For reasons I don't fully understand, there are people out there who think the weight room is a dangerous place. Cardio classes where you bounce like an over-caffeinated cheerleader? No safety issues there! But pick up a dumbbell and you're just begging for an injury. Obviously, I disagree. Weights are not dangerous. Morons with weights, however, are very dangerous indeed.

Weight room safety comes down to two things: good form and common sense. Here's a primer on both.

Warm up. Aptly named, the goal of a warm-up is to raise the temperature of your muscles and connective tissue, reducing the risk of injury. Warming up also redirects blood flow from the abdominal area to the active muscles. Five to ten minutes of an aerobic activity at a fairly easy pace will do the job. If you're going to work your lower body in the weight room, go ahead and choose a bike, treadmill or stairclimber. But if you're there for an upper body program (or some combination of lower and upper body), opt for something that also works your arms. Try a rower, elliptical machine (with arms that move) or simply swinging your arms more vigorously as you use a bike or treadmill.

Know your limits. If you can't control a weight, it's too heavy for you. Even if it's not so heavy that you're likely to drop it on yourself or an unsuspecting neighbor, you won't be able to maintain proper form and cadence. At worst, this is a setup for injury. At best, it's a less effective exercise. How do you know if you're lifting the right amount of weight? For general fitness training, it should take eight to 12 repetitions of a given exercise to reach temporary fatigue. If you have to dig a little to make it through but can maintain proper form, you're at the right intensity.