Doing anything in life safely involves taking a moment to think about what you're about to do , what's involved, what are the potential hazards i.e. what could go wrong? Then think about how to avoid these disasters happening and what you can do to minimise the risk of injury to yourself or anyone else if they do happen. In the world of work you'd call that a risk assessment and it'd be accompanied by lots of form filling just to prove you'd done it. Well you don't need quite such a bureaucratic approach here just a bit of thought and commonsense really. Of course if writing the main points down helps you to remember them then why not?

It's almost certain that the manufacturers of your machine will have done all this for you and included it in the instructions. Of course you didn't read those but with any luck you didn't throw them away so best find them and read "em now don't you think? With any piece of equipment, especially machinery of any kind the best safety advice anyone can give you is "Read the instructions thoroughly before you try to use it!"

If you're going to exercise using a multigym at a public gym or fitness club you'll have plenty of advice and instruction on hand to keep you safe or, if you haven't, try another gym! If you've bought your own machine to use at home then there are one or two points to bear in mind concerning safe use of it apart from what's already been mentioned. If at all possible install any equipment like this in a room you can keep the children out of. Little hands and feet don't mix well with machinery of any sort and kids can get themselves hurt amazingly quickly.

Try and make sure that all floor surfaces near your multigym are kept clear of things to trip over and are not slippery. You've already made a mental note of where all the moving parts are and to keep your fingers away from them so you should be pretty well ok to avoid any nasty accidents. Now it's just a matter of making sure that the exercise you carry out on this equipment is going to do you good and not harm.

If you've bought your machine new from a reputable supplier the chances are that there will have been a training booklet or at least a wallchart supplied with it. This will provide most of the really fundamental information you'll need to use the equipment safely right from the start, but only if you read it and take notice of what it tells you! Everything said about instruction books earlier on applies to this. It's part of the instructions really. Of course that's all very well if you have got the training information. If you bought your equipment second hand the instruction book and training manual may not have been passed on to you. The books may have got lost and any wallchart may be still adorning the first owner's wall! In that case here are some points to remember.

First and foremost before you start trying to get fit you must get yourself checked over to make sure you're fit to get fit! Tell your doctor what you're planning to do and let him or her give you the once over to make sure you're up to it. Now, armed with your new M.O.T from the doctor and armed with the knowledge that you're ok to proceed you can get stuck in, yes?

Well yes, but gently does it to start with. You want to improve muscle tone and build more muscle, not damage what you've already got! So lots of gentle warm-up exercises because muscle tissue's much more easily damaged through overstrain when it's cold. Warm-up and cooling down exercise at the end of the session are vitally important. Never skimp on them.

A multigym works by using weights. The heavier the weights the harder the exercise. If you're new to all this start off with really light weights. Only change to heavier weight as you make progress. Don't be in too much of a hurry. The weights don't need to be heavy to do you good at this stage. You'll get to the heavy weights all in good time and by them you'll manage them safely. Just a point about weights, when you change them make sure the new ones are properly secured in place before you get going again.

Don't be put off by all this talk about safety. It's mostly commonsense really and as you progress and gain knowledge about this fitness business it'll all become a bit obvious. So with reasonable care your multigym will be your passport to a level of fitness you only dreamed of before so go to it!