13 Hamstring and Knee Injury Mistakes

Louie Simmons has created the strongest gym in the WORLD Westside Barbell®. That being said he is constantly evolving his coaching knowledge and training methods.

In today’s post, we share Louie Simmons’ Podcast on the importance of developing a strong posterior chain.

IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN – 13 HAMSTRING INJURY PREVENTION MISTAKES:

Lack of Training Knowledge 0:30

Continual education and learning on your part as a coach can strengthen your coaching and improve the overall quality of your coaching services.

‘The more you know, the more you realize you need to learn. The more questions you have, the more experiments you’ll want to run.

This continual learning keeps you engaged…

…think about the things that are boring in life. They’re the things that repeat over and over, like the film Groundhog Day. As coaches, we should constantly work to evolve and improve.

That gives us the power to educate and better serve our clients.
Proper Muscle Loading 2:00
Calf and Hamstring Balance 3:30

You’re constantly evolving every day in the gym… but then after 3 weeks the effectiveness of the exercise diminishes…your body has accommodated to the exercise.

But no worries…just rotate these special exercises every 1-3 weeks.

Special Exercises are the backbone of any great strength program.

They account for roughly 80% of your training volume! Studies have proven that a constant rotation of exercises can help athletes reach their highest potential at a much faster rate…

Using this rotation method, you will break through any barriers of indifference or resistance.
Constantly Work Soft Tissue 8:00
Higher Injury Rates 10:50
1. Weight Training VS. Not Weight Training
2. A decrease in ACL injuries with proper weight training
3. Higher injury rate seen on the football field %99… Vs. In the weight room %0.07…
Not Maintaining a High Training Base During Sport or Season
1. ATHLETES ARE AFRAID TO TRAIN DURING SEASON, BECAUSE FEAR OF GETTING HURT OR BEING OVERWORKED… BUT THE MAJORITY OF THEIR INJURIES HAPPEN DURING THIS TIME…
2. THE IMPORTANCE OF MAINTAINING A STRENGTH BASE ALL YEAR ROUND.
BI-Lateral Deficits 15:45

Re-adjusting the Focus

When implemented properly…

…the Conjugate Fitness ™ program, which follows a conjugate method sequence system will improve the quality life for you and/or your athletes.

A well-balanced and effective fitness program like we set-up in our StrengthPAD PROGRAM FOR YOU, should not only build you physically but psychologically as well…

…making you mentally stronger and more focused.

Athletic performance and the prevention of possible injury during training sessions should always be the primary goals of any fitness routine.

A well-toned physique is simply a by-product of all of that hard work and effort. It should NOT be the main goal.
Incorrect Coaching 17:50

All too often, we see fitness trainers coaching their clients in exactly the same way, day after day, through a staggered routine of powerlifting, strength training, and cardiovascular exercise.

Personal trainers might refer to this a periodization, yet only a small portion of these well-meaning clients seems to ever achieve any substantial results.

Trainers like to chalk it up to “genetics”, explaining that some people are just more naturally inclined to attain muscle mass and muscle tone than others.

The Conjugate Fitness™ program disproves this theory and blows it out of the water.

Remember, if you train the same way that everyone else does in the gym, the only way that you will see improved results is if you were blessed with great genetics. At Conjugate Fitness ™ our system works and works fast. You’ll be amazed at how quickly you begin to see results.
Increasing Flexibility & Mobility with Weight Training 18:30
1. THE BEST WAY TO INCREASE FLEXIBILITY IS WITH WEIGHT TRAINING
2. THE LOWER YOU CAN GO WITH HEAVIER WEIGHTS AND FULL RANGE OF MOTION THIS WILL INCREASE FLEXIBILITY AND MOBILITY
3. THE LAW OF ACCENTUATION – WORKING THE PROPER RANGE OF MOTION THAT YOUR SPORT REQUIRES
4. OPTIMAL LEVEL OF MOBILITY 20:00 (CROSSFIT)
Training the Incorrect Exercises for Your Sport – Football Example 23:00
1. DEVELOP TODAY’S ATHLETE
2. COACHES ARE TRAINING THE SAME WAY THEY DID 20 YEARS AGO
3. WEAK HAMSTRINGS EQUAL MANY INJURIES
4. 50% OF ALL FOOTBALL INJURIES ARE LOWER EXTREMITIES AND 36% KNEE INJURIES
5. “WEAK THINGS BREAK…” LOUIE SIMMONS 30:25
Olympic Weightlifting for Explosive Strength 31:08

Olympic Weightlifting is ONLY good if you are going to compete in the sport of Olympic Weightlifting NOT for OPTIMIZING explosive strength. Chains or bands are used to accommodate resistance – If you train with the power lifts or Olympic lifts with only a barbell, your potential to create additional speed or force is limited by the one-dimensional weight on the bar. If you train speed work, you should use no more than 50 percent for the 8–10 sets of three reps. This is based on a no-bench shirt record and is for explosiveness, strength, and acceleration. This is exactly why you must use bands or chains to accommodate resistance. Without them, the bar moves too fast at the top.
Not Using Accommodating Resistance During Training 36:00

Resistance is a key factor when you look at the conjugate sequence system and its success. You have to learn how to accommodate resistance. There are various tools that can help you with this resistance accommodation. Weight releasers, chains, bands, and different specialty bars can all be used. When you learn about all of these different tools, it will allow you to create more variations within your training system. Additionally, you can target specific weak points at the same time.

Since power is measured in time, it’s not only how much force we can produce, but how fast can we get there? The faster we can get up to 100% of our output, the more weight we’re going to move. But we’re also going to become more athletic as well. As your training progresses, you’ll understand and put that together on how it’s going to work with your program or any other sport that you train. So, we ended up introducing the Dynamic Effort Method.

If you’ve never trained with the Dynamic Effort Method, the average person will make 154% improvement in the first year in their rate of force production, how fast they can produce force. That’s a massive improvement.
How to Effectively Heal Hamstring Injuries 39:00
1. PROPER LIFTING TECHNIQUE
2. RESTORATION EXERCISES
3. PROPER VOLUME FOR THE LOWER BODY – HIGH VOLUME
4. SLED WORK – AWAYS WALKING WITH THE SLED
5. TRAINING ALL FOUR SIDE OF THE BODY
6. %80 SPECIAL EXERCISES %20 BARBELL LIFTs
7. INVERSE CURL MACHINE LOADS THE HAMSTRINGS MOST EFFECTIVELY VS. GLUTE HAMS.