If you’re a beginning bodybuilder, you’re probably eager to make progress as quickly as possible. That kind of enthusiasm is great, but it can also get you into trouble by ignoring the hazards up ahead. While a discussion on injury prevention could go on for hours, I’ll just list three key factors you need to keep in mind from the very beginning of your muscle building program. The three factors are stretching, core training, and correcting muscle imbalances.

Whether your goal is to build upper body strength or just build muscles in general, keeping these three things in mind will help you avoid problems in the future.

Stretching is an often overlooked yet critical component of a complete strength training program. It’s not that uncommon to see a highly developed bodybuilder who has lost flexibility and struggles to reach his toes! Shortened muscles perform more slowly and are more prone to injury.

Core training

Core training focuses on strengthening the abdominal and lower back muscles to prevent injuries down the road. The idea here is to form a proper foundation before more advanced workouts, just like a building needs a strong foundation before adding the above levels.

Correcting imbalances involves strengthening weaker muscles. The imbalances may be brought about when a trainee has focused most of his efforts on a few muscles while ignoring the rest. For example, putting more emphasis on your quads can lead to weaker hamstrings, which can lead to rotation of the pelvis and lower back pain. These kinds of muscle imbalances may also be due to previous injuries or congenital factors, in which case professional help from a therapist or chiropractor may be required.

Despite the importance of these three factors, many bodybuilding programs pay little or no attention to them. It would be a mistake to ignore them, since the road to recovery after injury is a long and unpleasant journey. That’s why Vince Delmonte has introduced a module called Upside Down Training as part of his complete muscle building program. The purpose of this section is to correct any imbalances and prepare your body for the more intense workouts that form the core of his main program.