Leg Press = Cracked Rib

[Austincqc]

Yeah. Just as the title says. I was doing leg press with 460lbs and on my final two reps of my very last set for the day, I felt a small pinch, heard a pop, and racked the weight.

Apparently this is more common than I thought (do a google search) but I've never known anybody that's done it.

Worst part is I wasn't lifting heavy. Sucks.

 

[JJones75]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

Ive never heard of anybody breaking a rib on a leg press , i know two seperate people who have realy messed up their backs on them.
were your bringing your knees all the way into your chest?

I guess anything is possible i cracked a rib coughing when i had phenumonia in highschool.

hurt ribs suck cause their nothing you can do for it and everything hurts it

 

[Smokin99]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

Wow, this just happened to me too last week but I seperated the cartligage(sp) or Cracked my rib on my left side on my bottom rib I never got xrays bc the doc said the treatment was the same, was lifting 485lbs on the leg press, had headphone on, and I heard a pop over the music. Doc said I would have to take it easy for 2 weeks and put me on Hydrocodone-Acetaminophen 5-500tab and 800mg Ibuprofen. Fck, I must be getting old (at 35) because 485 is my first set after 2 warm up sets. Guess Im not 25 anymore,,

Trust me I feel your pain,,,,,no more leg press for me in the future!

 

[JJones75]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

what are you guys doing to put pressure on your ribs?
are your wearing a belt? , comming down to far?

 

[Smokin99]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

I had a belt on like always might of come down to far but Ive been lifting for years with the same form, totally controled not going crazy at all and on the way down I heard the pop on the first rep.. Wife is my lifting partner and after I heard the pop she did her set with 200lbs and I tried to do a set with that but it was NOT happening, went to the doc later that day... SOB

 

[bmt]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

Stress on the upper body with leg presses is huge.

The Upper body is working hard to function as a rigid platform so that the lower body can move the weight.

The weakest link and/or the wllink that bore the stress gives out.

In this case it was a rib. But I have seen backs, sernum (sterna?), patellas, etc give out.

I quit doing leg presses after my football career ended. I saw too many injuries.

BMT

 

[Starbelly]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

You guys are scaring me. Leg Press is my favorite exercise. I have never heard of anyone cracking a rib. So you were wearing a belt? I can't do heavy squats anymore because of a disc problem (guitar related oddly enough) so my heavy leg movement is presses or hack squats. I have always been a little scared of all that weight hovering above me, but I trust the machine... do you think it could have been the belt itself that hurt you? I don't wear weight belts myself, but then again I don't go heavy on olympic style lifts either.

 

[biglou13]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

All the more reason to get off the sled and just <span style="font-weight: bold">learn</span>/do some real squats.

low bar squats: safer and functional.

 

[garrett]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

Calisthenics guys! God damnit!

Seriously, +1 to big lou

 

[CUTRIGHT]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

Sounds like you got brittle bones, you ever drink milk?

 

[JJones75]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: biglou13</div><div class="ubbcode-body">All the more reason to get off the sled and just <span style="font-weight: bold">learn</span>/do some real squats.

low bar squats: safer and functional.</div></div>

I have a shirt i wear on leg day that says

"the leg press was invented to keep pussys out of the squat rack"

although i do use the leg press for high volume drop sets and single leg presses

 

[Turk]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

Pretty common injury if you go very low and roll your lowerback off the padding and your quads pressing against your ribs. Not good form! Btw, probably not a good idea to wear a belt on the legpress.

 

[vman]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

Fark!

 

[pongnukl]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

Stop wearing the belt and start using your core, using a belt is a good way to give you weak core muscles. Also concentrate on form, not the amount of weight you lift as form is critical.

 

[Austincqc]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

I've been using the same form for years that by buddy's use (personal trainers). I'm not one of those d-bags that slams the weight into my body to use the bounce as some momentum to get the weight back up. If I can't safely lower the weight, I don't do it. 460lbs is close to a 1/3 of what I can do on leg press, so I was really pissed off this happened. If you google the three words "leg press ribs" you will find dozens of threads of people doing the same thing. It's more common than we think...

I do squats too as my first exercise to warm up my legs. I don't use a belt and have a sharp focus on form because of the dangers involved with bad form (a friend broke his back because he used bad form, lost balance, and sandwiched himself trying to keep from dropping the weight and looking dumb in the gym). He's not paralyzed, so you can laugh at the idea of a guy severely injuring himself because he didn't want to look dumb dropping weights. lol I did.

I feel squats works my hamstrings and glutes more and leg press works my quads. Two different excercises for two different purposes.

I think the shirt is funny because I do see a lot of guys never touching the squat rack and have no clue how to do squats. I just wouldn't wear it because I do leg press too. hah

 

[JJones75]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

if your hitting the hams and glutes from squats more then the quads it due to the form and stance your using.

try to close up your stance , where the <span style="font-weight: bold">outside</span> of your feet is shoulder width appart and toes pointedpretty much forward
squat down and stop BEFORE getting to parallel and stop just short of locking out at the top , think like a half squat, this will keep stress on the quads the whole time and not allow the glute and hams to activate.
you might also try either front squats or squating in a smith machine with your feet slightly out in from of you and close together

 

[benchmstr]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

i cracked a rib once when i sneezed while doing front squats...

benc

 

[Austincqc]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

When I do squats, I stop when my legs form a 90 degree angle. From working out with my buddies who are mostly personal trainers, I've picked up my form on most of my exercises. For me, it's about 3 inches from a normal weight bench.

I've never done squats to focus on quads or any muscle in particular, but there's a first time for everything.

 

[JJones75]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: AustinCQC</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I've never done squats to focus on quads or any muscle in particular, but there's a first time for everything.

</div></div>
try stopping short , it realy hit the quad alot more as the glutes and hams are never realy allowed to pick up any slack. Do a nice slow negitive like maybe a 3 count this way your not making your knees take so much abuse from hitting the brakes all the sudden

 

[Ouch!!]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

Im a big front squat fan.

 

[SouthFork]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

My max on incline leg press is around 1600 lbs. I always wear a belt when lifting and never had any trouble. Thats crazy you popped a rib though. Good luck for recovery.

 

[Creature]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

Don't let sled push your knees into your ribs. Instead cant your hips/knees outward so knees are on the die of your abdomen. This is a more natural alignment for the area between the ankle and knee.

Oh and don't let your ass come up off the chair/bench.

Start low and work your way up

. Probably be a good idea to get on the ground and do some deep hip stretching before doing legs.

 

[tuckner]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

Put in the group that separated my cartilage while doing leg presses. Felt a weird popping sensation, discomfort, followed by pain later in the day.

 

[Double-edged]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

Don't want to be alarmist but you might want to make sure that everything is ok with your bones. My father was lifting some stuff in his shop and broke some vertebrae. Turns out he had bone cancer.

 

[Austincqc]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

Update - Pretty much fully recovered. I've been doing a TON of core exercises and have a trunk of a core now. I've been doing the half squats that you guys have talked about in the interim and really focused on holding the extension or contraction (depending on the exercise) to make the burn more intense rather than lifting more.

If you've never tried doing Ab ripper X from the p90x routine, try it. You'll feel it in your hip flexors, abs, ribs for days your first time. Now I do some of the routine between sets to keep my heart rate up. I highly recommend it!

 

[jayd4wg]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

saw a kid at the CCAC gym pop a rib doing this once too. big kid...he was pushing 500 with all the other guys watching. i was in a position where i could see his face. We all heard the pop and i remember the "aw fawk" look on his face as he set the weight back down. couple months later (semi related) i was on the donkey press machine moving the whole stack. One of the trainers cruised over to me quickly to warn me about the possible injuries from this and he urged me off the machine so he could demonstrate "good form." Mind you... at this time in my life i was fat but strong 300 lbs and pushing ALOT of weight. I used to run stairs at this weight and always did stairs on my toes. Pushing the whole 250 lb stack with both feet was easier than running the stairs I did all the time but was a slower pace and easier to concentrate on very rigid form to put that crease under my calf muscle and get both halves of the calf well defined...I was quite proud of my popeye calves.

Anyway...really long story short, i stepped back to watch super-jock-trainer dude demonstrate "perfect" form with 200 lbs racked. on his third rep he turned to talk to me when his achilles tendon snapped and his calf collaped like someone rolling up a roman shade. His smile melted pretty quick...

 

[anthony_se]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

just a couple of thoughts here:

a) the weight is NOT the resistance!!!
b) momentum can f you up big time
c) any exercise can cause injury at sites apparently not connected directly to the exercise being performed. the body is a network, guys, ya know, "the knee bone connected to the hip bone, etc"
d) strength training is about joint integrity and joint integrity, including the connective tissue of the rib cage, will depend heavily upon resistance and speed of movement and the control exerted by the person at the transition from positive to negative and negative to positive.
e) you want to fuck yourself up? Here's the prescription: first, believe that reps is the key measure of improvement; second, hoist those m'fer's as fast as you can, with lockout induced pauses; third, believe that the weight is the resistance - shit, 1000 #'s at a 45 degree angle is not 1000 #'s at a 90 degree angle; four, believe that volume equals intensity, i.e., don't rest; overuse is sneaky in its effect - don't ask me how I know this

five, sit on a stupidity ball while you do your strength training. Etc, etc.

www.bodybyscience.net
www.baye.com

HTH,

tony

 

[Shooter21]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

slow and good form are key for muscle growth in the correct way. the better form you have, the harder the lift will likely be. <500lb on leg press breaking a rib is pretty odd though. I used to warm up at 400 and go up to the 800+ mark back in the muscle head days... guess I better beware...

 

[WhiskeyWebber]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: copdoc</div><div class="ubbcode-body">just a couple of thoughts here:

a) the weight is NOT the resistance!!!
</div></div>

Um, what??? Unless you live in zero G the weight is most certainly the resistance. Are you saying that if you go too fast you can dynamically load and those dynamic forces can far exceed the loaded weight?

I stay away from machines. The hipsled/leg press is best used for people who are too weak or inflexible to perform a proper squat. You are putting the knees in a shear load which is conducive to many types of knee injuries. It's amazing to me that machines are marketed as "safer" than barbells.

 

[anthony_se]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

I'm saying that resistance is a function of load, speed of motion, movement cycle protocol at the turn arounds, moment arm, strength curve, resistance curve, and not to mention a host of psychological variables.

 

[Slippery_Pete]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: JJones75</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: biglou13</div><div class="ubbcode-body">All the more reason to get off the sled and just <span style="font-weight: bold">learn</span>/do some real squats.

low bar squats: safer and functional.</div></div>

I have a shirt i wear on leg day that says

"the leg press was invented to keep pussys out of the squat rack"

</div></div>

Awesome! Not a fan of the leg press here. I'll use it to finish off legs but fairly light and doing 20-30 reps.

 

[pistolpete75]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

Sucks to hear, hope your recover. My knees have being going out on me lately, age sucks.

Legs are one of the most neglected muscles in the body, and so many people don't do squats with the proper form. It's about going all the way down with the right amount of weight,rather then go big and go half way.

 

[faulball67]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

I was always a big leg press guy. Form is hugely important though. Guys get lots of injuries on it. Seen knees get blown out and many a cracked rib. Even saw an ankle get broken once. The biggest mistake people make is slamming the weight up as quickly as possible and then bringing it in too deep. People want to make their legs touch their chest before pushing it up to get a "full range". Would you ever touch your legs to you chest doing squats? If the answer is yes put down the weights and go for a run to clear your head of the bad ideas. Whats worse is people typically have too much weight for their real strength and then let it drive their legs back into them. A real tall guy could dislocate a hip like that.

Always slow up, slow back, knees never lock out, and thighs never come parallel to the body. A good general rule is to be able to place at least two fists between your chest and legs.

I would still recommend squats over the press, but I used to do both when I actually lifted for size, just to get some more reps in. In reality a squat is much better becuase it makes you use all the stabilizer muscles and helps maintain tendon strength. It's even better when you use dumbells. The press just isolates the quads too much for building strength properly.

Hope you heal up quick.

 

[ArcticLight]

Re: Leg Press = Cracked Rib

I cracked 2 ribs and separated one, I know what you are going through.

Keep the ace bandage on it.

My last one was right under the breast, caught a back kick from a young and superbly fast brown belt...heard it crack across the dojo.

I feel ya...ouch!

Breathe gentle and good luck on the sleeping positions, that's the hardest part.