Training injuries.... meaning injuries either in the gym or during practice.

PRACTICE

The only injury, besides a mashed finger, here and there, that I've ever had during actualy HG events practice, was that I strained my back doing a long series of hammer winds.

My mentor, Mike Pockoski, is the world hammer champion, twice now. Mike was a nationally-ranked hammer thrower in college, and finished 5th in the USA National Meet in 2006. He told me that he starts out his season by doing *Hundreds* of hammer winds. OK, well I'm an old guy, I can't really do HUNDREDS, but I can do a hundred in sets of ten, each day for the first couple of weeks of the season. Last year, somewhere in the 70's I strained my lower back. It took 2-3 weeks to heal up from that.

Knees are a potential damage point, especially in the stones and weights. That's because you need your foot to be able to rotate on the grass while doing the throw. If you wear really "grabby" cleats, that can cause problems, sometimes with your knees. Many guys will change out of their turf shoes...on ONE SHOE... when the open stone event comes up, and put on a discus/shotput throwing shoe on the foot that rotates. Mike has a pair of old-style soccer cleats with the old cylindrical cleats. He's ground most of them off, leaving a couple on the heel and one right under the ball of his right foot. When he rotates the foot, it rotates around that one remaining cleat.

Tanel 360 cleats/shoes are popular with the Pro's as well. The metal cleats on those shoes are arranged in a circular patterns, which is supposed to allow for easier rotation during the stones and weight throws.

Personally, I "stand" both of my stones throws, so this is not an issue for me. I am gliding my open stone "sometimes" but I'm nowhere near good enough to be getting my back foot to rotate in the glide, so again, not an issue. It's the rotational stone throwers that have this problem....and seriously advanced weight for distance throwers who actually can rotate their pivot foot to open up the hips.

TRAINING IN THE GYM

Dropping a weight on your foot? Hey, it happens. Also, doing really stupid things like jumping up on a latex workout ball with weights in your hand, seem to be all the rage with some ASININE trainers out there. Obviously, don't do stupid stuff like that. Bosu's are a lot more stable than a workout ball, if you really want to work your knees in an unstable setting, then lunge or jump onto a bosu. Those big latex workout balls are great for stretching and sitting on. Period.

A common issue is to strain a muscle, especially groins, when doing big deadlifts and/or squats and not warming up/stretching enough. Us older guys, especially have to be concerned with lower back and disk compression when doing repetitive squats and deadlifts, or pulling "big" weights.

I don't hear about guys getting hurt doing situps!

I DO see guys, all the time in the gym, lifting close to their PR's without spotters, or without the safety bars being in the right place. What I see ALL THE TIME is some guy doing a flat bench press with close to their PR on the bar, but the supports which are supposed to keep the weight from smashing their chest, if they lose it, it set six inches below chest level. Dudes... seriously? What the hell do you think those things are there for?

The exact same thing goes for the safety bars for squats. If you lose a squat at the bottom, you don't want the bar to drop another foot before it stops. So place the safety supports at an intelligent height.

About stretching..... There are a million discussions about stretching, and I am no expert. However, I start every single workout in which I will be squatting or deadlifting with 5-8 minutes of static stretching of hamstrings, groin, piriformis and quadriceps. I know that if I don't, I will hurt within 48 hours. If I'm going to be squatting big, rather than for speed, I will add in 3-5 minutes of spinning at moderate speed on a stationary bicycle. I may also do something recommended to me by a trainer-friend, called 2-D hip stretches.

If you're going to be deadlifting big, it's probably wise to warm up your lower back by doing a set or two of light Good Mornings.

Be aware of your body. There's a difference between muscle ache and recovery, and damage. The old adage "train through the injury" is BS, if you ask me. If you get hurt, then BACK OFF and heal. This goes ten times over if you're not 26 years old any more. Be aware of potential weaknesses, and if you don't feel right, then don't go for that last set at 90% of your PR.