferruggia

If you want to build muscle fast there are very few movements that will help you do this more effectively than the deadlift. However, if you perform this exercise with less than optimal form it can be dangerous. As can just about any other exercise. The fact of the matter is that if you train heavy long enough (or play a sport, or whatever) you will encounter some minor injuries and aches and pains along the way. It’s just part of the experience of being and athlete and being alive. The key is how you handle those situations and what you do when injuries arise.

During a recent deadlift workout I tweaked my lower back before reaching my planned heaviest set of the day. Since I have done this several times before I thought nothing of it and started to load the plates for my next set. I made a feeble attempt at trying to massage it out and stretch a bit before my next set.

I tightened the collars and thought to myself that I just need to toughen up. I went over to check my training journal and write a few things down. I grabbed my bottle to get a sip of water but it slipped out of my hand. When I bent down to pick it up my back felt very, very odd. Not painful but something definitely wasn’t right. There have been a thousand times in the past where I would have just soldiered on and said, “screw it.” But this day was different. Maybe after all these years of weight training I had finally smartened up.

For some reason I was able to turn off the animal intensity for a second and come back to reality, realizing that it simply wasn’t worth taking the risk of injuring my back again.
Instead of cranking up the music and firing myself up for the set I decided to do some work with the foam roller and try stretching a bit. When that wasn’t making a significant difference I decided I was done deadlifting for the day. I stripped the bar and moved on to my other exercises and then when home, injury free, knowing that I will live to fight another day.

I iced my back and stretched that night. The following day I got some ART and chiropractic treatments and with 72 hours I was good as new and back in the gym hitting it hard and lifting heavy weights again.

Sure, we all want to build muscle fast, but sometimes you have to know when to listen to your body and back off. After all, you can’t build any muscle at all if you can’t train due to an injury.
I know we all want to train balls to the wall, do or die, take no prisoners style, but sometimes you just have to know when to back off. You have to know when to listen to your body. There will be days where a nagging injury tells you to back off and other days where you simply can’t generate any mental focus or intensity no matter how hard you try. On days like that you need to heed the warning signs and get out of the gym. Training through that won’t help in the least. At best you’ll have a crappy workout. At worst you’ll get injured.

Training hard is only half the equation. You need to train smart if you want to stay healthy, avoid injuries and build muscle fast.

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