Good workout technique, be more effective and prevent injury

If there's one thing that really winds me up at the gym, it's seeing people using bad techniques during their workouts. Not only does not doing things properly make your workout less effective, but it also leaves you prone to injuring yourself.

A couple of classic examples today. A girl on the treadmill next to me made her workout much less effective by doing what I call the 'looking pretty run'. Basically instead of moving forwards with the momentum, all she did was pretty much bob up and down in a light jog and hardly work anything. Doing a power walk with long, extended strides on a slight incline would have been more effective.

I always cringe when I go through the weights sections of gyms, seeing people flex their backs to flick weights upwards - in a few years they'll be suffering from terrible back pain. If you're having to flex your body to life, then the weights are too heavy, it's really as simple as that. I also still see people putting their hands behind their heads whilst doing sit ups! All that happens when you do this, is you put strain on your neck, keeping your hands either side of your head is much better and your neck shouldn't bend.

The thing that gets me the most is the so called Personal Trainers and Experts wandering around, who don't correct peoples techniques. I'm no expert, but having done many competitive sports in my younger years and also sadly having back issues it's something that I make sure I do properly.

Safety first! - Children in cars.

This weekend I thought it would be nice to take a little road trip over to the eastern coast of the UAE. It was a wonderful day out, the wondrous weather descended into an amazing thunder and lightning storm with some quite heavy rain. As good as the day was, my enjoyment was reduced by the sad sight of parents being reckless with children in their cars.

It's not an usual sight to see unrestrained children in cars driving around the UAE, bouncing up and down on the back seat, or youngsters on the laps of the person in the front passenger seat or even sitting on the lap of the driver - all of course being extremely stupid and dangerous things to do. No, the thing that shocked me as I drove down the corniche in Fujairah, was the sight of three little girls with their heads sticking out the sunroof of their mothers car. She's smiling away, as her little precious ones are laughing and waving at other drivers. But, I wonder if it had crossed the mothers mind what would happen if she had to stop suddenly? Three little girls garroted by the sunroof, or they might have slipped off the seat they were standing on and smashed their heads  - the injuries they could have sustained would have been pretty awful.

Sadly, this wasn't the only incidence, I must have seen dozens of cars with children hanging out sunroofs or windows, their parents oblivious to the potential dangers, or is it a sad fact that the parents just don't seem to care? Especially when you see the majority of them actually wearing their seat belts!

I stopped at a nice little Lebanese eatery for some lunch and sure enough the obligatory big blacked out 4x4 pulls up, honking for staff to come out for service. The mother is sitting in the front passenger seat, with a child of no more than three years old perched in her lap, both are unrestrained. Would it ever cross this woman's mind that should her husband, who was driving the car, ever have to make a sudden stop that both she and her child would be thrown forward? She'd probably say 'I can hold onto my child, it's ok!' The reality however would be quite different, as she'd be thrown forward with her body weight crushing the child against the dashboard, even worse the airbag could deploy and also crush the child. You're looking at major head injuries, maybe a broken neck, probable death for the child.

I cannot understand why some parents seem to have such little regard for the most precious things in their lives - their children. If you say anything you get told to 'Mind your own business!'. Sorry but any adult, especially one who wears a seat belt themselves and then doesn't restrain their children in a vehicle is committing willful endangerment and child abuse.

The parents who allow their children to jump around in the back of a car, should take a water melon up to the first floor balcony of an apartment block and drop it onto the concrete below - the result is pretty much what happens to a child's head when they hit the windscreen!

The sad thing is, in the result of an accident, these careless parents would be crying and blaming everyone else except themselves for the injuries or even death of their little one. Children rely on adults to keep them safe. My three year old niece knows this, she doesn't allow the car to start unless she's been strapped into her car seat and will tell you as much!

Many people tragically have the attitude that we should leave it up to Darwinism, that the stupid will cleanse the gene pool by removing themselves from it. People need educating, the parents,the children, the authorities.

Buckley up! Buckle up in the front and the back and keep yourselves and your children safe. After all, if we weren't meant to use seat belts, we wouldn't have been gifted the man who invented them!

If you're on Twitter, please follow @BuckleUpDXB and support their campaign to make everyone safer.