A misconception is that weight training and weightlifting (yes, these are two separate entities, more on that later) are dangerous activities and are to blame for several injuries that occur in the gym.<\/p>\n
A misconception is that weight training and weightlifting (yes, these are two separate entities, more on that later) are dangerous activities and are to blame for several injuries that occur in the gym.<\/p>\n
From a young age, parents will often elect safer activities for their children to participate in over resistance training<\/a> for fear of a traumatic injury occurring. Even worse, individual coaches and athletes well into their professional and collegiate careers opt-out of resistance training for fear of it, making them too slow or bulky<\/a>.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, abstaining from resistance training ultimately does the body more harm than good, and is not the culprit. There isn’t any question that poor exercise technique can result in injury<\/a>; however, the chances of that occurring are unlikely, particularly with proper instruction<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Don’t miss out on the extraordinary performance benefits that lifting provides because of the fear of a rare injury. Every day that you drive your car, you run the risk of getting into an accident, but that doesn’t stop you from driving. It also applies to weight training and weightlifting<\/a>.<\/p>\n Taking the proper steps to learn sound techniques will enhance athletic performance at low risk<\/strong>.<\/p>\n To be clear, weight-training is any resistance training that takes place with machines, implements, or weights<\/a>, while weightlifting is the Olympic sport that includes the snatch<\/a> and clean and jerk<\/a> explicitly.<\/p>\n Both modalities include a wide array of exercises, but together they cover resistance training<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Regarding the safety of these two activities, they are some of the safest sports in which one can participate. Weightlifting, as previously mentioned, is a sport in itself, but weight training includes powerlifting<\/a>, bodybuilding<\/a>, or any other type of exercise to improve physical fitness.<\/p>\n A 1994 research study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research<\/a>1<\/sup> examined the relative safety of both weight training and weightlifting in comparison to many sporting activities, including:<\/p>\n The results showed that per 100 participation training hours, weight training had the second-lowest injury rate and weightlifting had the lowest<\/strong>, an amazingly low 0.0035 and 0.0017 rate, respectively<\/strong>.1<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n The aforementioned safer option most parents elect to place their children in, soccer, topped the list at 6.2 injuries per 100 training hours.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, individuals are so quick to write off any type of resistance training due to unjustified fear<\/strong>.<\/p>\n While I still believe children should participate in a wide variety of sports<\/a>, this evidence demonstrates that children and adults, for that matter, should by no means avoid any resistance training unless clearly stated by their physician.<\/p>\n One of the most significant issues I am confronted with when training a new athlete or client is the limitations they bring to the table<\/a> before our first meeting.<\/p>\n My absolute favorite quote to that point is by Brett Contreras<\/a>, who once said,<\/p>\n \u201cIf you think lifting weights is dangerous, try being weak. Being weak is dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n – Brett Contreras<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n While I digress, he does make a fantastic point. Previous injury, health issues, and paranoia are no excuse to avoid resistance training altogether.<\/p>\n Now I must preface this by saying that your doctors and medical health care providers always know the best<\/strong> way<\/strong> more than somebody like myself, so please listen to them first.<\/p>\n The point I make is that if you have a fused spine and they tell you to never back squat again, that doesn’t mean to never squat again in any<\/em> capacity. (Unless explicitly stated by your doctor. Also, listen to them, not me). It merely means do so in a more intelligent way<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Giant newsflash<\/strong>, you will have to squat to get up and down from a chair or toilet at some point in your life again, might as well learn how to do it right. Falling prey to the assumption that herniated discs<\/a> and torn ligaments<\/a> are imminent when undertaking lifting modalities is close-minded.<\/p>\n Everybody should be able to<\/strong>:<\/p>\n They should be able to do each of these functions with some type of resistance at any age, especially if high-level athletic performance is the goal.<\/p>\n Take the barbell squat<\/a> as our example; it is undoubtedly the king of all exercises, but it is not always appropriate for everyone. It’s important to remember that we are loading this movement pattern to facilitate a particular adaptation in an athlete to prepare for their sport.<\/p>\n If one variation does not match up with what they are physically capable of, find another way<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Here are three significant variations.<\/p>\n Goblet Squat<\/a>: Once an athlete can demonstrate the sound technique in the squat pattern with their body weight, they can quickly move on to the kettlebell or dumbbell goblet squat.<\/p>\n Those who need to refrain from axial loading<\/a> due to a previous injury or being relatively a novice can gain a lot from this movement as the anterior load forces<\/a> one to maintain an upright posture<\/a>.<\/p>\nSafety Rankings<\/h2>\n
\n
Do You Have Self-Imposed Limitations?<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
Barbell Squats<\/h2>\n
1. The Goblet Squat<\/h2>\n