This book is about healing injury in the athletes back and then building resilience to compete once again. Anyone who trains will enhance their injury resilience and performance employing these principles proven over and over with athletes.
In the highly competitive world of strength athletics, a back injury is seen by many as the ultimate career-ender. In truth, if handled properly, it is far from a death sentence. Follow the journey of international powerlifting champion Brian Carroll, who can attest to this first hand. This remarkable athlete went from 1100 lb squats and 800 lb deadlifts to unending pain and disability after a massive spinal compression injury. After a fortuitous meeting with leading back expert Professor Stuart McGill, he reset his training and his life to fight his way back to the top of the winner’s podium.
Glean expertise from McGill and Carroll, both masters in their field, and learn how to orchestrate your own triumphant comeback. Whether you are a former champion yourself who has fallen on hard times, or someone starting a new foray into the world of strength training who wants to avoid injury and maximize training, the wisdom found within these pages is sure to take your resilience and lifts to the next level.
Over 200 full color, rich illustrations demonstrate technique.
FOREWORD BY WORLD’S STRONGEST MAN BILL KAZMAIER
How to read this book
Meet Stuart and Brian
Chapter 1: Breaking Point – the fork in the road
Chapter 2: The Early Years
Chapter 3: Charting my spine’s demise
Chapter 4: Recovery – The athlete and the professor
Chapter 5: The injury explained
Chapter 6: The negotiation
Chapter 7: Commitment and resolve to get better
Chapter 8: A general approach to guide recovery
Chapter 9: Assessment: Testing yourself – the key to designing your rehab-training program
Chapter 10: Programming – The foundation for pain-free and resilient training
Chapter 11: Re-inventing a strength athlete 2013-2015
Chapter 12: Re-Mastering the powerlifts for all
Chapter 13: Training wisdom – lessons earned the hard way
Chapter 14: Retirement – Knowing when to step away
Chapter 15: Conclusion