SAFETY POINTERS
As a beginner, your goal is to learn to lift right, not lift a lot. In addition to getting the basic movements right, there are some universal safety pointers you should keep in mind to decrease the odds of injuries now and later.
Hire a personal trainer or get a regular workout buddy to spot you for exercises that make you vulnerable to injuries. Examples of such injuries are bench presses, squats (will be introduced in the Intermediate section) and most types of overhead shoulder presses.
There are several advantages; a person who knows you can judge when you need and do not need a helping hand, he knows how strong you are and how much help to apply, and last but not least, you don't have to grab any bozo off the floor that could have the attention span of a French poodle.
Avoid overstretching joints like the plague. Getting a full range of motion during a set is good, pushing a joint beyond its natural limitation is asking for trouble. In most cases it's not even a conscious action.
A classic example is seated leg curls, where you regularly see people push through their set only to remain seated for a few seconds afterward. Their hamstrings are on fire, so they relax the muscles and take a few breaths before getting up. No harm in that, right? Wrong—the entire workload is putting brutal pressure on their knee joints without virtually any muscular support whatsoever.
