Femur Fracture, Bad Form.

[Mosaba]

Dear Coach,

I have been following progressive overload program that includes squatting three days a week, deadlifting, OH pressing, and bench pressing for a month now.

All going so well, but I have two concerns; ten years ago I had a broken femur and I was hospitalized and I had intramedullary nailing and the fracture healed and a couple years later it was removed and everything is fine but I cannot stop but amagining that once My squats get so heavy -my goal is to hit 3 plates as soon as possible- but i cannot stop but imagining my femur will just snap one day under the weight when i start squatting heavy.

Also, I mostly taught my self to do the left using your book and videos and the videos of Alan Trhall and I really want to know how to self assess my form.

Seeking help from coaches in my area is not an option I now train at a gym and when I asked the gym coach to assess my form he told me to look up while squatting, inhale when I go down, exhale while going up, and place the bar in my hands not my back ( I swear I’m not kidding). I live in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and strength training is never been heard of in these parts.

Sorry for the long questions and I really appreciate your help.

[Mark Rippetoe]

What specifically are your questions?

[Will Morris]

Dear Coach,

I have been following progressive overload program that includes squatting three days a week, deadlifting, OH pressing, and bench pressing for a month now.

All going so well, but I have two concerns; ten years ago I had a broken femur and I was hospitalized and I had intramedullary nailing and the fracture healed and a couple years later it was removed and everything is fine but I cannot stop but amagining that once My squats get so heavy -my goal is to hit 3 plates as soon as possible- but i cannot stop but imagining my femur will just snap one day under the weight when i start squatting heavy.

Also, I mostly taught my self to do the left using your book and videos and the videos of Alan Trhall and I really want to know how to self assess my form.

Seeking help from coaches in my area is not an option I now train at a gym and when I asked the gym coach to assess my form he told me to look up while squatting, inhale when I go down, exhale while going up, and place the bar in my hands not my back ( I swear I’m not kidding). I live in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and strength training is never been heard of in these parts.

Sorry for the long questions and I really appreciate your help.

I think his question is this: will his femur snap in half from a heavy(ish) squat? The answer is a resounding no, unless, that is, your femur was going to snap anyways. A properly performed linear progression will likely result in your previously nailed femur to heal to a density beyond what it was when you were injured. I have had many patients with IM nails that have squatted, and a couple years ago, had one squat over 600# in competition. You should be fine.

[Mosaba]

Sorry I guess I was so excited that I can ask you a question directly.

1) My question is do squats put high stress on the femur that is enough to break it, specially that it has been broken before?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Like Will said, your femur will be Just Fine. Just out of curiosity, how did you break your femur originally? That's kinda hard to do.

[Mosaba]

Thank you very much for your answer Will and coach Rippetoe I really appreciate it.

I actually was just running on asphalt and out of no where it snapped in half. I know it is hard to believe but my doctor at the time said that this could happen because I landed heel first on asphalt on a shoes that is not designed for running plus a lot of bad luck.

[Mark Rippetoe]

This is difficult to believe.

[Will Morris]

Thank you very much for your answer Will and coach Rippetoe I really appreciate it.

I actually was just running on asphalt and out of no where it snapped in half. I know it is hard to believe but my doctor at the time said that this could happen because I landed heel first on asphalt on a shoes that is not designed for running plus a lot of bad luck.

Where did your femur fracture?

[Jonathon Sullivan]

This is difficult to believe.

That was my reaction. My working assumption would have been a pathologic fracture. Will asks a good question: Where was the fracture? And how old is OP? And does he have any other condition we need to know about?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Like bone cancer. Tuberculosis.