Bodybuilding involves regular stimulation of the body's muscles to promote muscle growth. However, in order to get those regular gains and growth we also have to encourage more healthy adaptation of the body's tendons, ligaments and nerves. Tendons and ligaments are particularly stiff and not very flexible pieces of fibrous tissue that can particularly easily torn if pushed over their structural and physical limits. Working on them gradually will allow them to adapt and strengthen and prevent injury.

In order for the tendons and ligaments to adapt it is important to stretch before your program. To adapt and stretch with full effectiveness, each body position and muscle group that is worked out should ideally be stretched for about thirty seconds . As well as a stretching regime, a light pre-workout aerobic routine such as running on a machine or rowing on a machine is a very good way to promote blood flow to the muscles and tendons. This will increase the flow of oxygen and nutrients to the muscles and tendons and gets them ready for a workout. These aerobic exercises also help in significantly stretching the tendons and ligaments.

Having a training partner or assistant with you will aid with the workouts and can also reduce the risk of injury This training partner, can assist in lifting the weights where no more repetitions can be done. Overstraining will be reduced by stopping the requirement to lift the weights when exhausted. The time spent between sets or exercises is of much debate. It is debated whether longer will reduce the risk of injury. The main problem with this is that we still have the need to work the muscles and taking ninety to one hundred and twenty seconds between sets seems an optimal amount of time.

The post workout routine is also a particularly important point to focus upon in injury prevention. This is a particularly valuable period of time in which to do your stretching routine. During the recovery phase, tendons, muscles and ligaments need optimal amounts of nutrients including protein and glucose to recover and adapt to the workouts. This is the time when muscle hypertrophy and increases in growth and muscularity occurs. The chances of injury can be significantly reduced in the long term as the ligaments and tendons will also significantly develop their flexibility and strength.

With newspapers and magazines full of pictures of people with rippling abs and muscular bulging chest muscles it is with no great surprise that more and more people are starting bodybuilding and doing weight training to build muscle often following a program such as the Vince Delmonte Program. As many more people take up the sport then the incidence of injury is rising. Following the advice explained in this article should help you to reduce the risk of injury.

No matter what sport you do, whether it is weight lifting, snowboarding or cycling, core muscle strength is vital to increase central strength and support. This will help maintain correct posture and provide good support for the other muscles in the body to work from. The abdominal muscles are one of the most important group of core muscles to strengthen.

This collection of abdominal muscles will need to be worked on to achieve the required strength and support. Fortunately there are, however, ways to speed up the process. Sit-ups and abdo crunches are of particular importance to stimulate the abdo muscles and thereby stimulate muscle growth. However, the stomach area consists of a number of bands of stomach muscles which, if exercised in isolation, will significantly increase the rate of development of muscle growth rather than by focusing on sit ups alone. Doing a situp with your hands placed behind your head is such an exercise. When you perform the sit up touch the right elbow on the left knee and then very slowly go back down and then when you do the next sit-up touch the left elbow on the right knee and again return to the initial position slowly. These exercises will help punish the oblique abdo muscles. The rate of stomach development will be enhanced with these exercises.

One of the best ways to increase core strength is to use a fit ball. They can be used to perform sit ups on, press ups and are also great for strengthening. On of my favorites is to kneel on the ball and to try and balance. These are great for strengthening the core muscles of the back ad the abdominal muscles. They also help with proprioception. Proprioception is important as this gives feedback of the position of the muscles and joints in the body back to the nervous system. This helps considerably with general stability and joint stability which can help reduce injury over the long term.

Yoga can also achieve similar results, which also focuses on balance and maintaining strength. Yoga can be done individually by purchasing instructional DVD's or by joining a club which is great for meeting people with similar interests.

Recently after experiencing a shoulder injury I have discovered how important it is to maintain good upper body strength to help reduce not only injury but also increase the rate of recovery. A good way to achieve this is to increase the strength of the big chest muscles. These are made up of two muscle groups, the pectoralis major and pectoralis minor. Performing exercises such as bench presses and inclined presses will increase the strength and bulk of these muscles. They also burn a lot of calories when exercises so will also help with weight loss. Building these muscles is a great way to improve body shape and also is a good exercise for those wanting to know how to get rid of man boobs.

Increases in the strength and tone of these groups will provide good support for many sporting areas and will help reduce fatigue in endurance events.