THE INSIDER’S TELL-ALL HANDBOOK ON WEIGHT-TRAINING TECHNIQUE

object lifts, or any type of explosive exercise, does
not mean that the individual concerned is less of a
training devotee than someone who can do those
exercises. And not being willing to go to muscular
failure at the expense of safe exercise form does not
indicate a wimpish character.
The most sensible approach is to train safely for
the long term. For nearly everyone that means avoid-
ance of all explosive lifting, sloppy form and high-
risk exercises. The conservative way is the best way.
Many coaches are naturally more robust than are
typical trainees, because those coaches are not typical
hard gainers. Because they can get way with various
liberties, they usually apply the same approach to
their training charges. But I am a typical hard gainer,
so I know the score for hard gainers.
A surprising number of coaches give excellent
advice in their writings and lectures regarding the
use of controlled exercise form and the avoidance
of explosive movements, but then in practice they
allow great liberties with form and rep speed. I have
witnessed this glaring contradiction both in person
and on video recordings, and have been shocked.
Watch out for this contradiction, and be sure to fol-
low the recommendations for controlled exercise
form and rep speed.
Some coaches, however, suffer from serious inju-
ries as the result of their years of training bravado,
and are now shadows of their former selves. They
have learned the hard way of the perils of taking
training liberties. Do not learn by the same route!

But what if you do get injured?

Before I gave exercise technique the pivotal priority it merits, I took many liberties in my train-
ing. As a result I paid a heavy price in terms of injuries, just like countless others have. The
recovery from serious injuries taught me two major things—the importance of not getting
injured in the first place, and how to speed up the recovery period should an injury be sus-
tained. Like so many other people, I wasted years of my training life because I did not apply
the techniques and know-how that are needed for speedy recovery. What I learned in order to
produce a near miracle in recovery is detailed in Chapter 18 of BEYOND BRAWN —”How a training
nightmare was silenced.” The healing technique described there is little known in the training
world. In fact, hardly anyone seems to have heard about it, and as a result countless people
are suffering unnecessarily from slow- or even apparently impossible-to-heal injuries. That
chapter has proven to be one of the most influential in BEYOND BRAWN , and undoubtedly can
help you to recover from injury as quickly as possible.

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