The annual Testify Leprechaun Lift-off weightlifting meet took place this Saturday (03/11/23) at Testify Strength & Conditioning in Omaha, NE, and you can view a recording of the meet here. For the women, the Best Lifter Award (Morgard the Manatee) went to Alex Wolfe, and for the men, the Best Lifter Award went to Colin Reis. The Best Lifter Awards were determined using Sinclair points. View scoresheet.
s.oliver
Currently dealing with three of my clients who have been ill-informed by their doctors about strength training.
Two pieces of advice were "Don't deadlift more than 25 pounds", "Don't deadlift more than 110 pounds". Both pieces have been ignored by my clients.
In a third case, doctor has told my client to only do moderate weights to "not cause inflammation" (she has supraspinatus tendonitis), to do "rotator cuff exercises", and to go down on her deadlift weight so she doesn't get sore in her hips (which - more than anything else - is a recovery issue).
Client would obviously believe her doctor more than anyone else.
I am curious to know how you've dealt with such situations in the past where your clients were ill-informed by doctors - and where it was challenging to make them understand the importance of building up their strength, rather than following unfounded claims by their doctors.
Mark Rippetoe
I could tell you stories for hours non-stop - COVID19 Factors We Should Consider/Current Events.
But let's hear from the rest of you.
anticausual
I think some people can be convinced if you explain that doctors give advice that first and foremost covers their own ass. If there is an established pattern that they know will keep them out of legal/professional trouble, they will push people into that pattern, regardless of how effective it is. They're just doing what is "safe". Of course, before explaining, you might want to cover your own ass and make it clear you're not offering medical advice.
Other people are going to obey their doctor no matter what, 100% of the time, and there is nothing you can do about it.
Yes. The medical industry depends on the 105s. Can't be helped.
Schrodinger23
My 10 year old daughter has knocked knees. It is very easy to see her just standing still with feet shoulder width apart. My wife took her to a pediatric orthopedic specialist who suggested that she does some physical therapy to correct it. She is always complaining about her ankles hurting, which is why my wife wanted to take her in.
Anyways, I'm a 42 year old male who has been doing Starting Strength for about 2.5 years at this point. I'm in intermediate programming for all of the main lifts. I have done physical therapy twice for two different reasons and have come away with a feeling that they have a total lack of understanding of the strength adaptation recovery model. A physical therapist did help me with my lack of shoulder flexibility when I was starting out with Starting Strength back in the spring of 2019, which helped make it possible for me to get under the bar to do low bar squats and press with a vertical bar path. After the first couple weeks of loosening up the capsule and prescribing stretches, they moved on to giving me rubber bands to "strengthen" my supporting muscles, which was a complete waste of time and money. I did say that I wanted to stop after I had regained my shoulder flexibility, but they talked me out of it. In hindsight I should have simply said "thank you... I'm done".
I know that Rip has mentioned over and over that we can't train kids until they hit Tanner Stage 4, since they can't recover like adults will and will get injured if we try to do it anyways. And that kids simply by growing are naturally getting stronger anyways. Is it possible to fix knocked knees with squats and deadlifts, once my daughter is of the right age? Or will physical therapists actually be able do something in this area and not waste our time and money? If squats and deadlifts would help, I feel like I would be competent enough to help her run through a linear progression when she does reach Tanner Stage 4. This wouldn't cost any money at all, except a pair of lifting shoes. Just trying to figure out the right approach to correct this.
What did the doctor say about the cause of the valgus knees?
I didn't take her to the appointment. My wife did a few weeks ago and the doctor said, "It is common in kids." and did not give any reason as to the cause of it. We live about an hour and a half south of Chicago, so it was a bit of a drive getting there and my wife was not all that impressed by the doctor and said the whole appointment was very brief. We thought it would be worth the effort of going there, since the doctor is a pediatric orthopedic specialist. I have the contact information of the doctor and plan to call to see if there is anything specific written in the records, as to the cause. But, they are not open again until Tuesday.
I did have my daughter do a squat so that I could see if it is even possible to do a squat without a knee cave. You are right about kids really lacking in the ability to control the eccentric or even just about anything else in the movement. I ended up having her sit at a coffee table, where her hips are at around parallel and put her feet hip width apart with toes angled outward and then slowly stand up. For the entire motion I didn't see any knee cave at all. But, when she is nearly standing up with straight legs you can see the knees are caved in. When she is just standing upright though her knees can touch each other, with her feet maybe 3 to 5 inches apart (I didn't measure). I'm not starting to train her on the squat, but simply curious if it was even possible for her to squat without a knee cave.
It may be nothing more than abductor weakness, but if there is a bony defect it would be important to know. But as usual, pediatricians are inadequate.
Earning the SSC Certificate from Abroad –Steve Ross
Raising the Bar: Legal Issues in Strength Training –Brodie M. Butland JD, BSc, SSC
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