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Injuries

PTC

Member
The subject on this forum does my head in. Lots of talk recently in Ghostys thread.

He must get injured because of his form, general assumption.

Big Nick, worries obsessively about form. He gets injured plenty.

Nathan Jones, one of the best lifters in Oz, gets injured warming up at ProRaw

Taylor Young, the best female PL in Oz, gets injured warming up.

Gregg Gordon, super strong, super strict, excellent lifter, 2 torn pecs

Every single footballer in Oz, from the age of 12, has got injured playing football

Every sport has its risks, you will get injured.

Once you get strong, you WILL get injured, its not form related.

Minh on here, he is obsessed with form and technique, injured quad. He is not immune from injury. Get strong, get injured.

Would anyone ever have a shoulder injury if they only benched 60kg. Possibly not. At 160kg though, it will happen.

Of course we try and minimize risk, but you will get injured lifting heavy weights, period.

The body isnt designed for 200kg squats and 250kg deadlifts. Wear and tear as you build up to those weights takes its toll.

Stop fretting. If your trying to get strong, your trying to get injured. Deal with it.

On the subject of risk taking, someone should start a thread in the general discussion section, I'd love to know what risks some of you have taken

ever stuck your dick in a girl you dont know?

Driven drunk?

Taken a drug you dont know who made , and with what?

Smoked?

Used mobile while driving?

why is it when it comes to weights, most gym goers carry on like sooks.

"I cant squat because no one showed me how"

That one fucking kills me
 
I remember doing a 180kg squat to a paralell bench, it nearly broke me in half, i attempted a double, and stuffed my back and knee all in one. Had i never attempted the second rep, i never would have figured out my limits. Sometimes, to find your limits, you have to go past them (hope this makes sense, it's rather late).
 
Markos while I agree with not going overboard worrying about injuries.
Not worrying about it at all is just as stupid. Injuries can put you out for years or for good. Being smart about your weight training and doing simple things to minimise your chances of injuries just makes sence. Well it makes sence to me anyway.
 
If you constantly train trying to avoid injuries, you won't get injured, you just won't get big or strong.

You try and minimize them, but they will happen, not much you can do!
 
PTC I agree with most of what you say, but it depends on the injury. There are some injuries where the risk can be massively reduced through good technique and building up over time. I'm thinking joint and ligament injuries here.

With sports like football, movements are very unpredictable - you might land awkwardly, suffer a collison, have the grass shift under your feet.

Unlike football, lifting weights gives you a lot of control over what you do. Provided your feet don't slip, or weights don't fly off the bar, or a spotter fails to do their job properly, everything you do should be fairly predictable - well in powerlifting, moreso than olympic lifting. The use of equipment in powerlifting does increase the risk, particularly bench shirts.

If your technique is sound and you have a planned program to reach your goals in a progressive manner, which most people here do, then all the support structures in your body should adapt to prevent many of the injuries seen in other sports.

PTC, most of the examples you just gave are soft tissue injuries. This is, as you correctly point out, just an consequence of lifting heavy weights and a risk you take in this sport. The older you get, the more likely you'll be to suffer these injuries.

But once you're lifting really heavy weights, then obviously the risk of joint type injuries will increase too.

The other issue is where people have structural issues that predispose them to risk of injury. I definitely fall into that category. I was held back over a year due to injuries that were caused by poor muscle activation patterns and muscle imbalances. This was a direct result of taking up powerlifting after working at a desk for 10 years without using my hips much at all. But the stronger I get in SQ and DL, while using the best technique I can manage, the less tight and sore I am getting and haven't been injured in a while (fingers crossed), because the muscles that should be doing the work that previously weren't (glute and core in my case) are catching up. Reading this forum I reckon lots of people fall into this category.
 
Max pointed out that most cant make the distinction between hurt and injured.

Anyway, its up to you guys to discuss, I really dont care what guys outside my gym think anyway, its just an interesting topic.
 
In my experience weightlifting is one of the safer sports when it comes to injuries. I have hardly had an injury from lifting weights yet have a shopping list of injuries from playing footy.
 
:cool:
In my experience weightlifting is one of the safer sports when it comes to injuries. I have hardly had an injury from lifting weights yet have a shopping list of injuries from playing footy.

It is weird that I'm the complete opposite. I played football from 12-19 and was knocked out from behind one, rolled my ankle once and got winded a few times but never really had any long term injuries. I never missed a game through injury.

Now I seem to get injured every time I pick up a weight :( Perhaps it is because I'm older and less active, don't really know.

All I know is that injuries (that prevent me from training) are hell annoying and I'd do plenty to avoid them.
 
In Starting Strength, Rippetoe includes a table showing statistics for injury rates per participation hour for various sports. Soccer was the worst. Powerlifting had the lowest injury rate. Weightlifting had the second lowest injury rate.
 
Injuries come with the territory. The guys that have the mental strength to deal with them and keep lifting are the ones who get big. Look at 180SX and his recent injuries and how he's dealing with them. Look at Sticky, look at Trofius. There's heaps of examples here alone of those with the right mental attitude. If you're scared of getting injured then you end up being scared of pushing your limits and lifting heavy. When you get in that head space the gains dry up.

I'm 40. I stuffed my shoulder recently doing PB bench. It took a few months to recover fully with some physio and a lot of rest but I'm back above those PBs now and looking forward to my first 100kg bench soon. I'll take gains over an injury free journey any day.

The trick is knowing the fine line you're walking and how to not push "too" hard. I know Markos understands this because of his story about his 150kg bench not long ago which stuffed him up again. He shouldn't have done it and he knows it. The successful lifters are the ones that have learnt how to walk that fine line between putting in enough effort and really testing their limits without going to far and breaking. Its a fine line, but you don't know where it is until you've stepped over it a couple of times.

Cheers,
Mike
 
:cool:

It is weird that I'm the complete opposite. I played football from 12-19 and was knocked out from behind one, rolled my ankle once and got winded a few times but never really had any long term injuries. I never missed a game through injury.

Now I seem to get injured every time I pick up a weight :( Perhaps it is because I'm older and less active, don't really know.

All I know is that injuries (that prevent me from training) are hell annoying and I'd do plenty to avoid them.

Playing footy at younger ages tends to have a lot less injuries. It's slower paced, smaller bodies, your younger. Senior footy is much different.

During juniors i wasn't too bad with injuries but In the last 10 years I haven't even managed to notch up 50 games.
 
I agree with basically everything yOu said markos. The only thing I would like to add is that once you do get a bad injury it knocks your confidence around. When I started lifting weights I thought I'd never be able to squat because of my left knee, but since starting squatting I wouldn't have t any other way.
 
PTC said:
Lots of talk recently in Ghostys thread.

He must get injured because of his form, general assumption.

I believe the assumption was that it's his gung-ho attitude pushing his body way harder than necessary that caused the injuries. Not form. The disagreement on form was about him telling novices that they should get strong while having bad form because it will develop strength even in bad ways, or something very bro-science that I can't quite articulate now.

Nice thread, wrong premise.
 
Markos,
What do you tell a person whom wants to be the best they can be in their chosen team contact sport?

I think you need to clarify this.
 
I like to think of injuries as tax and strength as wealth.

If you want to get wealthy you are going to have to pay some tax. But if you dont take everything available to you to minimise your tax then you're paying tax you dont need to. Ultimately limiting your wealth.

Take all the precautions/options to limit you injuries/tax and you will maximise your strength/wealth.

I use to just barge on ahead all gung ho and to hell with form. Got some ok strength pretty quick, also got some serious back damage.

Changed my training style, and my diet, neither particularly conducive to 1rm strength (did manage 180x8 no wraps in the squat though). And it was probably a bit too cautious, mind you no more injuries.

I'll be ramping everything back up as of now with a goal of bettering my raw comp total in the same weight class at the end of August. I'm going to do this as a form nazi though and with protective support/belt so I'll see how it goes.
 
I believe the assumption was that it's his gung-ho attitude pushing his body way harder than necessary that caused the injuries. Not form. The disagreement on form was about him telling novices that they should get strong while having bad form because it will develop strength even in bad ways, or something very bro-science that I can't quite articulate now.

Nice thread, wrong premise.
Please list an example of being "strong" in a "bad way", is that meant to be an oxymoron?
 
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