Nothing is worse than getting into a great routine at the gym… only to have an injury take you out. It can take the wind out of your sails, and severely impact your routine. Most of the time injuries are what cause people to fall off in their training goals.

While injuries aren’t planned, they definitely can be prevented. Use these 5 easy ways to avoid injury to ensure nothing ruins your mojo!

1. Warm up and cool down properly. We aren’t talking about a little toe touch, twist and go. We are talking about actually getting your heart rate pumping, starting to sweat, and stretching the parts of your body you will be using in your workout that day. The same can be said for a cool down. If you destroy your legs during a workout and don’t stretch or cool them down, it’s like going from 100 to 0. Do yourself a favor, and take those few extra minutes before and after workouts. It can be the difference between you being healthy, versus having to sit a workout out.

2. Start with the basics. Before you start to run, you have to learn how to crawl and then how to walk. The same can be said for movements in the gym. If you aren’t comfortable yet with free weights, use machines as those are a set range of motion and therefore less risk to injure yourself. Once you have the movement pattern down and have started to increase the weights, then you can progress to other more challenging movements. Whatever movement you are trying to do, keep it light and controlled as you get comfortable. The basics are what help us stay injury free.

3. Take your ego out of the gym. This is unfortunately a HUGE cause of injuries. If you are benching next to someone who is doing ten more pounds than you, and you think, “I can beat them” and then tear your peck because you had no business benching that heavy: that my friend is your EGO. This causes people to make stupid decisions when it comes to weights and movements that they aren’t ready for. You need to leave your ego at the door. Being at the gym is about what you, and only you, can do. Put the blinders on to what everyone else is doing. They are on their own journey. Stay injury free doing the movements and weight that you should be doing.

4. Prioritize your recovery. Did you know having crappy sleep can increase your risk of injury? Especially after you exercise, your body needs recovery for muscle repair. Most often this happens while you are asleep. Kevin Huang and Joseph Ihm conducted a study “Sleep and Injury Risk”, and through their study found that those with less than 7 hours of sleep over a span of 14 days had a 1.7x greater risk of injury. You can’t argue with science, catching some zzz’s is important!

5. Fuel your body properly. Whether you are dehydrated, not eating enough, or making poor nutrition decisions, this can all contribute to injuries. Have you ever noticed that when you eat clean, you get sick a whole lot less? You may also notice that when you eat healthy foods, you also realize you haven’t had any injuries. That is no coincidence! You are what you eat, so prioritize your nutrition if you are trying to avoid an injury.