Bad advice from a professional

I went to the chiro today, and my regular chiro was on vacation so I had the other one, who is her boss, I believe. After the back adjustment, I told her that we were working on my problem hip. I was telling her that it seems to be improving, as it really only hurts bad during my first warm up sets for squats and gets better as the sets progress.

She told me my first warm up (80 lbs, 50% of my working weight) was too heavy, and putting too much strain on my ligaments/tendons before they are warm, and I am risking a tear. OK, sounded like good advice, so far. She said to warm up without the bar and then with just the bar. OK, I am thinking I can do some variation of that.

Then she proceeds to tell me that I *must* do high reps (12) and that high reps is necessary for toning my legs and low reps will just make them bigger. GRRRR. I start tuning her out here, not really wanting to debate with her. Then she tells me how bad SLDLs are, only "powerlifters" do those, how I need to do drop sets with the leg extenstion machine, how I should not do squats every week, how I need to do high reps for everything (repeating the high rep mantra a lot).

This is frustrating, but at least I know better. I hate that a "professional" is spreading this same ol crap about high reps = toning, low reps = big hulking muscles. I also am frustrated because I really want to fix this damn problem with my hip. Knowing it is a tendon/ligament problem helps, but where the hell can I find good advice on correcting it? I think taking my chances with an MD will result in even worse crappy advice (along the lines of...stop lifting weights for 6-8 weeks, so I can cover my *ss).

So who do I need to seek out to get the best, educated advice for dealing with an injury and weight training?

A sports physiologist. Somebody who is not a general practitioner.

You know the DRs and sports therapists that work on football teams preach and do different methods because they specifically work with athletes.

Many of the people you find in the gym or medical doctors are trained to assist the average joe. The basic functionality.

A nutritionist is not qualified to give advice on a steroid cycle so why would a general DR or medical professional be qualified to talk sports physiology?

If you look around your area, you will probably find somebody who knows more about the human body in regards to exercise then somebody who is just generally understanding of the body and how it works.

Marc C. David - NGA CPT
Author of NoBull Bodybuilding
www.nobullbodybuilding.com

Yep. You should be able to find a doctor who specializes in "sports medicine" in the phone book, and they ought to be able to help you. You may want to call ahead and ask if they work with many bodybuilders.

Of course, that doesn't guarantee you'll get someone good. When I went looking for a doctor to look at my shoulder when I hurt it back when I first started lifting, I ended up with a guy who pretty much acted like I was wasting his time because I didn't have a knee that required reconstruction or something...

-30-

In six months, what will your t-shirt say?

My training journal: Sweating with the toadies
My scattered thoughts: The Bramble

I agree. I had a "sports medicine professional" attend to my shoulder once whose notion of weightlifting was akin to something he'd stepped in. His poor advice coupled with the fact that he himself was the spitting image of a dumpling led me look elsewhere for treatment.

Listen: we know how to lift, we know what to lift in terms of weight, and we know how often. So unless the "professional" lifts and has demonstrated accomplishments in the bodybuilding field, tune out the lifting guidance and let them treat the injury, or find someone else.

Falling down does not constitute failure: not getting up does.