Member
Injury from weightlifting
I see a lot of people talk about injuries, and the crossfit thread got me thinking. Is it possible to have a long and fairly successful go at lifting heavy weights without ever getting injured? I've been lifting consistently for about 1.5 years now, before that lifting off and on for 4 or 5... And I've never gotten hurt.
I seem to see A LOT of people with shoulder injuries from benching, I'm guessing that's from A) that's the bro exercise, "how much ya bench?" B) Doing it incorrectly.
There also seems to be a lot of complaints about back problems. I can honestly say after being alive for 28 years I've never had a back problem.
I guess my question is, on a long enough time line, everyone's survival drops to zero. On a long enough lifting timeline, would it be reasonable to assume an injury is inevitable?
TMPHBITEU
Gallagher is the only guy I know who claims he never got hurt as a competitive lifter. As we have said here many times, once you decide to compete you also decide that winning is more important than getting hurt. But for a guy just fucking around in the gym, you can carefully train with perfect form and be just fine.
Starting Strength Coach
While walking 700 pounds out of the rack it slipped off Marty's back and landed on his lower leg. A compound fracture.
TMPHBITEU
Well, aside from that.
Member
If your mind is stronger than your body you will be in some pain sooner or later, but this is rare.
Obviously most of the injuries occur due to bad form, poorly constructed programs that don't rely on the human physiology, or just being stupid (Benching heavy weights with no spotter and with a collared bar= stupid)
I no longer treat training as an activity, it is now part of my week and I do not know how life is without 3 workouts every week.
This question for me is equivalent to: "will you likely to be in some kind of car accident if you drive to work every day?" Statistics says you will, but I mostly assume that statistics are bullshit and irrelevant.
Member
That's the thing though, the statistic stays the same regardless of how many times you do that activity. It's like when people talking about eating raw eggs, there is around a 1 in 40,000 chance of getting salmonella. Does that mean after I eat 39,999 raw eggs, the next one will give me salmonella? No, because the statistic never changes regardless of how many times I do that activity.Originally Posted by David_G
So that's my question about weight lifting, does the likelyhood increase as the activity progresses, more years of wear and tear, stronger, heavier weights, or is it just happenstance?
Member
When I go, I want to die like my grandpa, peacefully in his sleep, not screaming in terror like the passengers in his car.
Member
Shit happens. Even to the best prepared, most careful among us.
That said, if you practice good form and technique, as well as recognize your own personal limits you should be OK. Or as Rippetoe said, if you are just a casual guy fucking around at the gym and paying attention to form/technique-- you probably won't ever see an injury. You probably also won't ever see jaw-dropping numbers on the big lifts.
Now the guys pushing the limits competitively are more likely to run into injuries. Since they must challenge that "know your limits" line. That is part of the package they sign up for when deciding to strive to be elite.
Member
It also seems that a lot of the injuries that show up here are people aggravating injuries they got doing something else. Not nearly as many from weightlifting alone.
Member
The atatistics may stay the same but your odds of eating a bad egg don't.
Weightlifting carries an increased risk for injury everytime you lift. But what those odds are, depend on your decisions. Despite increasing risk it can still be extremely slim (I believe,fwiw) if you make smart decisions with the things you can control.
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