Comment by rip_netrunner | Hacker News Reader

Comment by rip_netrunner | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

I think it's important to point out to people that are hesitant to lift due to the perceived risk of injuring themselves is that lifting has a much lower injury rate than most other activities (with proper coaching and programming).

Citing from Bigger, Leaner, Stronger by Michael Matthews, he points to a review of 20 studies performed by Bond University that found the average injury rates for the following activities:

1. Bodybuilding - 1 / 1000 hours

2. Crossfit, Olympic Weightlifting, Powerlifting - 2-6 / 1000 hours

3. Long Distance Running - 10 / 1000 hours

4. Hi Impact Sports (Hockey, Football, Soccer, Rugby) - 6 - 260 / 1000 hours

I'm personally committed to progressively lifting heavy until I turn 40 at which point it becomes more difficult to add muscle. At that point, I'll look into transitioning into a sustainable program that will let me preserve as much muscle as possible as I age with minimal risk.

> 2. Crossfit, Olympic Weightlifting, Powerlifting - 2-6 / 1000 hours

This seems about right? Let's say you powerlift 6 hours a week, 50 weeks a year. (This is believable after a year or so.) That's 300 hours. And you're picking up an injury every 170-500 hours. That seems... plausible?

What matters is how quickly and completely those injuries heal. If you tweak something, maybe you can just ice it, and maybe you're all healed up in two weeks, no problem.

But once you've been powerlifting seriously for a year, you're moving around real weight. Granted, you know you can handle the weight, you're moving it carefully, and you've got safety bars to catch anything you drop.

But some of the injuries you might pick up don't go away so easily. And over 40 years of heavy lifting, those numbers can add up.

> 1. Bodybuilding - 1 / 1000 hours

This represents a 2-6 fold reduction in injury. And you'll be working slowly with lighter weight, so physics probably offers fewer chances for disaster.

So I'd guess that bodybuilding has a lower baseline injury rate, and possibly less severe injuries on average?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com