Translated as "First do No Harm," the Latin phrase Primum non nocere is the moral injunction of the Hippocratic Oathe and the title of a brand new peer reviewed scientific paper published in the Journal of Trainology. An all-star group of authors including James Fisher from the Southampton Solent University in the United Kingdom, Matt Brzycki of Princeton University, and Bill DeSimone of Optimal Exercise published a manifesto in favor of safer, more intelligent exercise. Their thesis: Exercise professionals must move away from the prescription of dangerous and unproductive exercise and migrate toward safe, result-producing, evidence-based exercise. Surprisingly, many of the popular exercise trends that fitness enthusiasts are flocking to (1) have a high risk for injury and (2) are actually less effective in terms of producing fitness results. An important point is that the injury risk and lack of effectiveness has nothing to do with proper form, as proper form in a dangerous exercise still constitutes a dangerous exercise. The authors quote, "There is no right way to do a wrong thing." Of course, by definition exercise should improve physical health and function, not present harm.
In the words of the authors, the vast majority of exercisers, even well intentioned exercisers are missing out on the benefits of resistance exercise. They make the powerful statement, "Indeed, this is the possibility of correctly performed resistance training: not to slow down aging, but to reverse the aging process."