Those who have injured yourselves in the gym, how did it happen, how did you realize it was serious, and what would you have done differently?

I've been lifting for 30 years. I have torn both my rotator cuffs. My biggest problem was my stupid refusal to complete the a full rehabilitation program. Once I have completed the program and strengthened the muscles, I have had no further issues.

Back in spring I injured my shoulder on the dumbbell press. I did the flared out bodybuilder shit that you see most YouTubers doing, and somehow I lost center of gravity with the weight and it jerked my shoulder back and ever since I've had issues with it. So now I do all my overhead pressing close grip (you should too, better rom + more stability), and I manage to work around it.

I make sure to keep my shoulders mobile and avoid exercises that put my shoulder girdle in stress full positions.

Accidents happen, use common sense, you'll be good. It's not really possible to eliminate any chance of injury. My worst injury was to my rotator cuff, out for 3 months (40 years of lifting). Don't worry about it, just lift.

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I just make sure they're steady and not pushing out with wide grip or pushing in with narrow grip. I also dropped the weight a little until I could handle more

Most recent one was a partial PEC tear. Injuries are almost unavoidable especially as you get older. Injury management is what separates the men from the boys.

I damaged a disk doing too much forward bending stretches. Just because it's a stretch doesn't mean you shouldn't have a neutral spine and practice good spinal mechanics.

I've been dealing with this for about 6 months now. Protect your back.

Also, just because something's sore, doesn't mean you should stretch it more. I highly recommend if you're worried about it, read Becoming a Supple Leopard by Kelly Starrett. It's long, but he breaks everything down. Goes into mobilization techniques, prescriptions for pain, and how to do many common exercises.

I herniated a disc when I tried doing cleans after wearing myself out with deadlifts and squats. I haven't done cleans after deadlifts since.

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20 years ago on the incline leg press. I would go too far down which rounded my lower back. I did this so I got a full range of motion. OMFG you use your back for everything... it hurt to exist. The doctor said it should go away, gave me muscle relaxers and I thought about how my life was going to be miserable forever. Took a few weeks and it was "better". Started to pay much more attention to form and not roudning my back. I also started deadlifting and hyper extension which strengthened the muscles of my back and really made the pain go away .. but here is the things with injuries, they never go away. They always come back as you get older. While I lift , still deadlift etc...my lower back still has a dull aching regularly and I cant deadlift that much relative to my other lifts because of it.

Moral of the story....dont get injured, have good form and know where the limit is for you.

Was doing biceps curls, didn't push wrists in and couldn't move my wrist, play piano (my JOB) or write for a month at least. It was stupid and easily avoided. Now I push them in and use straps