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I run a small, bespoke fitness studio in the UK and I have recently come across your videos on youtube - which I think are great! Your training philosophy and attention to detail during movements are what I am working towards at my own place. However, I have one query........
Almost every person that comes to me has some form of chronic tightness, either in the hips or calves, which prevents them from squatting safely. To work with these people is much more time consuming and fixing these problems is a very lengthy process. In an ideal world everyone would respond quickly to cues and master the big movements in a relatively short space of time. May I ask how you incorporate these types of people onto your program?
I understand regression and progression but I think these people need daily stretching and release but I believe you're not a fan!
The lifts coached as we teach them require no stretching. Except for possibly the lockout position of the press, flexibility -- "mobility" in the modern faddish terminology -- is not the limiting factor in squat depth or starting position for the pulls. Over the 10 years we have been holding our seminar, there have been a total of 5 people who could not squat below parallel on Saturday morning after 8 correctly-coached sets of 5.
My training history is simple: overtrained bodybuilder with piss poor form until 4 years ago. I then came across your books & site (which are extremely helpful). I am also a recently licensed Physical Therapist Assistant (which is also part of the problem). I had an arthroscopic Labral Repair to the left shoulder (Bankhart Lesion & Hill-Sachs Lesion, very small according the MRI), with debridement 4 months ago.
The rotator cuff muscles & supraspinatus were in great shape and surgery was a success & my recovery is going exceptionally well. My predicament: I am troubled by what my Physical Therapist said, "No more heavy training (bench & shoulder pressing), give up doing chins".
I don't want to give up training. What I'm asking is there anyone out there or does anyone know someone who has undergone this surgery and return to heavy training without re-injuring themselves? My training is drastically different now: soft tissue work, mobility training, stretching, less frequency. I believe I train a lot smarter than before. I appreciate any and all feedback.
There are very few conditions that actually require someone to give up training...ALS being one of them. So, as long as your Alpha Motor Neurons aren't systematically dying off, you can continue to train.
Your PT made that recommendation for two reasons: 1) he / she doesn't understand what heavy benching / pressing does to a human body, and 2) legal liability.
If he/she tells you that you are clear to bench press and you drop the bar on yourself, you are going to sue him / her for everything they are worth. Your attorney is going to pull studies out of his ass that talk about standard rehab protocols and make the claim that your therapist didn't follow the standard of care. They will bring in pencil-necked experts to testify and they will agree that bench pressing is inherently dangerous and this therapist was negligent in his recommendation to you. Your therapist will be held liable. You will end up with a $20 check after your attorney takes his cut, because PTs aren't worth much of anything, and this therapist will have to find some other way to pay back his $200,000 in student loans. His nametag at Home Depot will read "Steve, DPT".
I use heavy barbell training almost daily in the clinic for rehab, but I am judicious about who gets it prescribed. If liability wasn't an issue, I could find a benefit for virtually everyone of them...except for the ALS patients, of course.
A Conversation with Karl Denninger | Starting Strength Radio #128 –
Volume and the Masters Lifter –Jonathon Sullivan and Andy Baker
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