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Thread: How Mark Rippetoe Saved My Face Today

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    San Francisco
    Posts
    946

    Default How Mark Rippetoe Saved My Face Today

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    I think Coach Rip saved my face today. I have a crowded workout area (on my patio), and I had my deadlift bar on jacks, because I don't yet have enough weights to avoid having to move big plates back and forth from the deadlift bar to the power cage bar. Anyway, I'm used to that bar being at a certain height, so naturally, when I stepped over it (I'm clumsy) I tripped and went down.

    In the first split second when I realized I was going down flat, I saw that I was probably going to make facial contact with one of the concrete blocks I use to make my bench usable for me (I have short legs). Somehow, between that realization and hitting the ground, I slapped that block out of my way with my left hand, while doing what was essentially a one-hand pushup off the ground as I came down on my right. Upshot? I lay there for a minute wondering if I was hurt, then got up, dusted myself off, and finished out my bench routine.

    I doubt the outcome would have been so happy four months ago when I started SS. I think I'd have been more likely to be at the dentist now, seeing about getting my front teeth replaced, or even worse. Given that I'm 68, I kinda surprised even myself.

    There's a reason it's good for us geezers to get stronger. I have a very personal appreciation for that thought now.

    (To the moderators - thanks for putting this in the right place. I realized I'd clicked the wrong forum when it went to moderation).
    Last edited by Bill Quick; 05-23-2014 at 10:49 PM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Shawnee, KS
    Posts
    440

    Default

    I'm also 68. Started lifting again end of last November, and soon found SS. I have a large, powerful dog (lean 120 lbs Blackmouth Cur), who can be a handful when he gets excited. In March, he started to chase after something while I had him on a leash, and as I set my feet and shifted my weight back to snub him, I totally lost traction on the ice-covered pavement. Feet went up in the air and I did a classic pratfall. Fell flat on my butt, partly breaking my fall with my free hand. I expected my hip to be hurting, perhaps damaged, because that happens a lot to older people, and I had fallen hard. (I hadn't slipped and fallen in years.) Fortunately, my glutes were already rock hard after just a few months of squats, and there was no damage or even pain there. I did jam my shoulder, damaged a couple of muscles, but that's pretty well healed now, although it slowed my upper body work a bit. All in all, minimal damage from a very hard fall. I expect the results would have been a lot different even a few months earlier.

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