Recently, the State Council issued the "National Fitness Plan (2026-2030)" to make arrangements for promoting high-quality development of national fitness during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period. National fitness in our country is also constantly changing from pursuing the number of participants to paying more attention to the quality of exercise and actual health benefits. Resistance exercise is regarded as an important exercise method to improve the public's muscle reserves and delay muscle loss.
Resistance training is a type of exercise that allows muscles to develop strength under the influence of weight or resistance. The Internet buzzword "rolling with iron" is an important form of resistance training. Aerobic exercise mainly improves cardiopulmonary capacity, while resistance training plays an irreplaceable role in preserving muscle mass, maintaining body functions, and delaying aging and disability. Long-term persistence in resistance training not only helps to improve health indicators such as strength, muscle mass, and bone density, but also has a positive effect on common chronic diseases in modern society such as hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension. However, the current national fitness trend generally emphasizes aerobics and neglects strength. People who sit for long periods of time and middle-aged and elderly people have prominent problems of muscle loss. Sarcopenia, weak physical fitness, sub-health and other problems are increasingly emerging. It is difficult to effectively maintain human muscle reserves by relying solely on aerobic exercise such as walking and jogging.
Resistance training is a double-edged sword. Faced with the growing enthusiasm for national fitness, although "iron lifting" is becoming increasingly popular, the risk of injury hidden behind it cannot be ignored. How to promote resistance training to serve public health more scientifically and safely, and how to scientifically prevent sports injuries, is an important and serious issue in the process of implementing the Healthy China strategy.
Scientifically carried out resistance training, the risk of sports injuries is not high. Previous studies have shown that resistance training-related injuries range from 0.24 to 1 per 1,000 hours. The lowest number of running-related injuries per 1,000 hours of running was 2.5 (a study of long-distance runners) and the highest number was 33.0 (a study of novice runners). However, blind training that is deviated from scientific standards will significantly increase the probability of injury. Acute injuries such as instrument injuries, muscle strains, joint sprains, and tendonitis, as well as some chronic injuries caused by overuse, will not only interfere with daily life, but even be life-threatening in severe cases.
The international sports medicine journal "Sports Medicine" pointed out that the areas where discomfort or injury is more common during resistance training are mainly concentrated in the shoulders, lower back and knees. There are many reasons for resistance training injuries, which can be simply summarized into three categories: irregular movements, excessive load increase, and insufficient body recovery. This type of overuse injury, such as shoulder impingement syndrome, does not occur instantaneously, but is mostly caused by the long-term accumulation of irregular pressing movements. Lumbar muscle strain and intervertebral disc injury are also closely related to the quality of squat and deadlift exercises. If the lower back cannot be kept straight during training and a hunched back posture occurs, the lower back will bear additional mechanical pressure, which may lead to lower back discomfort or even injury. In addition, resistance training should adhere to the principle of gradual load, and avoid being eager for success and rashly challenging heavy weights that exceed your own abilities. The adaptation speed of human muscles is usually faster than that of tendons and ligaments. A hasty increase in training load can easily cause acute injuries to tendons and ligaments.
"Preventing illness before it becomes ill" is the essence of wisdom of traditional Chinese medicine. Traditional Chinese medicine emphasizes "treating diseases before they occur", and when implemented in the field of resistance training, it means that injury prevention should be integrated into the complete process before, during and after training.
Before training, you should first evaluate your physical condition to find out whether there are old injuries, joint pain, chronic diseases, etc. Secondly, "lifting iron" requires skills and cannot be practiced solely by brute force. Practitioners should master the key technical points of barbell squats, deadlifts, bench presses and other movements. Finally, resistance training should not be followed blindly by others. Not all resistance movements are suitable for all people. For example, people with shoulder joint dysfunction should not perform back-neck pull exercises, and forward-neck pull exercises are relatively safer; people with scoliosis or intervertebral disc disease are not recommended to perform heavy-weight resistance training, and can choose to perform seated leg kicks or single-leg squat exercises.
In training, first of all, we must abide by the principle of gradual progress, start with a load that we can complete to a standard, wait for the body to adapt, then increase the number of times and increase the weight carefully, leaving an adaptation period for the muscles, tendons and nervous system. Second, movement quality takes precedence over training weight. Taking the deadlift as an example, the trunk, waist and back should be kept stable. Forcibly completing the movement with obvious deviation will cause the body to compensate and induce sports injuries. Third, there is no need to pursue training to exhaustion one-sidedly. Training to failure may not bring more benefits, but may easily lead to loss of control in movements. Sufficient recovery time should be reserved between sets, and intervals can be appropriately extended during heavy weight training. Fourth, master standard breathing techniques. For structured exercises, you can hold your breath moderately. For non-structured exercises, exhale when exerting force. You should avoid holding your breath for a long time. People with cardiovascular diseases should pay special attention to the risk of blood pressure fluctuations. Fifth, learn to recognize body signals: muscle soreness and fatigue are normal reactions; continuous training should be sluggish and you should take a break in time; training should stop if pain occurs, and receive professional examination and rehabilitation if necessary.
After training, you can use foam rollers and massage to relieve muscle tension, and use static stretching to restore muscle length and prevent chronic injuries. Adequate rest and nutritional supplements are also indispensable. Muscles rely on rest and nutrition to complete repair and strengthening after training. Insufficient recovery will reduce the quality of training and increase the probability of injury. The diet should include an appropriate amount of high-quality protein such as meat, eggs, and milk; high-quality sleep helps muscle reconstruction, hormone regulation, and nervous system repair.
Improving muscle function does not happen overnight, but sports injuries may be caused by improper training. "Preventing it before you get sick" does not mean avoiding resistance training because of concerns about injury, but it helps us minimize the risk of sports injuries.
In order for scientific resistance training to benefit more people, it is not only inseparable from individuals mastering standardized training methods, but also requires the cooperation of multiple parties to create a good fitness environment. We should also strengthen the popularization of resistance exercise science, improve community inclusive strength fitness facilities, and provide exercise conditions for the masses. At the same time, we will continue to promote the integration of physical education and medicine, implement services related to exercise prescriptions, continue to improve scientific fitness guidance, and optimize the structure of national sports, so that resistance training can truly become a good medicine for improving health. (Authors: Zhou Aiguo and Li Xiaoqing are professors at the School of Physical Training and Lecturer at the School of Media, Beijing Sport University respectively)
