A Lesson Hard Learned

First of all hello. Im a long time lurker, figured I’d post here and there. Been lifting for a few years now and did my first meet in Albany, NY in November (335,205,455). I picked my attempts like a pussy and definitely should have squatted and pulled more.

Anyway I have been injured for the past two months. I was sidelined initially due to a back strain during a squat, a warm up squat. Then my QL went into spasm and tightened up for the last month or so. I began to question everything. When you get injured, doubt runs rampant through your mind.

After PT and Chiro visits, the problem became obvious, asymmetry. One side of my body was doing all of the work and the other was just going along for the ride. I could 1 arm farmer walk with 100lbs in my right hand, but couldn’t even take a step with it in my left.

Even though we aren’t bodybuilders, symmetry is very important, especially in the trunk. If one side of your body is bracing for 300lbs and the other is bracing for 100lbs, its much easy for something to go wrong.

So I’m back in the gym now, back to playing with baby weight for a while, and doing a lot of one sided stuff to correct my posture. I made the mistake of thinking that just getting stronger was enough. But its not. That old saying really is true. “Do what you suck at.” Actively search for your weaknesses, and get to work, if at least from an injury prevention perspective.
Anyway, just my little cautionary tale. Happy to join here. Later.

Thanks for your story. I think improving the weakest link in the chain is extremely important for weightlifting. At one point in my training my best squat was an iffy 385 and my best DL was only 425, with straps! I couldn’t even consistently hold onto 405lbs. I rectified that mistake and made my DL a focus point and have since pulled 495 beltless and easily held onto the bar. I think with another year of consistent training my once weakest lift will easily become my strongest.