I've been wanting to collate the little bits of knowledge that I've accumulated in the past few years or so of trying to gain strength. I've been working out quasi-regularly since almost 20 years ago, but I couldn't get my diet to work at the time and I never got anywhere past barely being able to lift my bodyweight on the bar.
There are several consistent things that I've noticed help me reduce the amount of injuries I get, which can range from a pulled muscle to torn soft tissue or fracture:
Footwear
My issues with footwear started when I put in shoe inserts for running long distance. I thought the aches and pains I had were due to a "collapsed arch" or a low arch that one of my general practitioners mentioned as a kid, and I thought from then on that something was wrong with my foot. So, I always wore these terrible running shoes with inserts when I ran track.
This screwed my entire leg geometry up. I ended up with severe knee and hip pain. I thought I had somehow broken something, even though I never fell or got hit there. I got MRIs performed, and all the doctors said was that there was some "inflammation" at my hip and knee, where my IT band rubs against the bones. I was scared of running since then.
I then broke my leg in an accident and was afraid of not being able to run at all if I never tried again.
When I got interested in serious fitness years later, I got caught up in the Vibram FiveFingers fad and bought a couple of pairs. I had done some research and I found out how modern running shoes changed your foot geometry greatly. I immediately began to question my use of running shoes and inserts that resulted in my IT band pain and fear of running. So, I tried everything from barefoot to Vibram and flat soled shoes. Even after having broken my leg, I was able to rehab my foot and leg strength to where I could run greater distances on rougher terrain than I ever could when I injured my IT band.
However, this goes out the window when I wear modern shoes with heels. I highly recommend staying away from anything that lifts your heels, especially when running or weightlifting. I no longer run unless it's a random 5k without training or I just want to run on a lark, but I always do it in shoes that are very lightweight with a flat sole that promotes a mid-sole impact instead of toes or heels.
For weightlifting, I have done some similar research, and always lift with either no shoes on or with flat shoes. I've already had enough bad form issues to deal with, without having the additional complication of unnatural foot geometry causing additional knee and hip issues.
Weight Progression and Form
It happens to me and many others when progressing to heavier and heavier weights. We try to eke out that last rep, because how else are we going to progress? With perfect form maintained, I don't see as huge of a risk, but how often are we pulling that last movement with perfect form?
Any time your form changes, STOP and drop the weight.
This is most true on squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press, and other compound movements with high potential for injury. I've gnashed my teeth over going from a 300 pound lift to a 250 pound lift and all of the progress I'm not going to be making, but usually, by backing off, I can make a minor form tweak and end up lifting higher than I started, with better form, less pain, and less soreness. This deloading phase is extremely important for improvement. I ignored it for 2 years and couldn't get my bench or squat to improve much because of it.
What I do when injured
Increase Vitamin D intake by getting sun or tanning
Your body needs vitamin D to heal. It may be a placebo effect with tanning, but I think that getting natural sunlight is better than popping pills (which should only be the gels, not the powder shit)
Go low carb and high fat
When I broke my leg, I was scared shitless about getting fat, as I had always been skinny and was starting to get a belly. I went extremely strict on low carbs and got out of the injury without putting on fat.
If you can, do physical activities on the same schedule that you had before
The biggest issue with any injury is pyschological and emotional, not physical. Your body is made to heal. If you break good habits by being scared of them, however, you will weaken yourself such that you become a walking self-fulfilling prophecy of no gains.
Why I am personally scared of squats and deadlifts but do them anyway
To start, for more information on the deadlift, see StrikeBack's excellent thread.
I grew up skinny kid afraid of girls, my own shadow, large cats, masculinity, and my own voice. It made sense to be afraid of turning my spine into a pretzel when I first tried lifting weights almost two decades ago. However, I've never hurt my back, because I've always been afraid enough to have good form and not go heavy enough to get out of shape.
Even after incorporating squats and deads back into a regular routine a few years ago, I occasionally run into someone who's injured themselves doing either. One in particular used to be heavy into weightlifting, until he told me that he dropped form and slipped a disk. He likes to tell me stories about how awesome he was back in the day, and show me pictures (he had a really good physique, better than mine now), but he will never deadlift or even lift weights again.
Pyschologically, he has accepted his fat, blubbery fate of never working out again.
He has refused the surgery, he has given up on non-surgical treatments, and has put on a significant amount of weight, to the point that he is mostly invisible to women and actively acknowledges this, as well as his fatness and his male hamster lack of desire for women, which I armchair diagnose as age exacerbated by low testosterone.
I never want to be that guy. And, thus, I did some research. Specifically, spinal disc herniations, the idea of which freaks me out and makes me never want to squat and deadlift again. That is, until I found out what I did:
The Professional Athlete Spine Initiative: outcomes after lumbar disc herniation in 342 elite professional athletes.
Now, if you're reading this, you're likely not considered to be an athlete. I am not either. However, there is surgery and treatment with a high likelihood of success for this kind of injury!
From another article:
And another:
NFL players are literally having parts of their spines fused together and are returning to play after this injury.
This is satisfying to me. It may not be to you. I don't want to have a spinal injury from squats and deadlifts, so I'm conservative with my progress if my form drops. However, this knowledge that someone performing at that level, with proper rehab, can return to play an impact intense sport is comforting in my mind.
The choice remains to you. Educate yourself. But, I'm planning on squatting and deadlifting until I physically cannot, and then rehabilitating myself after major injuries and surgeries if I need to. There are instances of powerlifters doing it. Although I don't have powerlifting as a goal, I now know it's not an injury that necessarily will keep me from doing these exercises. So, are these exercises really that bad? I'm worried more about wrapping it up in a car or motorcycle accident than this activity. These activities may strengthen my bones and spinal support muscles enough to prevent some of those injuries anyway. I don't see a downside of having stronger, better-coordinated muscles when shit does hit the fan in a way I cannot predict.
Specific injury summary: What I have Recovered From and what I did
Severe IT band pain from running
See above for detail, but barefoot strengthening and switching to flat shoes stopped this pain
Knee and Hip pain from squatting
I believe, but I cannot prove it, that this is related to my previous IT band problems due to it happening on the same side.
It started when I first reached around my bodyweight in squats. I couldn't get all the way to 225 pounds because either the outer parts of my knee and hip would hurt, or my lower back on one side right above my ass would ache and get stiff.
The first time it happened, I had a very narrow stance and I began noticing that my knees were wandering inward. I started forcing them outward deliberately with the movement. This immediately ended my squat pain until I started pushing above 225.
I have since opened up my stance and pointed my toes in an outward shape like a large /, When I squat like this, it is a lot easier to go deeper and press outwards on my knees, which minimizes any pain in this area. I have gotten up to 325lbs this way, but have backed down due to wanting to further improve my depth and form while recovering from an unrelated injury.
Busted ribs from squatting and bad belt use
Apparently it's common to crush ribs or screw up the cartilage connecting them on squats and leg presses, because the thighs or belt can come up and press into the ribs. I normally don't use a belt at all, but decided to try with a powerlifting belt. This was mostly out of ignorance, because I didn't know much of the difference between the belt styles, but the belt pressed into and screwed up my rib cage. I had to stay off of heavy weights and did other exercises during the recovery.
Shoulder or neck pain during squats
My first squats were high-bar, which placed a lot of load on the top of my shoulders, so when I started getting around body weight, I dropped it lower on my back, which required flexing my shoulders to rest the bar on them. This ended the pain near my neck.
When I moved past 225lbs on squat, I then noticed a very sharp pain in one of my shoulders, which felt like it was inside and under the shoulder blade. I was puzzled, but when I looked up this injury I found a very specific cure for it: keep your thumbs over the bar on the squat. This allowed me to focus on balancing the bar on my back, and not pressing up as severely with my arms during squats up to 300+ pounds.
Inability to flex wrists after bench pressing
When I first learned to bench a long time ago, I had terrible form. I had the bar closer to where my fingers joined my hand than towards where my radius and ulna join the base of my wrist. This almost always results in excess wrist strain and injury. Keep the bar as close to directly in line with your forearm as possible during bench. That way, you are only using your wrist to balance it, not hold up the entire weight of 200+ pounds or whatever you bench.
Horrible rotator cuff pain
Every time I got back into weightlifting, I would inevitably injure my rotator cuffs. Sometimes, just pushing a heavy door would cause my arm to collapse from the pressure on my rotator cuff. Sometimes, using a large throw gearshift on my truck caused severe pain. It sucked.
It turns out that I was forgetting one of the first keys to bench presses: Tighten the hell out of your shoulders and abs before pressing. As soon as your hands touch the bar, before liftoff, try to squeeze your shoulder blades with as much force as you can. When I first actively did this, I was amazed at how stable it was, because I had been doing it for so long without anyone correcting my form. But, suddenly, the weight didn't drop to one side like it normally did, and I had a much more even form and more aggressive press. This was one of those things that immediately motivated me to work out harder, as a weak bench was a huge stumbling block for my development.
Thank you for reading. If you have any injuries that you've recovered from and have determined the root cause, then please contribute.
There are several consistent things that I've noticed help me reduce the amount of injuries I get, which can range from a pulled muscle to torn soft tissue or fracture:
Footwear
My issues with footwear started when I put in shoe inserts for running long distance. I thought the aches and pains I had were due to a "collapsed arch" or a low arch that one of my general practitioners mentioned as a kid, and I thought from then on that something was wrong with my foot. So, I always wore these terrible running shoes with inserts when I ran track.
This screwed my entire leg geometry up. I ended up with severe knee and hip pain. I thought I had somehow broken something, even though I never fell or got hit there. I got MRIs performed, and all the doctors said was that there was some "inflammation" at my hip and knee, where my IT band rubs against the bones. I was scared of running since then.
I then broke my leg in an accident and was afraid of not being able to run at all if I never tried again.
When I got interested in serious fitness years later, I got caught up in the Vibram FiveFingers fad and bought a couple of pairs. I had done some research and I found out how modern running shoes changed your foot geometry greatly. I immediately began to question my use of running shoes and inserts that resulted in my IT band pain and fear of running. So, I tried everything from barefoot to Vibram and flat soled shoes. Even after having broken my leg, I was able to rehab my foot and leg strength to where I could run greater distances on rougher terrain than I ever could when I injured my IT band.
However, this goes out the window when I wear modern shoes with heels. I highly recommend staying away from anything that lifts your heels, especially when running or weightlifting. I no longer run unless it's a random 5k without training or I just want to run on a lark, but I always do it in shoes that are very lightweight with a flat sole that promotes a mid-sole impact instead of toes or heels.
For weightlifting, I have done some similar research, and always lift with either no shoes on or with flat shoes. I've already had enough bad form issues to deal with, without having the additional complication of unnatural foot geometry causing additional knee and hip issues.
Weight Progression and Form
It happens to me and many others when progressing to heavier and heavier weights. We try to eke out that last rep, because how else are we going to progress? With perfect form maintained, I don't see as huge of a risk, but how often are we pulling that last movement with perfect form?
Any time your form changes, STOP and drop the weight.
This is most true on squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press, and other compound movements with high potential for injury. I've gnashed my teeth over going from a 300 pound lift to a 250 pound lift and all of the progress I'm not going to be making, but usually, by backing off, I can make a minor form tweak and end up lifting higher than I started, with better form, less pain, and less soreness. This deloading phase is extremely important for improvement. I ignored it for 2 years and couldn't get my bench or squat to improve much because of it.
What I do when injured
Increase Vitamin D intake by getting sun or tanning
Your body needs vitamin D to heal. It may be a placebo effect with tanning, but I think that getting natural sunlight is better than popping pills (which should only be the gels, not the powder shit)
Go low carb and high fat
When I broke my leg, I was scared shitless about getting fat, as I had always been skinny and was starting to get a belly. I went extremely strict on low carbs and got out of the injury without putting on fat.
If you can, do physical activities on the same schedule that you had before
The biggest issue with any injury is pyschological and emotional, not physical. Your body is made to heal. If you break good habits by being scared of them, however, you will weaken yourself such that you become a walking self-fulfilling prophecy of no gains.
Why I am personally scared of squats and deadlifts but do them anyway
To start, for more information on the deadlift, see StrikeBack's excellent thread.
I grew up skinny kid afraid of girls, my own shadow, large cats, masculinity, and my own voice. It made sense to be afraid of turning my spine into a pretzel when I first tried lifting weights almost two decades ago. However, I've never hurt my back, because I've always been afraid enough to have good form and not go heavy enough to get out of shape.
Even after incorporating squats and deads back into a regular routine a few years ago, I occasionally run into someone who's injured themselves doing either. One in particular used to be heavy into weightlifting, until he told me that he dropped form and slipped a disk. He likes to tell me stories about how awesome he was back in the day, and show me pictures (he had a really good physique, better than mine now), but he will never deadlift or even lift weights again.
Pyschologically, he has accepted his fat, blubbery fate of never working out again.
He has refused the surgery, he has given up on non-surgical treatments, and has put on a significant amount of weight, to the point that he is mostly invisible to women and actively acknowledges this, as well as his fatness and his male hamster lack of desire for women, which I armchair diagnose as age exacerbated by low testosterone.
I never want to be that guy. And, thus, I did some research. Specifically, spinal disc herniations, the idea of which freaks me out and makes me never want to squat and deadlift again. That is, until I found out what I did:
The Professional Athlete Spine Initiative: outcomes after lumbar disc herniation in 342 elite professional athletes.
Now, if you're reading this, you're likely not considered to be an athlete. I am not either. However, there is surgery and treatment with a high likelihood of success for this kind of injury!
From another article:
Quote:Quote:
The Spine Journal (March 2011) reported that 81% of the athletes returned to their sport for an average of 3.3 years post surgery. This study also stated that there was no difference in return to play rates between those having surgery versus those who chose to have their disc herniation treated conservatively.
Clinical Orthopedics (July 2014) performed a review of all related studies on lumbar discectomy in elite athletes noting that at least 75% of the athletes returned to play reaching a performance level of at least 64% of pre-surgical capacity.
A study of professional hockey players (Am J. Sports Med, 2013) looked at 87 players suffering lumbar disc herniation noting no difference in return to play between those treated surgically versus conservatively. Perhaps more important, however, is that they found a significant decrease in performance, after return to play, in all athletes suffering this injury.
20 out 29 baseball players with lumbar disc herniation were treated with surgery. All of these returned to play as did the 9 being treated conservatively. (Orthodedics 2011)
Professional basketball was also studied finding that 75% of those having lumbar discectomy returned to play with a small decrease in performance (Spine, 2010)
And another:
Quote:Quote:
Until this year, very little data were available that healthcare practitioners and athletes could use to help guide the decision-making process when faced with a cervical or lumbar disk herniation. The data in this study suggest that because NFL players can return to play at a high rate and sustain long, productive careers even after surgical treatment such as a single-level anterior diskectomy and fusion, elite athletes should not necessarily be afraid to undergo this procedure, should it be recommended. Although it appears that defensive backs of American football have poorer outcomes after a cervical disk herniation than other positions, other surgical procedures may be better suited for this type of athlete, such as a posterior foraminotomy. Our current prospective research initiative may answer questions such as these for elite athletes across several sports who may be predisposed to such cervical disk injuries.
NFL players are literally having parts of their spines fused together and are returning to play after this injury.
This is satisfying to me. It may not be to you. I don't want to have a spinal injury from squats and deadlifts, so I'm conservative with my progress if my form drops. However, this knowledge that someone performing at that level, with proper rehab, can return to play an impact intense sport is comforting in my mind.
The choice remains to you. Educate yourself. But, I'm planning on squatting and deadlifting until I physically cannot, and then rehabilitating myself after major injuries and surgeries if I need to. There are instances of powerlifters doing it. Although I don't have powerlifting as a goal, I now know it's not an injury that necessarily will keep me from doing these exercises. So, are these exercises really that bad? I'm worried more about wrapping it up in a car or motorcycle accident than this activity. These activities may strengthen my bones and spinal support muscles enough to prevent some of those injuries anyway. I don't see a downside of having stronger, better-coordinated muscles when shit does hit the fan in a way I cannot predict.
Specific injury summary: What I have Recovered From and what I did
Severe IT band pain from running
See above for detail, but barefoot strengthening and switching to flat shoes stopped this pain
Knee and Hip pain from squatting
I believe, but I cannot prove it, that this is related to my previous IT band problems due to it happening on the same side.
It started when I first reached around my bodyweight in squats. I couldn't get all the way to 225 pounds because either the outer parts of my knee and hip would hurt, or my lower back on one side right above my ass would ache and get stiff.
The first time it happened, I had a very narrow stance and I began noticing that my knees were wandering inward. I started forcing them outward deliberately with the movement. This immediately ended my squat pain until I started pushing above 225.
I have since opened up my stance and pointed my toes in an outward shape like a large /, When I squat like this, it is a lot easier to go deeper and press outwards on my knees, which minimizes any pain in this area. I have gotten up to 325lbs this way, but have backed down due to wanting to further improve my depth and form while recovering from an unrelated injury.
Busted ribs from squatting and bad belt use
Apparently it's common to crush ribs or screw up the cartilage connecting them on squats and leg presses, because the thighs or belt can come up and press into the ribs. I normally don't use a belt at all, but decided to try with a powerlifting belt. This was mostly out of ignorance, because I didn't know much of the difference between the belt styles, but the belt pressed into and screwed up my rib cage. I had to stay off of heavy weights and did other exercises during the recovery.
Shoulder or neck pain during squats
My first squats were high-bar, which placed a lot of load on the top of my shoulders, so when I started getting around body weight, I dropped it lower on my back, which required flexing my shoulders to rest the bar on them. This ended the pain near my neck.
When I moved past 225lbs on squat, I then noticed a very sharp pain in one of my shoulders, which felt like it was inside and under the shoulder blade. I was puzzled, but when I looked up this injury I found a very specific cure for it: keep your thumbs over the bar on the squat. This allowed me to focus on balancing the bar on my back, and not pressing up as severely with my arms during squats up to 300+ pounds.
Inability to flex wrists after bench pressing
When I first learned to bench a long time ago, I had terrible form. I had the bar closer to where my fingers joined my hand than towards where my radius and ulna join the base of my wrist. This almost always results in excess wrist strain and injury. Keep the bar as close to directly in line with your forearm as possible during bench. That way, you are only using your wrist to balance it, not hold up the entire weight of 200+ pounds or whatever you bench.
Horrible rotator cuff pain
Every time I got back into weightlifting, I would inevitably injure my rotator cuffs. Sometimes, just pushing a heavy door would cause my arm to collapse from the pressure on my rotator cuff. Sometimes, using a large throw gearshift on my truck caused severe pain. It sucked.
It turns out that I was forgetting one of the first keys to bench presses: Tighten the hell out of your shoulders and abs before pressing. As soon as your hands touch the bar, before liftoff, try to squeeze your shoulder blades with as much force as you can. When I first actively did this, I was amazed at how stable it was, because I had been doing it for so long without anyone correcting my form. But, suddenly, the weight didn't drop to one side like it normally did, and I had a much more even form and more aggressive press. This was one of those things that immediately motivated me to work out harder, as a weak bench was a huge stumbling block for my development.
Thank you for reading. If you have any injuries that you've recovered from and have determined the root cause, then please contribute.
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I don't think it's anything serious. I've been taking it easy for four days, as Rip suggests, and the pain is nowhere near what it was Friday night.