Lifting heavy without injury page

[elektro]

I've started lifting heavy, low reps a few months ago. So far everything has been going well. But recently I've been hurting after workouts. I have a lot of pain in my shoulders and neck. At first it was going away pretty quickly, but now it has been lingering for weeks even after I stopped lifting completely. I feel it's from doing deadlifts with a ton of weight and I may have pulled a muscle with all that weight.

First off, is there any way to recover faster or do I just have to rest? Then once I recover how do I continue to lift heavy without this happening again?

[Coach Palfrey]

Without some of the details regarding how quickly you've been progressing it's difficult to answer. Have you de-loaded at all? And is there any chance of seeing a technique video?

[Neckhammer]

Without some of the details regarding how quickly you've been progressing it's difficult to answer. Have you de-loaded at all? And is there any chance of seeing a technique video?

Thats interesting. Do many people deload even when they are progressing rather well?

[elektro]

I don't deload intentionally, but things come up every 3-4 weeks, travel, ect. that force me to take a week off so I am essentially doing that pretty regularly. I believe it's when I'm trying to push my dead lift weight that I'm putting a lot of strain on my neck/shoulders and pulling those muscles, which is causing the pain. How do I push myself on those kinds of exercises without injury? If I stay on weights that I don't struggle with I never move up.

[Coach Palfrey]

Thats interesting. Do many people deload even when they are progressing rather well?

I actually think it's a good idea for a lot of people - mainly because most will be training without a coach and won't have great technique. The forced deload can then act as a safeguard in the long term. It's also important to consider that, although good strength training programmes are linear, progress doesn't always have to be numerically linear. Most people assume that if weight isn't gong on the bar every session then they're no longer making any progress.

[For_Sparta]

I'd suggest exercising some caution with the deadlift if it's causing you pain, it's an awesome exercise when done properly, but it's a fast-track to injury if done the wrong way. You only need to google "deadlift injury" for countless tales of people doing permanent injury going too heavy at the expense of good form.

Lighten the load, and if you feel like you "must" progress each week (I know the feeling), try moving up in tiny increments.

[Fernaldo]

Sounds like you just need to add in an extra couple of rest days. Usually the higher the weight the longer the recovery.

[The Return of Dado]

I think staying injury free is an art of its own!!!!!!

McRobert will always tell you, "go conservative"...if in doubt of whether you will require an extra day of rest or not, always take that extra rest.

The thinking is, from my brain, that you are doing this for the next 10, 20, 30, 40 years? There is no rush in lifting the weights as long as you are progressing with the pounds and you are executing with very good form!!!!

[Coach Palfrey]

Slow and steady is definitely the name of the game. Even starting with some very modest numbers:

Deadlift 100lbs
Squat 75lbs
Bench 60lbs
Press 50lbs

And adding 1lb to each exercise per week you would see this (approximately) after 1 year:

Deadlift 152lbs
Squat 127lbs
Bench 112lbs
Press 102lbs

This after 5 years:

Deadlift 360lbs
Squat 335lbs
Bench 320lbs
Press 310lbs

This is very simplistic (and not really an accurate depiction of what would actually happen ratio wise) but you get the idea.

[Neckhammer]

Yeah I think I'm gonna do a deload thing starting next workout. I've already ruptured one pec tendon advancing to quickly. I think I'll try to keep it reattached and the other one in tact this time around.