Once a popular excuse for the couch potato, it turns out that the gym can be a harrowing, even dangerous place to spend your free time. In some cases, it can even kill.

According to recent data from the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC), more than 50,000 gym-exercisers are treated in the emergency room each year. And these are only the equipment mishaps. Not included in this number are invasive infections and mysterious cardiac problems that can sometimes lead to an early grave.

We’ve pulled out our magnifying glasses to take a closer look at the risks a gym rat faces — often, without ever even knowing it.


EQUIPMENT INJURIES:

After you read this, you’ll never carelessly drop a weight on the floor ever again. In fact, the gym might start to resemble the workings of a hazardous obstacle course.

Almost a year ago, former heavyweight world-champion Mike Tyson’s four-year-old daughter died after accidently catching her neck on a treadmill cord. And while this tragedy is an extremely rare circumstance, it turns out that the runner’s dream machine is the most common source of gym injuries.

Last year’s CPSC data describes 575 incidents in which exercisers tripped or fell off treadmills — regardless if the belt was on or off. The result? Hundreds of back strains, dozens of broken toes and more than a few bruised egos.

The treadmill isn’t the only offender: Stability balls and weight machines account for the bulk of gym injuries. Avoiding hazards is usually as easy as paying attention to misplaced dumbbells, weight plates, kettle balls and other equipment. And when you’re lifting, it’s as simple as taking your time and you’ll never have to worry about pinched fingers between the weight stacks or dropping dumbbells on your toes.


BIOMECHANICAL INJURIES:

Aside from the numerous equipment factors, the most serious injuries occur due to inadequate technique and substandard preparation. Rid yourself of these troubles and you’ll never have to make an appointment with a physical therapist again.

Poor Technique:

We’ve all seen the overzealous power-lifter, grunting while doing bicep curls with an arch in his back that could put a Cirque du Soleil contortionist to
shame. This isn’t manly or even beneficial for your muscle adaptation — it’s downright damaging.

Each time you lift with poor technique you create sheer force that causes micro-trauma to the targeted muscle fibers. And as you increase resistance, you raise your risk for one of the injuries listed below this section. With even minor injuries comes pain and dysfunction — a destructive recipe for a vicious cycle.

“The body is task-driven, if the ‘right’ technique causes pain than there’s a good chance I’ll choose a ‘poor’ technique to produce the desired outcome. Over time, these compensations in movement pattern will likely result in injury, posture problems or inflammation,” explains Tim Skwiat, M.Ed., a certified strength and conditioning specialist with Train 4 the Game.

For example, if you think lifting belts will prevent back injuries — you’re wrong. Regular belt use can actually weaken back and abdominal muscles by unnaturally supporting them. Only a strong core accompanied
by good technique and smooth repetition can prevent any strain.
Don’t ever hesitate to ask your gym’s personal trainer when doing a new exercise, particularly if the motion feels uncomfortable.

Shoddy Preparation:

Although there is conflicting data, the majority of research indicates that an active warm-up may be the most important factor in preventing acute injury and keeping you off the sidelines.

The best way to get loose and limber is easy; just do an easier version of your intended workout. So dedicate five minutes to a brisk walk before your run and incorporate a quick stretch before your weight-lifting session.

Cool-downs are equally as important. After any type of cardiovascular exercise — especially if it’s vigorous — performing a lower-intensity activity protects your heart. In fact, suddenly stopping during strenuous exercise may cause blood to pool in veins, which means the heart must beat faster and harder to adequately oxygenate the body and maintain blood pressure. This added stress is detrimental for any heart, healthy or not, and your body.

“A significant amount of pain and inflammation can be avoided with a proper cool down. In addition to decrements in performance, you may encounter other problems as a result from not appropriately warming up or cooling down such as post-workout soreness and nagging overuse injuries,” says Skwiat.

From strength-training to your kickboxing class, stretching helps release tension from your workout and helps to remove lactic acid that can cause cramps and stiffness by encouraging blood flow to tightened, exhausted muscles.

In the workout world, slow and steady always wins the race. Your body responds the best to a gradual increase of intensity or duration. And as you increase your fitness level, don’t avoid problem areas. Ladies, this means don’t just focus on your already strong lower-body. Men, same goes for you, stop concentrating on your arms and chest.

“Full-body workouts offer greater metabolic boosting benefits because of the amount of muscle mass that is stimulated. If your goal is to burn more calories, this is certainly the way to go,” Skwiat points out.
We may smirk at the bodybuilder sporting a huge upper-body supported by chicken legs, but this isn’t just about aesthetics. If you neglect certain muscle groups altogether, you can create imbalances in your body that can promote poor posture and ultimately increase your risk for injury.

Top Three Most Common Gym Injuries:

{1} Lower back pain
The most popular and also the most debilitating, it is usually caused by improper lifting technique and taking on too much weight before you’re ready.

{2} Shoulder impingement
Also referred to as rotator cuff impingement, this overuse injury occurs after many sessions of lifting weights. The constant contact between the muscles and tendons that comprise the rotator cuff with the shoulder blade can result in inflammation and lead to tendonitis or bursitis.

{3} Knee injuries
According to the American Academy of Sports Podiatry Medicine, knee problems (including ACL tears) make up 50 percent of all sports-related medical visits. These usually result from a number of reasons including strength imbalances between quadriceps muscles, bone stress, overuse of the joint and poor exercise technique. (Sound familiar?)


CARDIAC CATASTROPHES:

People who run half-marathons are presumably in great shape, so it’s understandable why the three deaths at October’s Detroit Marathon made headlines. Before they collapsed, all three men were reported to be in good health by family and two of the tragic trio were under the age of 40 — one was only 26-years-old.

But you don’t seem surprised, reader. No doubt you’ve heard this story before. There was “Pistol” Pete Maravich: A former NBA player who died at age 41 when he collapsed from sudden cardiac arrest during a pick-up basketball game. Or you may remember Douglas Adams: The famed author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series who succumbed to a heart attack after a workout in a private California gym. He wasn’t even 50. But, perhaps the most famous of these ill-fated examples is James Fixx: The 52-year-old renowned author and running zealot, who died doing what he loved best.

It’s hard to keep the mind from wandering into thoughts such as, “will my next spin class be my last?” after hearing about these often too-close-for-comfort tales. But don’t celebrate yet, coach potatoes. Lack of habitual physical activity is still considered to be the fourth major risk factor for coronary heart disease.

So, what’s the truth behind this paradox?
Should we risk the reaper for a run?

Historically, there have been opposing schools of thought. In the 1890s, along with North America’s discovery of the bicycle, doctors believed that the working life of a human heart was limited to a certain number of beats — so a faster heart rate would only waste these beats and lead to an untimely death. Fast-forward eighty years later and a Dr. Thomas Bassler claimed that marathon runners were immune to heart disease.

Today, we know that neither of those extremes are truth. But, the cold harsh reality is that every time you hit the gym, you might be closer to death then you’d like to realize.

Dr. Paul Thompson, chief of cardiology and director of the Preventive Cardiology Program at Hartford Hospital, has conducted many studies that peel away the mystery behind sudden cardiac death.

According to his research, the chances of kicking the bucket are about one in every 15,000 to 18,000 exercisers per year. And, if we look closer, those unfortunate were already playing with an unlucky hand.

Let’s go back to Mr. James Fixx, our running legend. Before he was even a twinkle in his mother’s eye, Fixx was already vulnerable to cardiac problems. His father died from a heart attack at the relatively young age of 43. According to the American Heart Association, you are automatically at risk if your mother had heart disease before age 65 or your father was diagnosed with it before the age of 55.

Although he quit, smoking had caused enough irrevocable damage that was accompanied by an elevated blood cholesterol concentration. Fixx even had warning symptoms, such as chest pain, and had refused to be thoroughly evaluated via a maximal exercise stress test. His death, albeit tragic, was not at all surprising. Fixx died from the number one cause of mortality in our country: Coronary artery disease.

Case after case, study after study, the dominating conclusion has indicated that virtually all people who die suddenly during exercise had a serious heart disease. And depending on your age, it’s a matter of heredity and lifestyle.

Under the age of 40, sudden cardiac death is likely to be caused by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (an enlarged and inefficient heart), familial hypercholesterolemia (inherited high levels of bad cholesterol), a rare rhythm disorder or structural anomalies.

Once you’re over-the-hill, exercise-related death has as much to do with lifestyle as it does heredity. The unhealthy choices you may have made through life start to inflict increasing damage on your cardiovascular system, leaving you susceptible to clogged coronary arteries. It’s important to understand, from youth to old age, that no heart condition is caused by physical activity, no matter how vigorous.

“Exercise is known to be beneficial for almost every medical ailment including most cancers, anxiety, depression, dementia and all heart disease risk factors (such as high cholesterol and blood pressure). In addition, the effects of aging on many body systems can be slowed to a quarter of the rate compared to those who do not exercise!” asserts Dr. Martha Pyron, a board certified physician in sports medicine at Medicine in Motion.

The jury is still out when it comes to determining the exact cause behind such cardiac catastrophe in susceptible individuals. But, ironically, the only surefire way to prevent sudden cardiac death by exercise is to, well, exercise.


INVASIVE INFECTIONS:

While precarious lifestyles can result in a heart that’s a ticking time bomb, even the healthiest ones can easily succumb to the gyms smallest (and strongest) offenders. The next time you read a sign instructing you to wipe down your leg press — take it to heart. Viruses left from weight lifters past can put you and your ticker at risk for inflammation and infection.

Although research remains preliminary on the association of sudden cardiac death to virus-induced maladies, people who have serious symptoms such as a fever shouldn’t exercise vigorously for at least 14 days after they start feeling better and their resting heart rate is back to normal.

“The only reason not to exercise is if you are acutely ill with a fever, have chest symptoms or if the exercise puts you at risk to further aggravate an ongoing injury,” explains Pyron.

The warm and moist gym environment is a perfect breeding ground for not only harmful viruses but also aggressive bacteria and fungi. If you thought it was hard to shed those last five pounds, try getting rid of these invasive infections. You’ll never leave for the gym without your hand sanitizer again.

Bad Bacteria: Staph Infections

It’s found in an alarming number of gym locker rooms across the nation. It comfortably resides in the nasal passages of more than 20 percent of the population. Its résumé includes everything from minor skin infections, such as pimples, to life-threatening diseases including meningitis, endocarditis and sepsis. Its name is Staphylococcus aureus, a spherical bacterium that’s the most common cause of the dreaded staph infection.

Infections are spread not only by overt skin-to-skin contact, but also indirectly by latching on to anyone that uses the towels or athletic equipment of an infected person. If this easy transmission doesn’t alarm you, consider this: The Journal of the American Medical Association reported that MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, caused around 94,000 infections and more than 18,000 deaths in 2005.

The numbers have only grown since then. MRSA, appropriately nicknamed the “Staph Superbug,” can cause serious infections that are resistant to powerful antibiotics like penicillin and methicillin.

So the next time you’re pressed for time at the gym, don’t forego a quick wipe down of your favorite weight machine.

The most effective way to prevent these potentially deadly infections is simply good hygiene.

Feral Fungi:

The next time you see a fellow gym rat walking around the locker room sans shoes or flip-flops, you have full permission to scoff. The gym’s humidity plays host to hundreds of parasitic microorganisms that thrive on the cells in the outer layer of your skin causing highly contagious fungal infections. Pretty gross, huh?

It has been estimated that on any given day, around 20 percent of the population is dealing with a nasty case of ringworm or other similar fungi-induced inflammation. Characterized by an itchy, red circular rash with healthy-looking skin in the middle, ringworm (although disgusting) has nothing to do with an actual worm. The fungus that causes it is contagious before any skin symptoms appear, so ringworm is very difficult to prevent.

The same fungus that results in ringworm can cause both athlete’s foot; which affects the moist areas between your toes and can lead to a secondary bacterial infection if it breaks through the inflamed skin, and jock itch; when the fungus makes its way to the groin area. Talk about uncomfortable!

There are many antifungal medications that can treat these infections, but several placebo-controlled studies found that good hygiene alone can clear it up in 30 to 40 percent of cases. Do you really need any other reason to hop in the shower after you hit the gym?