People are going to the gym in droves, which is great for the fitness industry and personal trainers alike. However, the first few weeks or month into a program can either greatly maximize your workouts, or put you closer to a devastating injury.

Which is it doing for you?

When people go to the gym, they have their own goals in their mind. They include how much they can bench press or squat, how long they can go on the elliptical for, or how many miles they can do on the treadmill. By approaching their workouts like this, the average gym goer can be on the fast track to a debilitating injury.

By aligning your workouts like this, whether it is to squat or bench the most or run the farthest, most clients arent taking their long-term health in mind. Dont think gym goers are making themselves vulnerable to injuries? Then consider this:

Nearly 80 percent of all adults have lower back pain
There are 80,000 to 100,000 ACL injuries every year
Around 70 percent of those ACL injuries are non-contact
About 1 million ankle sprains happen every year

According to a 1999 Champaign, IL study, overtraining and poor technique can be a factor in all dysfunctions and injures. By exercising properly, you can easily minimize your chances of injury. The question is, what does it mean to exercise properly?

Exercising properly means you take a progressive look at your workout and realize that it isnt about running as far as you can or deadlifting the most weight in week one, but preparing your body for the stress you are now putting on it.

Throughout all your workouts, especially when you go to the gym for the first time, you need to work on your bodys core and increase your neuromuscular efficiency. Neuromuscular efficiency, simply put, is your body recruiting the proper muscles when working out.

Poor neuromuscular efficiency will lead your body to rapid injury. After a long workout, do your knees hurt? That could be because your body is favoring your quadriceps when running (or squatting, depending on what exercises you choose) because of poor neuromuscular efficiency. Your body, for one reason or another, isnt using the backside of your legs (like your hamstrings) when you are doing a specific workout.

So how do you increase your neuromuscular efficiency, and decrease your chance of injury? You can do many, very easy alterations to your exercises to help increase your neuromuscular efficiency.

One of the easiest ways is to slow down to concentrate on your form, and actually visualize which muscles you are working out. Doing a bicep curl? Actually squeeze your biceps when performing the curl. Working on the elliptical for 45 minutes? Try to really get your hamstrings and glutes into each step. Doing this will prevent injuries.

Also, by doing work on a stability ball, or do certain exercises on one foot, will help your neuromuscular efficiency and decrease your chance of injury.