Tips for a pain free work-out.

Bad pain that is. Not talking about the "no pain no gain" kind of pain. A good work out is just that - a "work" out. You should feel like you've exhausted your muscles and with that comes what I like to refer to as "good" pain.

It's the bad pain that I want to talk about. The kind you feel in a joint and is commonly a symptom of "tendonitis." Tendonitis is inflammation of a tendon. "Itis" denotes diseases characterized by inflammation. Inflammation is never a good thing to have going on in your body so you first and foremost want to prevent it.

If you're new to weight training, I strongly recommend beginning the learning process with a certified personal trainer. A good CPT will instruct on how to perform each exercise and monitor your movement to assure you are maintaining correct form. If the weight is so heavy you can't keep perfect form then the weight is too heavy and a lighter weight is in order.
Increase weight gradually by trying 3 or 5 reps with a heavier weight and shift down to a lighter weight the moment your form starts to falter. Appropriate weight and form is one aspect of protecting yourself from injury. Another is to avoid hyperextending a joint. Whether it's your knees, shoulders, or elbows, they should (for most weight bearing exercises) remain "soft". Take a biceps curl for example, you want to start reversing the motion before your elbows are fully extended or worse "hyper" extended. It not only protects your elbows but it keeps constant tension on the biceps muscle and away from your joints.

But let's just say worst case scenario happens and it's "ouch, my elbow hurts!" What to do. Start with icing the affected area for as long and as often as you can. Elevating the affected area will also help limit swelling and alleviate pain. Second, rest the affected area. Your goal is to eliminate the "inflammation" so that you can resume your program with minimal down time. When you resume make sure (you should be doing this before every work out) that you are warming up so that blood is circulating around your joints and muscles. Take time and warm up the affected area by going through the motion of an exercise without any weight whatsoever. Last but not least avoid foods that contribute to inflammation such as processed sugars or hi glycemic starches and go for foods that offer natural anti-inflammatory relief. Such as:

Salmon
Cherries
Blueberries
Broccoli
Olive Oil
Dark green lettuces and spinach
Tumeric
Ginger
Green Tea