starting strength gym
Results 1 to 2 of 2

Thread: Hello Rip, Hello Starting Strenth!

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    8

    Default Hello Rip, Hello Starting Strenth!

    • starting strength seminar april 2024
    • starting strength seminar jume 2024
    • starting strength seminar august 2024
    I am new to this site, but very very very pleased to be here! I am 30 yr old male, 6'1, 215#, Men's Division I rugby player for the Austin Blacks (live in Victoria, TX - south of Austin). I mention the rugby because I am not a competitive lifter, but a very competitive rugby player. Of course, most everything I do in the gym has function out on the field. The bigger, stronger, faster I can be, the better rugby player I am!

    My brief lifting background is as follows. I started lifting as most kids do in high school sports. I was a skinny little shit in high school, but pretty fast and very tough (always had a high pain threshhold ha ha). What I remember from those days are basically what it should have been - a starting base for your main lifts - squats, bench, cleans, deads, etc. Lots of that stuff, lots of sprints.

    I started at Baylor University in 2000, and we won a DII Collegiate National Championship in 2001 in rugby. Our practices were very structured, our fitness was structured, our running outside of practice was structured, but where we had ZERO guidance was in the gym. Being a club sport, with the resources we had, we just didn't have time for proper gym training as a team.

    My main goal early on was to get bigger. As many college kids do, I basically started doing what I saw in the bodybuilding magazines. I don't need to go too far in depth here because ya'll all know what I am talking about, but talk about a waste of about 90% of my time in the gym. The heavy Presses and Bench, Squats, DL's, were about the only thing worth while that I was doing. I think I remember having an 'arm day' in college as a rugby player. What a joke. I did get bigger, though. I lifted, had a meal plan at the cafeteria, and made it a big part of my life. I went from 185# to about 220# while in college

    I'd say 2007 is when I discovered Crossfit and the principles behind it. I was living and working in Waco, TX then, but there was no CF gym there at the time so I did what I could at the local Globo gym. It was a hard transition for me not doing the same old shit that I had been doing for years, but I started to really see my performance increase on the rugby field. I was stronger, quicker, and in much better shape conditioning wise.

    I got pretty good at many of the staples of crossfit, including push press. I loved it, and would go heavier and heavier while not paying enough attention to my form. I ended up getting a compression fracture or stress frac on my L-5 which is the lowest vertebrae in your back. The medical name is spondylolysis. I never had any terrible complications with the injury, and nothing every 'popped' or anything, but what did happen is a pretty significant tightness in my lower back and even more so hamstrings.

    There are some things I have to mention here. First, yes I know I am an idiot for not learning this exercise properly before going up in the weight. Secondly, from what my chiropractor told me (the guy I see down here is one of the best in the biz), I was 'predisposed' to the deformity in my back, and I have had this since 12 years old or thereabouts. Basically, I was at a much greater chance than your average person of this injury occuring.

    OK - so currently I am have been doing alot of CFFootball programming that John Wellbourn does. I love it. I have to tweak alot of what he presribes, though, (*and this is one of the big reasons of my post*) because one of our rugby trainers told me that with a compression fracture I will NEVER press heavy weight over my head again, and I will NEVER do back squats again. This guy has trained professional rugby players in New Zealand, so I do value his opinion. Because I live 2 hours away from Austin where I play, we have not had near the one on one time that I would have liked.

    Rip, have you ever dealt with this type of injury before? EVERYTHING I do in the gym these days in with perfect form, and I do not care what the weight is as long as form is correct. My main exercises are bench, front squats, light cleans, and box jumps. I would like to know your opinon on cleans, dead lifts, and back squats for me (assuming form is perfect). It would seem to me, going against the advise of the trainer, that I need to strengthen that area FIRST and FOREMOST, and as you well know, BACK SQUATS and DEADLIFTS are about the best way to do that! I want to assure you that if you tell me, for example, that you believe it is ok to deadlift, I am not going to go throw 500# on there and try to lift it! Basically, I want to learn more about my injury from someone like you, and not a doctor telling me to never lift again!

    Lastly, I am doing well right now. Really the only things I deal with are tightness in my back and hammy's? Keeping them loose is important to me, and very important for my performance in rugby in my opinion (at least in my head).

    Thanks in advance, and I look forward to being part of this forum!

    Connally McKay

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    North Texas
    Posts
    53,557

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by cmckay View Post
    I have to tweak alot of what he presribes, though, (*and this is one of the big reasons of my post*) because one of our rugby trainers told me that with a compression fracture I will NEVER press heavy weight over my head again, and I will NEVER do back squats again. This guy has trained professional rugby players in New Zealand, so I do value his opinion. Because I live 2 hours away from Austin where I play, we have not had near the one on one time that I would have liked.
    We're all real happy you're here too. Lemme get this straight: the rugby trainer told that it is okay to play rugby, front squat, clean, and box jump, i.e. that ballistic impact and squats that don't strengthen your back are okay, but that you can NEVER do back squats and presses EVER AGAIN, and you believe him because he is a rugby trainer and not because he knows anything about barbell training.

    Does this make any sense to you?

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •