Ballistic weight training: dangerous and unnecessary. (injury risks)(NABC Convention Program)

Strength training has assumed an essential role in the physical conditioning of high school, college, and professional athletes. Scientific research has pretty much demolished the antiquated thinking on "weight lifting" (i.e., "muscle boundness" and loss of athleticism), and practically all of our athletes and coaches have attested to the virtues of modern strength-training.

Safety is always a concern, of course. But coaches are constantly analyzing the risk factors in their exercise programs and seeking ways to minimize them, almost all of them choose their exercises wisely and school their athletes in the proper lifting/spotting techniques.

With judicious care, most of the environmental risks in the weight room can be safely controlled. But, even with supervision and good techniques, certain exercises remain controversial. The argumentation differences usually centers around the types of exercises to incorporate and the sliced at which to perform them.

One of the most controversial issues of the day concerns the value of ballistic weight training. Ballistic exercises involve any lifting movement performed in a rapid, jerky manner in which momentum plays a key role in the execution and/or completion of the lift.

Among the most common ballistic lifts are the Olympic lifts (snatch and clean and jerk), power cleans, push-jerks, speed-squats, and variations.

I believe that even with the proper supervision and proper technique, ballistic training carries the highest risk of injury in the weight room.

A large body of evidence (see references 1-8, 11-13, 18-20) supports my claim. These scientific articles indicate that the so-called "explosive" movements carry a high risk of injury to muscle tissue, fascia, connective tissue, and bone structures.