I fell over backwards while squatting

[tGunslinger]

While squatting in something like this,


I failed on my last set. Whoopee, no big deal, I've failed before. So I just let the bar down as far as I can (correct squat form be damned, I was just trying to set the bar down), and when I get absolutely bottomed-out, THE DAMN BAR WAS STILL AN INCH ABOVE THE SAFETY LEGS!

So I lean backwards trying to set the bar down onto the safety legs. And that worked for the left end of the squat bar, but the right end drifted back just a bit too far and overshot the safety leg. So instinctively wishing to avoid serious injury, I explode backwards to toss the whole damn bar off my back onto the floor behind me. My traps landed on the bar, and after I finished rattling, I got up seemingly none the worse for wear. But as it turned out, I minorly sprained both knees (I think because my knees drifted waay forward when I first tried to set the bar down).

I believe I have survived the absolute worst weight room nightmare and all I got were two sore knees.

In that vein, I'm pretty happy.

[Jean-Paul]

Damn! I'm glad to hear you're not in the hospital with crushed neck vertebrae!

[Bond007]

Oh man! That's seriously a scary thing to have happen. I'm glad to hear that you're relatively alright. Be careful, bro! And, rest up those knees.

[nyguy]

Holy crap, reading your experience now makes me buy a smith machine more than ever. If something happens to me where I workout, chances are that I won't be found for a few hours. How much weight were you squating?

[cappuccino]

Yeah, that sucks. I was always scared of those squat racks because I couldn't really tell how they help all that much. I like JP's power cage with the safety bars...as long as I can get low enough, the bars will catch the barbell....

let us know how you're feeling tomorrow too.

[Bond007]

nyguy, get a squat cage instead. Don't go the smith machine route if you can avoid it.

[nyguy]

Bond007, can you tell me why on the other thread I opened so I don't hijack this one? thread

[][P3trarch]

wow...glad to hear your ok there!

[tGunslinger]

Originally posted by nyguy:
How much weight were you squating?

405 #'s.
I'm currently cutting, so my strength's lagging a bit.
The knees are feeling better. I think they'll be fine in a day or two.

Thank God for being 21!

EDIT: The reason I excluded the weight from the original post is that I felt since I'm a newbie poster (long-time lurker), people might assume I was being an idiot and using far too much weight. The mistake I made was underestimating the effects of prolonged caloric deficits and not realizing the loss of strength one can encounter over a couple of months of cutting.

[RacerBill]

Wow... we have a similar kind of rack (but less fancy) at my gym. There's no place else to do squats (or curls, for that matter). Guess I better be careful.

Good gawd -- you were squatting 405 pounds!

[Kevin T.]

Glad to hear your ok man. Let those knees heal, a few weeks of missed workouts is nothing compared to having bad knees for life.

[BeachHead]

Thank god your okay! I try to be very concious and aware of how much weight I can do so I dont fall into this situation at home.

[Irishdazza]

I don't want to sound patronising...but that is the same rack we have at my gym, why didn't you just fall forward?

[gobbla]

Originally posted by Irishdazza:
I don't want to sound patronising...but that is the same rack we have at my gym, why didn't you just fall forward?

I was wondering that too.

Glad to here you're ok, reguardless of the technicalities of which way you fell! [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Terry Monk]

I thought the same thing guys (the falling forward thing) but the more I think about it, with that much weight already tending to tip your center of gravity toward your backside, coupled with the fact that most of us would be too scared (read "oh shit") and just want to get the weight down NOW, that he probably just instinctively went backwards. A good lessson in any case: have a plan of retreat when squatting heavy in case of a sudden loss of strength.

Glad you're ok 'slinger.

[Irishdazza]

Should really have said I was glad the injury was minor, there. Speedy recovery...

[RacerBill]

My apologies, Gunslinger; I saw your edit this morning, which I think you added after I posted last night. I never meant to sound like I thought you were using more weight than you should... after all, you did your previous sets with 405. It's just that it's a huge amount of weight. I can't even imagine squatting 200 myself.

And I'm glad it wasn't serious and you're (relatively) okay. Take care of the knees.

[tGunslinger]

Reasons why I didn't fall forward:

1.) As GR stated, simple physics dictate that it's far easier to fall backwards than forwards.

2.) I wasn't exactly doing a lot of thinking at that point, more reacting.

3.) The rack is a little narrow (for me), and I've crushed my pinkies on the rack when racking the weight before. If I had fallen forward with the weight on my fingers, who know what would've happened to my pinkies. And I like my pinkies.


As for the knees, I should re-emphasize that it was a MINOR sprain. I took some advil before I went to bed last night and then slept like a log for something like 10 hours. They're doing MUCH better today. I think they'll be good as new within a week.

Thank you all for your concern.

[Marykaa]

Even with alot less weights.. this is exactly the kind of things that scares me..

Glad to read that you got off with not too much harm..

Tell us how your knees recover.. and DO take care of your pinkies [img]smile.gif[/img]