5867-Rich

Why do powerlifters and bodybuilders on steroids occasionally rip their tendons and are people on TRT at increased risk of tendon damage? Also what is the mechanism by which the increased rate of damage occurs amongst these groups who are on steroids?

Mark Rippetoe

Data?

5867-Rich

Ruptured Tendons in Anabolic-Androgenic Steroid Users: A Cross-Sectional Cohort Study

Mark Rippetoe

From the paper: “The causes of AAS-associated tendon rupture are still incompletely understood. Two alternative (and not mutually exclusive) hypotheses should be considered. One possibility is that AAS use has little or no deleterious effect on tendons themselves, but merely causes massive hypertrophy of muscles without causing any corresponding strengthening of the associated tendons. Thus, the muscle may simply become too strong for its tendon, increasing the possibility of rupture in response to a sudden stress. Alternatively, it is possible that high doses of AAS, perhaps in conjunction with intense muscular exercise, may damage the structure of the tendons themselves, making them more vulnerable to rupture even in the absence of excessive stress. Evidence favoring the latter hypothesis comes from various animal studies, which have typically found that AAS exposure, usually in conjunction with exercise, led to collagen dysplasia, causing tendons to become stiffer and less flexible, with an increased crimp angle and earlier liability to failure.14, 21, 30–32, 34–39, 52 However, one human study using electron microscopy found no evidence of collagen fibril ultrastructural abnormalities in the ruptured tendons of two AAS users as compared to two non-AAS-using controls.9 Another recent study found no significant difference in maximal strain and toe limit strain in the patellar tendons of 8 long-term AAS users as compared to 8 experienced weightlifters reporting no AAS use, also arguing against the hypothesis of changes in collagen crimp pattern associated with AAS use.47 Thus the evidence for a direct toxic effect of AAS on human tendons remains somewhat inconclusive.”

A very real possibility is that men who use AAS (note that this is not the same thing as TRT) tend to do things that get their tendons ruptured. To their credit, the authors discuss the limitations of the study. You should too.

Bigredbull

As an intermediate lifter, I feel my deadlift PR has been built on unacceptably loose form over the past 12 months. I feel I’ve been lucky to avoid injury and although achieving a PR, I do not feel physiologically in total command (muscular control) of the lift. This has bled into a psychological lack of confidence before each workout, thus adding unwanted stress to the deal.

At the expense of my ego and to my great frustration, I’ve de-loaded my work sets of five by as little as possible to regain mastery of good SS form and am re-working my way back up from there. This de-load constitutes a 15% reduction in working weight.

Questions:

1. Is this deload percentage acceptable?
2. Am I doing the right thing?
3. I have reduced the acceleration part of the Force = Mass x Acceleration law to groove in the pristine technique. How important do you think Acceleration is generally in this equation? (not as important as pristine technique I assume).
4. In one of your SS Radio podcasts a few years ago, you said some elite powerlifters are not always the most explosive. What exactly do you mean?

Mark Rippetoe

Decent questions.

1. Depends on if you're deloading from 225 or 495 – 15% of 225 is meaningless. What is your 5RM?
2. Perhaps, but I can't see how bad your form is from here, and that is relevant.
3. For a heavy deadlift, acceleration occurs when the bar leaves the floor, i.e. when the velocity goes from 0.0 to some positive number. Heavy deadlifts are never fast. If they are fast, they are not limit.
4. Since it doesn't matter how fast the bar moves in the three lifts, explosiveness is not required. All that is necessary for a big deadlift is the ability to summarize sufficient force production to move the bar to lockout, since the movement doesn't depend on momentum.

Bigredbull

1. 5RM is 473
2. We can assume textbook SS form
3. Force = Mass x Acceleration vs “It doesn’t matter how fast the bar moves”

Given there’s a time element to the vector quantities of velocity and acceleration, am I correct in thinking that in practical terms under the bar, acceleration and velocity are important only up to the point at which they are SUFFICIENT to move the bar from start to finish position within the parameters of excellent technique?

I acknowledge that Physics rules all and that increasing mass and / or acceleration will result in more weight being moved. However, a practical problem I’ve found on the platform with my own training and clients is that sometimes the pursuit of increasing acceleration and velocity (eg. Hatfield’s Compensatory Acceleration) comes at the expense of pristine technique. I recall Brad Gillingham once informed his clients not to use his IPF world deadlift as the textbook technique example because it was a tad loose. Given that we are not competitive powerlifters and want to stay healthy and training for long as possible, is the following a sensible statement: “Only accelerate the bar enough to move the weight from start to finish in pristine form and let this be the sole determinant of weight on the bar”.

Egos, greed and impatience are such hard things to wrestle with. Like you wisely say, one learns a lot about oneself (and others) under the bar.

I appreciate your answers to my questions. I’m also really looking forward to your next book you mentioned recently, can’t wait to get it! When will it be available?

Mark Rippetoe

1/2: If we assume textbook form, why do you need a deload? I mean, 475 down to 405 – a warmup weight – does not allow you to focus on technique, because technique cannot be improved if it's easy because the weight is light.

“Given there’s a time element to the vector quantities of velocity and acceleration, am I correct in thinking that in practical terms under the bar, acceleration and velocity are important only up to the point at which they are SUFFICIENT to move the bar from start to finish position within the parameters of excellent technique?”

That's correct. In physical terms, you accelerate the bar off the floor, and then keep it moving at the same velocity up to lockout.

Bigredbull

Sorry for the lack of clarity. My 5RM at 475 was the unacceptable sloppy form. The SS textbook form was after my 15% deload to 405, so you’ve answered my question brilliantly. I’ll de-load by 5% and practice grooving in pristine SS from 450 because clearly 15% was way too drastic and the movement pattern is different at this light weight.

Really appreciate your help here, many thanks.