Anyone ever do this before?

[bad_man]

Yesterday I was in the squat rack and was pushing up a weight I never attempted before for a set of 4. I stalled out on the 4th rep and tried to drop the barbell off my shoulders. As that happened I stumbled backwards and my hand got caught between the rack and the falling barbell. It wasn't pretty - a little blood, a lot of bruises and swelling. The gym called the EMT's which was a little embarassing. I spent the afternoon in the emergency room and somehow, there are no broken bones.

I think I'm addicted to the gym because all I thought about on the way to the ER was how long I'd have to stay away from the gym if indeed it was broken. And I'm going back today to finish my leg workout.

[KeyMastur]

Sorry bud, never done that. When I can't get the weight up, I just drop to my knees. You're only going to hurt yourself even more by just dropping the weight off your shoulders like you did.

BTW - how long are you going to be out ?

[bad_man]

it already looks better this morning. I'm hoping I won't be out more than a week.

[Jenna]

Bad_man -

I'm so sorry to hear that your injured yourself! I'd a spotted ya if I was there!!

Glad you're not letting it bring ya down! Hope it heels soon!

[bad_man]

Thanks J.

[HalOd03]

the 1st time i tried to squat when i was like 14 at my high school, i put on 315, and on the 3rd or 4th rep, i leaned back alittle and it dropped off the back of my neck...reaaallly loud noise...very emmbarassing too!

[Canes4Ever]

Too bad bro, I have done the same thing....and it hurts. My wrist was hurting for a couple of weeks but I was back at the gym after that. I needed a break anyways.

[sp9]

Can't say I have done that one, but I can relate to the addiction of working out. Pulled something in my lat the last back workout and I keep praying it will heal before the next back day. I think about it all the time. I am pretty new to squats so I am using the smith machine for a while.

[Commander_Bash]

This is the reason i squat on the smith machine....i feel im gonna get hurt if i do regular squats you never know what could happen especially if you dont have a training partner....I think the smith machine is real good anyway thats my oppinion

Peace

[Terinox]

I agree with Commander_Bush, always do it on the smith, unless your very experienced.

Did you use guards?? Or were you doing it completely free? I mean, in the squat rack, there should be those two metal bars that run acroos the sides right....so when you feel your done, and you can't push up, then like KeyMastur said, you have to slowly squat DOWN, until the bar rests on the two gaurds!!!

Speaking of squats, I saw this one kid in my university set up the squat rack, he puts on 315!!!! This kid is no more then 170 pounds of weight. He gets under the bar, lifts the bar up, his legs are WIDE apart, probably about a meter apart, and he squats down about 10 inches, and then goes back up!!! WTF is that?????????????????????????????????

[devilscabanaboy19]

damn bro that's shitty. For real man you gotta use the guards on the sides of the rack. Don't set them too low because if you need to bail your gonna fuck your knees up. I see people take their hands of the bar and it's definitely not safe, at a power meet one time this kid was trying like 600lbs. and dropped the fucker off his back, the whole rack fell over and almost crushed the judge behind it! Be safe when using heavy weights bro.

[Canes4Ever]

Gonna disagree with you guys, as I have seen several studies that disagree with you that Smith Machine squats are good, as a matter of fact are WORSE on your knee joints than regular squats as they put you in unnatural positions.

I will see if I can find the studies and if I can will linlk them here for you to read.

[Ajax]

I agree Canes, I have bad knees (it runs in the family) and when I do Smith Machine Squats I can feel the strain in my knees. It seems the Smith Machine limits your range of motion front-to-back and forces the knee to absorb pressure that you could normally avoid by shifting your balance.

And Bad Man--if you mean 'has a gym additction ever kept you from properly resting an injury" I gotta say yes! I hurt my elbow and I can't justify taking a break to let it rest. I know I should, but I keep putting it off to later when I know I will be forced to take a break for other reasons.

[sp9]

I here you ajax and canes. I still think it is a good way to start out with squats. Mainly for my own saftey especially at home alone. Just read something in Muscle and Fitness about the effctiveness of the smith squat versus free squat and it was very close. Have not heard much about the knee issue and would love to see some more info from you guys on that.

By the way the article I read was called "Is the Smith up to Snuff", page 34 in the April 2002 issue of Muscle and Fitness.

One thing they did note was a rest was given to the ankles when using the smith.

[bad_man]

Originally posted by Terinox
Did you use guards?? Or were you doing it completely free? I mean, in the squat rack, there should be those two metal bars that run acroos the sides right....so when you feel your done, and you can't push up, then like KeyMastur said, you have to slowly squat DOWN, until the bar rests on the two gaurds!!!

Yeah I used guards. Actually, my hand got caught between the guard and the barbell when it came crashing down. OUCH!!

And I guess I knew that I should have just gone back down, but I guess I panicked and just wanted the bar off my shoulders. I guess I'll know better next time.

I personally hate the smith machine.

As for my hand, the swelling has gone down considerably and I can almost make a fist. I think I should be back inthe gym on Monday.

[Flaco]

IMO squatting on the smith machine is so much better.When squatting the traditional way I feel like my back comes into play way too much...My form is good I just dont get that burn.On the smith machine I feel my quads doing all the work...

[Canes4Ever]

Originally posted by Flaco
IMO squatting on the smith machine is so much better.When squatting the traditional way I feel like my back comes into play way too much...My form is good I just dont get that burn.On the smith machine I feel my quads doing all the work...

Sorry to disagree with you Flaco, but if you are feeling it in your back, then your form is bad.

Since you live in Miami, and so do I, why don't we get together sometime and I can check out your squat form. I believe if done properly, free form squats shouldn't be felt too much in the lower back and should kill the thighs, which is what you want.

[sp9]

I guess we all are unique in what we feel works best for us. The main thing is to experiment to see what your body likes the most in terms of reaching your goals. Of course safety and avoiding injury is paramount when trying to avoid delays in progress.

Once I feel a little more comfortable with squats I am sure I will get into the free form version of things and see how I respond.

Keep moving weight!