How to Not Get Injured While Training Over 50
As 50+ competitors, we have different rules to follow in order to the play the game. Choose wisely—you only have one life.
6 Lower Body Exercises to Back Up Your Bench
If you are a bench-only lifter, an older beat-up powerlifter, or just really need to get in some lower body training in, these six exercises will cover all three of those bases. These exercises are my workaround to hammer the lower and upper body while keeping a strong bench.
How Irradiation Can Be Detrimental
Even though Instagram makes neural irradiation look cool, please take a moment to stop and ask yourself: What is it, and why are you doing it?
Strength Training for Young Athletes — Safety, 1RM Testing, Growth Plate...
In this second part, we are going to look at more research regarding 1RM testing and break down multiple falsehoods about why young athletes should not strength train.
Strength Training for Young Athletes — Benefits, Appropriate Starting Ag...
Telling a kid not to lift but then turning around and having him sprint, cut, and jump in those terms really does sound stupid, doesn’t it?
Do Steroids Cause Injuries?
Darden takes on a question that many lifters shy away from: what are the real consequences of performance enhancing substances?
WATCH: How Chad Aichs Overcomes Training Obstacles
If you are a serious lifter, you need to know how to overcome training obstacles before they derail your efforts.
Science of Lifting: Capturing a Buckled Spine in Real Time
When a coincidental injury occurs in a well monitored lab study, it’s definitely something to write home about.
Injury Reduction for Football: The Ankle Joint
A look at the fan's perspective of injuries in pro football and some preventive strategies for a few of them.
Beaten Down and Broken
Do not push through legitimate injuries because you are too tough or hardcore.
Interview with Zack Khan and Mark Dugdale (Part 1)
I didn’t really think I was cut-out for this bodybuilding game. – Zack Khan
Monster Garage Gym: It Is Not If, But When
At some point in your career as a powerlifter, you will be injured. How will you respond?
Under The Bar: A Matter of Perspective
Here is the truth: When you spend three decades doing essentially the same movements over and over, training hard and heavy, weighing close to 300 pounds, and training around and through injuries… you will pay a price.
Beyond the Cortisone Shot: Iontophoretic Therapy
I underwent three rounds of iontophoresis a few months ago for an aggravated nerve/tendon issue that I’m having with both arms.
44 and Broken, Part 1
When I was younger, I read about Hatfield’s 1000-pound squat and said to myself, “I will do that someday.” That day never came.
Tips and Tricks for Rehabbing and Preventing Common Sports Injuries
When your training is going well, your body is able to recover better.
Smith’s Got Your Back: Warm-ups for Squat Injury Prevention
Squat injuries happen more frequently without a proper warm-up. Dr. Ryan Smith discusses a few simple movements he uses that can save you from painful complications.
Correcting Sacroiliac Joint Dysfunction, Part 1
The sacroiliac joints (SI) are a common source of lower back problems for a wide range of people including housewives, professional athletes, and elite lifters. The SI joints don’t discriminate.
The Hip Flexor Solution
Due to a recent influx of hip flexor questions, I decided to put together a few thoughts on the issue.
Alleviating Ailing Ankles
Anyone who has worked with field and court sport athletes has undoubtedly dealt with his fair share of athletes with ankle injuries.
Injury Prevention Strategies for Female Basketball Players
Injuries are a major setback for any competitive athlete. It can be physically taxing to recover and mentally stressful and draining to be sitting on the bench and going through rehabilitation.
The Top Five Movements for Shoulder Health
Recently, I received an email from an average, middle-aged man who, after years of training, was unable to pick up his three-year-old son over his head due to shoulder pain. His goal was very simple.
Pointing Out Gluteal Atrophy
Whenever I’m approached by an avid exerciser or athlete who complains of knee or lower back pain, the first thing I do is check out his or her backside…literally. Not to sound like a sexual implication, but observing the glutes actually helps me understand a client’s description of knee and lower back pain.
Top Six Recovery Methods for Athletes
I’ll start off by putting it simply—you must train hard and recover hard! Here are some healthy ways to recover your body and restore your muscles!
Active Release Techniques for Strength Athletes
At some point or another, just about every bodybuilder and athlete on the planet is bound to get injured. Luckily, for most of us, these injuries are usually minor and don’t result in anything more than a slight inconvenience for a few days.
A Strength Coach’s Guide to Dealing with Pain: Part 2, Knee Pain
In part 1 of this series, I introduced some ways in which a strength and conditioning coach can deal with an athlete’s shoulder pain.
Defending the Bench Press
The bench press is a great lift. Whether your goal is to develop a powerful overall physique or a barrel chest or just get brutally strong, the bench press can help you get there.
The Truth about Impingement: Part 2
In Part 1 of this series, I went into some detail on why I really didn’t like the catch all term “impingement.” In Part 2, I’m going to talk about the different kinds of impingement—external and internal.
The Truth about Impingement, Part 1
Roughly 10–15 times per week, I get emails from folks who claim that they have shoulder “impingement.” Honestly, I roll my eyes the second that I read these emails.
Does Your Serratus Feel Neglected?
The serratus (anterior and posterior) is one of the most overlooked and undertrained areas of an athlete’s body, especially in powerlifters. These muscles aid in the lockout of the bench press and stabilize the shoulder blade and shoulder girdle. By neglecting this area, you can suffer during the last half to one inch of your bench lockout.
How I Tore My Pec
The following is a recollection of an incident that I suffered close to 12 years ago. It changed my approach to personal exercise and ultimately helped me carve my career in the fitness field.
A Strength Coaches Guide to Dealing with Pain, Part 1: Shoulder Pain
As a strength coach, I work with many athletes who suffer from chronic joint pain. When I hear them complain about shoulder and knee pain, my first reaction is to blow them off and tell them to go stretch. However, after suffering from the same types of nagging pains myself, I know that their pain is very real.
Oblique Strains and Rotational Power
Earlier this season, Josh Hamilton put on an amazing show with 28 homeruns in the first round of the major league baseball (MLB) Homerun Derby.
Are Your Lateral Rotators Strong?
The rotator cuff muscles of the shoulder play a very important role in the prevention of shoulder injury and in the execution of overhead throwing and hitting actions.
Preventing Hamstring Injuries: Part I
Last summer, I worked with a college running back who was contemplating quitting football because of chronic hamstring injuries.
Solving Anterior Knee Pain
Pain in the front of the knee is becoming an epidemic among serious lifters and fitness enthusiasts alike.
The Validity of Massage, Hydrotherapy, and Hyperbaric Oxygenation as Rec...
Popular sporting literature such as health and fitness magazines, internet training, and sport sites as well as articles written by athletes, coaches, and physical therapists have endorsed the use of techniques such as massage, hydrotherapy, and hyperbaric oxygenation as ways of speeding up the recovery process and thus improving athletic performance.
Shoulder Injury Prevention: Causes and Solutions
Chronic shoulder pain is nothing new to lifters or overhead athletes. It can range from something you just live with and work around to debilitating and career ending.
Healing the Hips
Ask any powerlifter what his most important joint is, and he’ll promptly answer “the hips.” The hips provide strength and stability in all three lifts. If you’re weak at the hips, you’re not going to do much on the platform. The same goes for all other athletes. The posterior chain is crucial for athletic success.
New Scars
This the first week I’ve been to my gym since the meet. It hasn’t been the greatest month of my life—or year for that matter—but other people got it much worse so I ain’t bitchin’ too much.
Active Release Therapy
Tired of banging your head against the wall trying to fix old injuries that have been preventing your total from going up? What should you do when the foam roller, specific sport stretching, equiblock, and massages are no longer helping? Well, guess what? Here’s your golden ticket to PRville…
Scott “Hoss” Cartwright: Get Injured and Get Stronger Interview
He has elite totals at a body weight of 275 lbs and 308 lbs and totaled 2204 lbs in single ply gear. After that, Hoss tried to make a jump to double ply gear but only added 18 pounds to his total.
Defending the Deadlift: An Interview with Coach and Powerlifter, Eric Cr...
If you needed an expert on Russian writer, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, you might contact Daniel Mahoney, a professor at Assumption College. For an expert on squatting, there’s Fred “Dr. Squat” Hatfield of the International Sports Sciences Association.
When Surgery Is Not an Option
To all my fellow lower back pain sufferers who have subjected themselves to needless surgeries, cortisone shots, and therapies that flat out don’t work, here is my story.
And You Thought You had it Tough
“Well, I stand up next to a mountain I chop it down with the edge of my hand.” –Jimi
Young Throwing Athletes: The Specifics of Shoulder Care & Longevity
I feel it is the responsibility of any trainer or coach working with young throwing athletes to have a solid working knowledge of the shoulder.
Shoulder Rehab 101
I am going to attempt to provide the reader a generic blue print for individuals suffering from an acute shoulder problem to a chronic condition.
ACL Injuries & Young Female Athletes
There has been an epidemic of sorts in the past few years regarding ACL injuries and young female athletes.
Having a Blackberry Doesn’t Mean You're Mobile
This plan is not only mobility work but also includes some very basic pre-habitation work for many of the most common strength training injuries (pec tears, sore elbows, knees, lower back and shoulders).
A Career Liability - ACL Injuries in Females
Female athletes are more prone to anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries than males. Depending on the study, comparing male and female athletes, females are said to be anywhere from 4 to 6 times more likely to tear their ACL.
Strength Considerations for Throwers in Track and Field
Most periodized training programs for athletes follow a Western or linear model.
Some Nerve
The nervous system of athletes in speed and power sports can be enhanced by various means such as coordination exercises, structural work, and traditional power lifting methods.
Restoration, Part 2
Last month I addressed the restorative measures of ice, massage, and rest to aid recovery. These methods are designed to not only increase workout performance and reduce injury, but help you feel better when you’re not training. Other useful methods include stretching, diet, supplementation, stimulants, and contrast methods.
Restoration Methods
Now that you have moved your total training volume higher and your training frequency is higher, you may be wondering, “How do I recover from the increased workload?”