Surgeons Hate Weightlifting

[Bible_Belt]

I recently got to speak with a group of surgeons. The do surgeries to fix torn muscles and tendons, bad backs, and badly broken bones. They get patients with injuries from all different sports, but weightlighting is a common one.

Every doctor I met agrees on the following rule:

If you can't do it twenty times, don't do it.

That means if you can't do 20 reps at any exercise before hitting muscle failure, then you're doing something foolish and will just end up hurting yourself. That is the doctor's perspective.

Curiously, that advice is the exact opposite of how to get big. Getting big is what almost every guy wants, so that's how they train. Then they tend to hurt themselves and end up in surgery. A lot of them are fvcked up for life and will never be the same.

My point with this is not that I want to eliminate weightlifting from the world, but just that everyone doing it needs to realize the dangers involved and how easy it is to hurt yourself. You're doing something that some very knowledgeable medical professionals are explicitly saying not to do. Doing 5-rep sets to muscle failure would be like doubly ignoring the 20-rep limit. That's like if the speed limit to be safe were 50 and you were driving 150. And I've driven 150, but I knew it was dangerous and I was very careful. My point is to be careful.

 

[ArcBound]

Reminds me of the time I posted scientific articles saying even 135 pounds squatting can mess up the curvature of your spine as said by various doctors.

Prepare for a sh!tstorm.

I definitely don't follow the 20 rep rule as I think it would take forever to make gains of any sort. I definitely don't ever train to failure or do one rep maxes though..I always max sure to stop if I feel actual pain (not discomfort).

I think the people that are injured are those with the big egos. The ones who try to put up a ridiculous amount of weight regardless of form or safety for the sake of putting up a giant number.

 

[BMX]

My uncle is a physician and acts as if he's the world's foremost expert on creatine supplementation. He claims it's "bad" and that I "should never take it." LOL. Well I hate to break it to him but creatine is the most studied supplement over the past 30 years and they keep finding nothing but positive benefits from its usage.

Also I'm sick of hearing doctors and military recruiters, etc. claim that weightlifting is bad for you and that you will NEVER be able to lose weight if you continually weight-train. BS. Cardio alone will do jack **** for you. So what do these professionals recommend? Standing on one leg atop a BOSU ball? That's not fitness, that's a classic circus act.

 

[cuzza]

Doctors 'hate' all sports.

Weightlifting has been shown by numerous studies to have one of the lowest injury rates of all sports. Anything physical can cause you pain.

 

[Upside]

I wouldn't say doctors hate sports. There is a whole god damn industry based around sport's medicine. Baseball surgeons are among the best in the world when it comes to shoulders and elbows.

 

[speed dawg]

They don't hate the paycheck they get from those surgeries.....just a joke. I have a high level of respect for orthopedic surgeons in general. My back injuries are a direct reflection of working out carelessly.

I do think the surgeon was correct. Your body is your body, and you can improve, but you should do it intelligently, and listen to your body, and play to your strengths. It's not as simple as saying, only lift weights that you can move 20 times. Bone structure is a big factor as well. Little guys jacking up tons of weight without form WILL get injured, I can attest to this. I am 5'10, 180 lbs. in my prime condition. I use to throw up 285 lbs. bench press, but my body had no use doing that. Well above what my bone structure was meant to handle, at least that quickly.

To me, lifting weights the smart way, the way your body functionally means to move, along with a vigorous stretching and flexibility routine, is literally the fountain of youth. I hate to restrict it to 'working out', because technically construction workers or similar type jobs could keep you in serious shape if you did things using proper functional form and ate clean. But how often does that happen?

 

[Bible_Belt]

a bunch of bros and other dumbasses who do no research and have no real instruction or goals, so end up getting hurt.

That does sound like most amateur mma fighters I know.

The docs fix a lot of soccer injuries, too. I wonder if it is mostly on girls and also guys who are not very athletic. That's a cultural thing; soccer does not exactly attract the best athletes where I live. So I wonder if they are just people who break easily when they fall down. All of these are reasons that the sample is not exactly random.

 

[marmel75]

That does sound like most amateur mma fighters I know.

The docs fix a lot of soccer injuries, too. I wonder if it is mostly on girls and also guys who are not very athletic. That's a cultural thing; soccer does not exactly attract the best athletes where I live. So I wonder if they are just people who break easily when they fall down. All of these are reasons that the sample is not exactly random.

Soccer is actually a pretty rough sport. I played since I was a little kid, though grade school and into college. Most of the injuries occur on a few plays.

First is the dead ball crosses, like corners, where a whole bunch of people are running, jumping and trying to head a ball while moving towards each other and paying attention only to the ball and not to each other. Lots of head to head contact, shoulder to head contact, people getting flipped while in the air and landing funny, etc...

The other is the dreaded slide tackle from the side or from behind where the player with the ball never sees the sliding player coming and he gets his legs/knees obliterated. That is the most common injury in soccer, the knee injury, and this is the most common way it occurs.

Other injuries that occur quite frequently are muscle pulls, especially hamstrings from all the running, stopping, starting and changing directions you are doing on the field...

Most people don't think of soccer as a contact sport, but a lot of the contact happens when you are not ready for it, which leads to injury more frequently...

 

[Jitterbug]

There's a golden rule in lifting that's been said by many famous coaches:

"Train to succeed, not to fail".

Training to failure is the cause of most injuries.

Try getting that through the head of your average gym bro is an exercise in futility though.

Training to failure is NOT the correct advice to get big.

 

[Krueg]

I think alot of beginners go into the gym starting out with more weight then they should and do not know how to do the exercise properly. Which will cause injurys. When guys say to "Lift Heavy", It doesnt mean you throw on 50-100lbs more than your use to. Lifting heavy is about finding a weight that is challenging for you, but not so heavy you loose all your form and cant make all your reps. If a guy is benching 135lbs and that starts feeling easy, he should throw on a extra 5-10lbs and if that feels good and think you can handle more, add a little more weight.

I heard about a 15 year old kid in a powerlifting competition who recently broke a record for his age by Deadlifting 400 pounds! Maybe these surgeons should be introduced to the iron!

 

[Buddha_Mind]

I don't agree with that advice -- I say do low reps but it's all about form.

If you can't do 3, 5 or 8 reps with great form, you're lifting too heavy. FORM IS KEY.

There are many benefits from less than 20 reps (far too high and you're not going to get real hypertrophy)...3-5 rep range can do a lot for bone density..I have seen my body respond a great deal to low-rep and heavy lifting (in cycles of course to let my body heal..)...

A lot of the injuries you speak of are likely due to improper form and overuse...if your tendons are aching...take a break...if your muscle feels strained, let it heal before you load it up again -- it's that degree of stubborn attitude that leads to a lot injuries (I know, I've been there).

I speak from experience, knock on wood no injuries in last year -- I try and push it pretty hard.

Form is key -- appropriate rest -- cycling your workout to let healing take place.

 

[cuzza]

Soccer is a VERY easy sport to get injured from.

A hard challenge on a ball can be murder for you and for the person you put it on. A mis-timed challenge can break legs, easily. Even if you do time it right, a clever player will use the other leg to scissor down the opponent, as often it will not be penalised.

Easy to roll an ankle, etc. People seem to continually be damaging ligaments and tendons, etc.

Challenging for headers. Elbows in the face, weird landings, getting headbutted, getting kicked in the face...

Football has a higher injury rate than rugby and American Football. They just predominantly tend to be lower body injuries.

 

[Quiksilver]

I think the surgeon brushed on a notion that Charles Poliquin summed up excellently.

"The first repetition should look exactly like the last repetition."

 

[Jariel]

Soccer is a VERY easy sport to get injured from.

A hard challenge on a ball can be murder for you and for the person you put it on. A mis-timed challenge can break legs, easily. Even if you do time it right, a clever player will use the other leg to scissor down the opponent, as often it will not be penalised.

Easy to roll an ankle, etc. People seem to continually be damaging ligaments and tendons, etc.

Challenging for headers. Elbows in the face, weird landings, getting headbutted, getting kicked in the face...

Football has a higher injury rate than rugby and American Football. They just predominantly tend to be lower body injuries.

That's because football players are fragile. They spend more time straightening their hair, filing their nails and touching up their make up than they do in the gym.

All joking aside, their cardio fitness is excellent and they're very light on their feet, but their bodies aren't equipped to endure bumps and knocks. Rugby players, boxers and even wrestlers take much worse physical punishment without injury because they're built to take it. So in that regard a lot can be said in favour of weight lifting/bodybuilding as a means to prevent injury.

 

[DanZy]

That's because football players are fragile. They spend more time straightening their hair, filing their nails and touching up their make up than they do in the gym.

All joking aside, their cardio fitness is excellent and they're very light on their feet, but their bodies aren't equipped to endure bumps and knocks. Rugby players, boxers and even wrestlers take much worse physical punishment without injury because they're built to take it. So in that regard a lot can be said in favour of weight lifting/bodybuilding as a means to prevent injury.

Football players are also looking to get fouled. If you watch the strikers closely, as soon as they get close to the box they'll slow down a little and trail a leg behind them. That leg gets hooked by a defender and it's a penalty or free kick.

 

[cuzza]

All joking aside, their cardio fitness is excellent and they're very light on their feet, but their bodies aren't equipped to endure bumps and knocks. Rugby players, boxers and even wrestlers take much worse physical punishment without injury because they're built to take it. So in that regard a lot can be said in favour of weight lifting/bodybuilding as a means to prevent injury.

Gotta disagree again, and I'm a big rugby fan, haha. Footballers are girls though lol, hate the rolling around and whatnot.

It's not a case of what they're built to take. Put a rugby player in a football match and he'd suffer the same injuries footballers take. Obviously rugby players are more solid, but it's more the fact that you're getting kicked. If you've got a foot planted in the ground and someone comes in on you, it doesn't matter how you're built. Something has to give.

Rugby and other sports have more SEVERE injuries, but football has more regular ones. This comes from the nature of the game, not the nature of the athletes.

 

[Jariel]

If you've got a foot planted in the ground and someone comes in on you, it doesn't matter how you're built. Something has to give.

This is where I disagree. I've played football countless times and nobody has ever took me down with a slide tackle or alike because I'm so firmly planted on the ground. A kick to the shin doesn't hurt either because you wear shin guards.

That said, most football players are half my weight, but if someone the same size as me or bigger attempted a rough tackle it might be a different story.

 

[Blair333]

It is the nature of the man to look smart, attractive and beautiful.For this purpose most of the persons weightlifting for the enhancement of the muscles.But most of the surgeons hate with the weightlifting which cause the injuries.

 

[cuzza]

This is where I disagree. I've played football countless times and nobody has ever took me down with a slide tackle or alike because I'm so firmly planted on the ground. A kick to the shin doesn't hurt either because you wear shin guards.

That said, most football players are half my weight, but if someone the same size as me or bigger attempted a rough tackle it might be a different story.

No offence mate, but that's just wrong.

Nobody would slide tackle you if you're planted on the ground. It's done when you're running. Which means if it's clean, you'll be tripped and will fall, regardless of your weight. If it's not clean, then they're lunging into the side of your leg.

I'm not talking about a kick to the shin. I'm talking about a lunge. Which will move your leg.

 

[Colossus]

I'm a PA in orthopedic surgery. The thing is, you need to put their advice into context.

There are thousands of people who have never lifted a weight in their life who fvck themselves up by sitting. Marathoners get stress fractures from cyclic loading. Mountain bikers get disc herniations. Pitchers get labral tears. Football players get torn ACLs. Weekend warriors and soccer moms alike have back problems, and every person on earth starts to show degenerative spine changes around the age of 30.

So really, every form of physical activity has inherent danger. Weightlifting isnt any more dangerous than most other sports. At extremes; i.e. true maximal effort lifting, there is a much finer margin of error. But again you have the same increase in injury risk with other high-impact sports. MMA for example. The benefits of weight training in my opinion outweigh the risks.

Also keep in mind most physicians aren't weightlifters. They dont understand the drive and needs of a strength athlete. Can weightlifters get bad backs? Absolutely. But guess who 90% of the patient population is in spine surgery.....the elderly, the fat, and people who have been in accidents.