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Text By: Sean Ross
Photos By: Jeff Lawrence
Kneeling medicine ball chest press
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Exercise selection can be very confusing to someone designing a training program. There are thousands of different exercises to choose from that will work on getting you stronger, building muscle, losing body fat, increasing power, increasing speed and improving endurance. The decision of what exercise to select will be based on what your primary goal is, but much consideration should be given to the risk vs. benefit ratio of a particular movement. Sure, your favorite exercise may be effective, but could th same benefit be achieved with a lower risk of injury by choosing something different? What works well for you may not always be the best for someone else at a different level.
High school athletes are often places in risky situations by being in a strength program that ignores the risk to benefit ratio. Often coaches are overwhelmed by a large group of athletes training in a crowded environment, and subsequently proper technique is the first quality to suffer. Exercises such as large tire flips and deadlifts seem like good ideas but seldom is good form actually practiced. These exercises often lead to extreme loads on flexed spines (rounded backs), thus increasing the risk of injury to younger athletes who lack sufficient core strength. Alternative exercises like hyperextensions develop the posterior chain (low back, glutes, hamstrings) at a much lower risk plus increase balance as well. Depth jumps (jumping off high boxes then immediately jumping back up) are also very popular with high
Kneeling medicine ball side throw
| school programs but often lead to patellae pain from the athlete not having sufficient eccentric strength to handle the extreme forces applied when landing from a high height.
Professional and elite athletes should also ask the risk vs benefit question when training. Trainers should design programs for this level athlete with the goal of keeping them healthy on the playing field more than trying to greatly improve their performance.
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