Athletes – amateurs and professionals alike – are always looking for ways to improve and make the most of their talents and gifts.  They are always trying to find ways to squeeze more performance out of their bodies with proper training and exercise.

Unfortunately, a lot of these efforts are pushing athletes beyond their capabilities and putting them at risk for injury. And while most injuries aren’t life altering crippling or debilitating, any injury to a serious athlete runs the risk of sidelining them once and for all which is why athletes need to do their level best to avoid injury in the first place.

Here are some tips and tricks to help you do exactly that, but first – a word of advice.

ALWAYS seek out medical help when you’ve been injured.

At the end of the day, if you do get injured (and most athletes will have to deal with some kind of injury at some point in time) you are going to want to seek out medical assistance ASAP.

This is the only way to get the pain relief you need to deal with the injury, the only way to understand the full extent of the injury, and the only way to move forward with an effective plan to rehabilitate the injury so that you get back to better than brand-new as quickly as possible.

With the help of physicians and your medical team you’ll be able to choose the right pain control solution, including strong painkillers like codeine if necessary, and you’ll want their professional advice and assistance every step of the way to make sure that you don’t run off the rails during your rehab.

To avoid ending up in a situation where you need that trip to the doctor, make sure you follow these tips.

ALWAYS warm up

New athletes and veteran athletes alike have an aversion to warming up, and a lot of it stems from an excitement to just kind of get after it and push their bodies to the limit without wasting a single moment in the gym.

Unfortunately, that’s the fastest way to shock your frozen muscle into injury and you’ll want to do everything you can to fight the urge to skip your warm-up and instead embrace these first 20 minutes or so is a critical part of your training protocol.

A proper warm-up before every training session will help you prevent injury better than almost anything else.

ALWAYS train with a partner

If you want to make sure that you are having to go through a pain management and pain control protocol because of an injury you’ll want to be sure that you train with a partner – especially when you’re going to be going all out – so that you can get help instantly before a dangerous situation turns into something even worse.

Training with a partner isn’t only going to help you from a motivational standpoint but it’s also going to provide you with an extra layer of safety and security. On top of that, they’ll be able to help make sure that your form is always strictly adhered to – cutting down the potential for injury in that way too.

ALWAYS stop when you feel something going wrong

Athletes are going to understand their bodies better than most anyone else, and if you feel anything “a little bit off” – especially in the middle of a training session – you’re going to need to shut things down ASAP so that you can better understand exactly what’s happening before a minor issue becomes a major injury.

There’s something to be said about “playing through the pain” but it is something else entirely to risk serious injury that could sidelined you for quite a while during a training session.

So that’s our advice, enjoy the gym – safely. That way you can avoid taking painkillers for injuries. And if you do get injured, make sure you only buy prescription painkillers like co-codamol online from legitimate sources.