Busted-up weightlifter's syndrome: Real or BS?

Over the years I've had the privilege of studying under masters of all types of physical culture. From bodybuilding to gymnastics to martial arts to Olympic weightlifting to Powerlifting to strongman training to club swinging and more. And it's been one hell of an amazing journey. I've also, through those studies been able to get to know people of all walks of life and all ages that used these methods. And that's been even more amazing.

One of the things that I noticed during my in depth research of various methods of bodyweight training was the constant talk of "busted up weightlifter syndrome." It's funny how many bodyweight only trainers talked about this supposed syndrome and made it sound like anyone that's ever lifted a weight in their lives had come down with huge problems ranging from blown out backs, to bad knees, to crippled shoulders. They all talked like it was some sort of a given, that if you used weights you'd end up in a ton of pain with a bunch of joint problems. Then they'd talk about how bodyweight training would never cause any of these types of problems.

Now, I'm a huge bodyweight training enthusiast. I love it. It's probably my overall favorite way to train. Calisthenics, Charles Atlas style Dynamic Tension, Visual Resistance, Self resistance, Isometric and gymnastics training all happen to be a huge part in my own personal programs as well as those that I design for my clients. However, bodyweight training is only one of many tools that I use for myself and my clients.

That being said, is what those bodyweight only trainers saying about "busted up weightlifter's syndrome" true?

I've spent the past decade looking into that very question.

It's funny, I've met many men and women in their 70's, 80's and 90's that started training with weights in their teen age years and have continued on for their entire lives, that have no signs of "busted up weightlifter's syndrome." And these guys and gals weren't fooling around. We're talking men and women well into the golden years that aren't just ripped and chiseled, but are still tossing around awesome weights. 700 and 800 pound squats and deadlifts. 300 and 400 pound clean and jerks. 150-300 pound snatches. Good strong weight, yet none of them had bad backs, bad knees, bad shoulders or the other maladies that they were supposed to have. In fact, these men and women had some of the healthiest joints and back of anyone I've ever met.

Yet, at the same time, I knew bodyweight training practitioners that suffered from bad knees, bad shoulders, and bad backs.

Hmmm........what's going on here?

Yes, I've also met some bodybuilders and lifters that did definitely suffer from those same maladies as well. And I've known many bodyweight only people who had incredibly healthy joints and backs.

So, what' going on?

Very simple.

The problem isn't so much in whether someone used their own bodyweight or if they use barbells and kettlebells. The problem comes from the methods in which people go about their training.

In my studies and experience I've found that the busted up people never seem to warm up. Yet the people that aren't busted up and beaten to hell all spend a good amount of time warming up their bodies before they train.

Also, every busted and beaten up person that I found trained using "isolation" methods and body part splits. They had a day of training set aside for chest, one day for shoulders, one day for back, one day for arms, etc. And they'd do things like 3-5 exercise for their front deltoid, 3-5 for their lateral deltoid, 3-5 for their rear deltoid, etc.

On the other hand, everyone that's not busted and beaten up trained either with full body workouts, or at the most an upper body emphasized and lower body emphasized or push/pull split.    I say emphasized, because there's always going to be some lower body work on an upper body day and vice versa. Also, they didn't try to "isolate" the body parts, but rather they worked to use the body as one unit.

I also found that the busted up weight trainers tended to use a lot of machines. Those of you that read my stuff regularly will know how I feel about the machines, lol. While the non busted up people used their bodies, barbells, clubs, kettlebells, dumbbells, and other free weight style  movements.

Also, after they had trained, the people that weren't busted and battered tended to use a cool down while the battered people tend to not cool down at all.

Between training sessions, I've found, that the battered population tends to not worry about their sleep, their recovery, their stress levels in daily life or their nutrition.

Yet all of the non battered people focused on getting their 7-9 hours of sleep, working on various recovery methods such as chiropractic care, massage, stretching, foam rolling, mobility work etc. They also minimized their daily stress and ate a nutritious and clean diet.

All of this led to healthy bodies rather than beaten up bodies.

Mix this with many other factors like not seeking out muscular failure on a regular basis, not using forced reps all the time, and more and you'll start to see why there really is no such thing as "busted up weightlifter syndrome." But, instead there's bad training habits and good training habits.

When we look back to the old timers like Sandow (pictured at the top of the page), Maxic, Saxon, Klien and the rest you'll see a number of men and women that (in a time when the average life span was only 55 years or so) lived long and healthy lives keeping not only their strength and physique, but also their healthy joints. Start to emulate their training methods and you two can have healthy joints for life even while moving a shit ton of weight.

I could go into further depth, and probably will in the future. But, I think that's enough for now. Talk with you all soon.

Yours in strength and health,
Brett