Most of my powerlifting friends sustain injuries. My buddy,who is a powerlifting instructor (and has won national titles in Australia) told me frankly, “powerlifters always have injuries” sort of like it’s the nature of the beast.
My question is this:How do you guys cope with this and keep coming back? I wanna throw out some props to gorrilavanilla, mattyxl, jackrash, Dbasler, ksnap, the Canadian dork corrmhona (teasing) and velvet elvis(the most appropriate monicker in the forum)and all the powerlifting community on here. I am just curious how long your “layoff’s” are and if you get close to giving up the fitness thing altogether.
Every successful power lifter (and athlete) I know just trains around injuries. Hurt your chest? Work legs…hurt your hand? Do more leg work…this sport isn’t for everyone. Those who are passionate and able always reset goals and march forward…even if it’s in a different direction.
Just browse the elite powerlifter threads and you’ll see what I mean.
Every successful power lifter (and athlete) I know just trains around injuries. Hurt your back? Work legs…hurt your shoulder? Do more leg work…this sport isn’t for everyone. Those who are passionate and able always reset goals and march forward…even if it’s in a different direction.
Just browse the elite powerlifter threads and you’ll see what I mean.
I am not an elite powerlifter. I’m not even a good one. But I love the sport nonetheless and have had many injuries. And the answer is exactly what Hara said. You just train around whatever is injured. I have gotten very good at certain exercises (pistol squats and chins come to mind) solely because at times they were what I could do given my limitations.
I consider giving up powerlifting all the time. But it’s almost always out of frustration with lack of talent rather than because of injuries.
I’ve either been lucky or I don’t train hard enough because I’ve never been really hurt powerlifting. I do start to get things like tendonitis and some minor joint pain but I just switch exercises when it starts to get worse. Once I had tendonitis pretty bad and a cortisone shot made it disappear like magic. Since then, I have been pretty careful not to push the asst. work with things like curls or pull ups with the wrong grip as that is what seems to aggravate it. Right now my elbows hurt a bit but I wouldn’t describe them as “injured” really.
The last time I remember getting “injured” for more than a tweak that lasted a few days was a few years ago when I reached across my body to grab a dumbbell on the floor while I was seated for incline bench and something in my lower back popped. That lasted a few weeks, but was more of a freak thing than a “powerlifting” injury. Frankly, my back gets really fucked up from sitting in a chair all day and getting fat and my back was awful until I started lifting heavy(ier) at 40. Now when my back tweaks it is usually a one or two day thing rather than laying me out for weeks and requiring chiro/drugs/physical therapy like it used to before I started lifting.
I pulled a muscle in my forearm to much grip training I screwed up my rotator cuff my serious injury was i was squating 400# below parallel and my leg gave out iwas on the ground screaming if not for my power rack it could have been real bad that affected my deadlift which was going up my max was 455 but me like a dumb ass didn’t stop deadin I got made one day and just hit it hard I jus got past my wups when I just froze I couldn’t even stand straight it broke my heart I love deadin more than anything
I took 5 months off I went to chiropractor he told me something about my sciatic nerve and a disc pinching it and everyone I no told me give up deadlifting I’m 40 and they said that’s to old FUCK THAT!!! I rested seen the chiropractor every week it helped so much I started slow but my max is 400 dead 315 Squat but my mistake was stupidity I didn’t listen to my body I was trying to rush it like Jim says its about the long haul LISTEN TO UR BODY DON’T EGO LIFT AND PROPER FORM MY MAXS ARE 380 arched bench flat 365 220 OHP 315 squat 400 dead my goals are 405 bench 250 OHP 500 squat 500 dead is going to take awhile but injuries will make it impossible
LIFT SMART AND INJURIES CAN BE AVOIDED u can’t hit it crazy hard every session if u feel weak do ur routine and that’s it no extra reps heavy singles as we all no sometimes u jus dont feel it .LONG HAUL BROTHERS LONG HAUL BE SAFE KEEP SMASHING
I kind of see it as a badge of courage. Injuries mean I’m working hard. I find ways to work around them. I’ve found powerlifting is addictive and I can’t stop for very long. In the long run you have to take care of yourself and be smart as you get older.
[quote]jjackkrash wrote:
Frankly, my back gets really fucked up from sitting in a chair all day and getting fat and my back was awful until I started lifting heavy(ier) at 40.[/quote]
Ditto.
After my last back tweak, I added up how much time I sit on my ass. Driving to work, sitting at the desk, sitting in meetings, sitting to eat, sitting at home. I think I forgot to add sitting on the throne. Got a standing desk a couple months ago and hopefully will never look back. Makes a big difference.
Well, you mentioned me so I have to pony up, but I’m not a powerlifter. I can’t grind against a rep to save my life…I lack the mental fortitude for powerlifting. I threw rocks and logs and such when I was competing (highland games heavy events), and I’m just trying to get back into it.
In my case I just worked around it. Like bulldog said, we aren’t competing for our health.
I actually ended up quitting for a decade. I had herniated myself and had a long layoff, and then pulled a rotator cuff trying to come back too fast. My doctor was chewing me out about my BMI (I was 285 at the time, but my waist was narrower than it is now, but what can I say, he was a vegan), and how unhealthy I was so I listened. I started doing the 10+ hours of cardio and resistance training was push ups and sit ups. 10 years later I can’t walk 4 blocks without stopping for a breather so I said screw that, throwing is more fun and now I’m trying to get back in shape at a reasonable speed so I don’t hurt myself before I can make a meet.
That said, I never hurt myself competing while throwing, and the hernia was the first time I had to take time off. Depending on your definition of hurting yourself I guess. Losing some skin here and there or being head to toe sore as hell for three days after a comp isn’t hurt, just part of the game. Anyway, I’m still not convinced fingers don’t grow back…
I’ll admit I do this for “fitness”, but not in the bodybuilder/CF sense of the word.
I don’t feel alive unless I have body awareness and test my physical strength limits.
In terms of injuries, it comes with the territory.
As I get older, the injuries just take longer to heal. It’s not that you get more injuries, you just seem to have them longer. Like everyone says, ignore the pain and work around it.
I would agree with your friend that injuries are part of the territory if you are going to be a competitive powerlifter at the national level. While I have only been training for meets for the past two years I have lifted for over 30 years, always trying to push myself in terms of the strength numbers I could hit.
I consider myself lucky in that the only two major injuries I have suffered were a torn adductor and hernia in the same incident a little over seven years ago and a torn distal bicep tendon this March. In both cases I was back working out almost immediately. Following the hernia surgery I was back doing upper body work four days later and with the bicep tendon I was doing leg work and unilateral work with my “good” arm about three or four days post surgery.
Answering your question as to considering giving up “the fitness thing” altogether, it has never crossed my mind. Lifting is a way of life for me and I love it and will do it as long as I’m physically capable of doing it. My belief is that by lifting from a young age, my body is in much better shape than the average 46-year-old and I should be able to continue to lift for at least several decades to come.
It’s about having the desire to keep pushing myself to test my limits and break any mental conditioning I have accumulated demanding what I should be or can be. I will not submit and I will not capitulate. In so many ways in life I have to be submissive and tolerate utter bullshit but under the iron…only honesty. Examination, determination, muther-effing-angry-growling WILL!
i appreciate the responses to this thread. It,s really cool to see what drives people and if we are humble we can learn from eachother. I can totally relate to what you,re saying gorillavanilla. dbasler,several is at least 5 decades? i love that idea
