Why do power lifters and body builders on steroids occasionally…

[Mark Rippetoe]

In ref. to their first theory, tendons are avascular, which would make it rather difficult for them to keep up with steroid aided muscular advancement.

Tendons themselves are avascular, but the peritenon is the vascular apparatus that allows the tendon to remodel. You are aware that tendons adapt along with muscle and bone, right? And there is therefore a mechanism for that adaptation. Your Russian lifter apparently squatted 395 (before his shitty suit-and wraps Westside form caught up with him), which implies a certain level of adaptation.

As they say nothing conclusive so far but can I ask you go out on a limb?

RUSSIAN powerlifter Alexander Sedykh fractured both knees while attempting to squat 400kg - YouTube

Is the above knee snap relevant to their theory of tendon development being slower than muscular development?

Your premise is false. Tendon development is not slower than muscular development, or everybody would be in a wheel chair. The kid got hurt that day, I've seen it three times in 40 years, while watching 10s of thousands of squats where nobody got hurt.

I realise there could be other causes but what is most likely in your mind?

There are always isolated examples of injuries that cannot be directly attributed to a specific cause. Most of them, actually, even the ones in your "study."

What about pec tendon detachment same question?

Pec tendon avulsion is, in my experience, a CrossFit injury to inflamed shoulders from thousands of reps of stupid shit.

How many anecdotes are required to draw an association between steroid use and ligaments letting go or do you think they’re not related?

How many guys have used steroids for many years without tendon rupture? If this question is not explored, what you have here is standard "Exercise Science" -- confirmation bias devoid of academic rigor.

[EdTice]

From the paper:



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.

Yeah they tend to train as if they are trying to win a bodybuilding or powerlifting competition where there isn't much separation between first and second place when it comes to strength or size but there's a huge differential in terms of rewards (both monetary and non-monetary).

Most of them probably didn't have tendons that just randomly ruptured. Rather they knew they had some tendinopathy and associated pain was building over time. They probably planned to get through the competition and then rehab the injury but the injury had it's own timeline.

This is really just another way of saying that training for competition involves different risk/reward decisions than training for health. Also why has nobody posted a research study that says that water is wet?

[CommanderFun]

Yeah they tend to train as if they are trying to win a bodybuilding or powerlifting competition where there isn't much separation between first and second place when it comes to strength or size but there's a huge differential in terms of rewards (both monetary and non-monetary).

Most of them probably didn't have tendons that just randomly ruptured. Rather they knew they had some tendinopathy and associated pain was building over time. They probably planned to get through the competition and then rehab the injury but the injury had it's own timeline.

This is really just another way of saying that training for competition involves different risk/reward decisions than training for health. Also why has nobody posted a research study that says that water is wet?

In short, why do powerlifters and bodybuilders on steroids occasionally rupture tendons? The same reason powerlifters and bodybuilders not on steroids also occasionally rupture tendons.

[EdTice]

In short, why do powerlifters and bodybuilders on steroids occasionally rupture tendons? The same reason powerlifters and bodybuilders not on steroids also occasionally rupture tendons.

Or, even shorter, why do athletes sometimes get injuries?

[Jonathon Sullivan]

Or, even shorter, why do athletes sometimes get injuries?

Because they JUST WON'T FUCKING LISTEN TO THEIR DOCTORS.

[Mark Rippetoe]

After all, squats are bad for the knees.

[Jdcuth]

So can I ask something - and please excuse my novice level of knowledge. If someone is a competitive powerlifter do they use a monolift for all their training reps (at least the work sets)? And if so, does the lack of a walkout element increase risk by allowing heavier weights to be used?

[Mark Rippetoe]

So can I ask something - and please excuse my novice level of knowledge. If someone is a competitive powerlifter do they use a monolift for all their training reps (at least the work sets)? And if so, does the lack of a walkout element increase risk by allowing heavier weights to be used?

Probably. Depends on if the meet uses a monolift. But I don't care about powerlifting, so I don't know.

[Roy Thomas]

Probably. Depends on if the meet uses a monolift. But I don't care about powerlifting, so I don't know.

Powerlifting has become comical to me - And Just Like That, She Folded In Half - YouTube

[EdTice]

Probably. Depends on if the meet uses a monolift. But I don't care about powerlifting, so I don't know.

Powerlifting aside (IPF requires a walkout even if a monolift if used), the monolift seems like one of the few post-barbell inventions that would be interesting. If the walkout really is that fatiguing (anecdotal reports are 50-100lbs more when squatting from a monolift), it's a reasonable hypothesis that one could potentially juice their progress by using such apparatus. As equipment goes a set of monolift arms that attach to a commercially-made power rack are relatively cheap.

Or it could be a complete waste of time and effort. But at least there is some potential. Unfortunately, us mere mortals are only able to wonder about the topic. But many of us have gone to much greater lengths and (regrettably) tried crazier things to try to get a lift unstuck.