Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Resistance training is one of the safest physical activities you can do, with injury rates lower than recreational running. But within the gym, new lifters get hurt three to ten times more often than experienced lifters in the same sport. Same movements, same equipment, same general programming. The difference is not the training. It is the lifter's preparation for the training, and the connective tissue lag behind it.
In this segment from the Barbell Medicine Podcast, Dr. Jordan Feigenbaum and Dr. Austin Baraki walk through the data on injury rates by experience level (Prieto-Gonzalez 2020 in CrossFit, Aasa 2017 in powerlifting), the mechanism behind the gap (connective tissue lag, the engine-and-chassis problem), and the consult Austin runs with a four-month-in lifter who shows up with patellar tendinopathy convinced the program failed them.
If you have ever started a program, made fast progress, and ended up with something nagging in a tendon four months in, this is the segment that explains why.
Timestamps:
0:00 - The injury rates almost no one quotes
1:00 - Lifting is safer than recreational running
2:00 - The CrossFit comparison: 9.5 vs 0.74 to 3.3 per 1,000 hours
3:00 - The checking account analogy
4:30 - Why anabolic steroid users tear tendons (19 of 22)
5:30 - The patellar tendinopathy consult
Resources
Pre-order our book, Signal: barbellmedicine.com/signal
Full episode: youtube.com/watch?v=iYDmLCk5Nhc&feature=youtu.be
Training Plateau Action Plan (free): barbellmedicine.com/training-plateau-action-plan
Progressive Loading Part 1: barbellmedicine.com/blog/progressive-loading
Beyond Progressive Overload Part 2: barbellmedicine.com/blog/beyond-progressive-overload
The Death of the Novice-Intermediate-Advanced Framework Part 3: Article: barbellmedicine.com/blog/novice-intermediate-advanced-strength-training
BBM Programs and Coaching: barbellmedicine.com
Aasa U et al. Injuries among weightlifters and powerlifters: a systematic review. Br J Sports Med. 2017.
Prieto-Gonzalez P et al. Injuries in novice participants during an eight-week start-up CrossFit program. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020.
Kanayama G et al. Tendon rupture in body builders. Sports Med. 2015.
Resistance training is one of the safest physical activities you can do, with injury rates lower than recreational running. But within the gym, new lifters get hurt three to ten times more often than experienced lifters in the same sport. Same movements, same equipment, same general programming. The difference is not the training. It is the lifter's preparation for the training, and the connective tissue lag behind it.
In this segment from the Barbell Medicine Podcast, Dr. Jordan Feigenbaum and Dr. Austin Baraki walk through the data on injury rates by experience level (Prieto-Gonzalez 2020 in CrossFit, Aasa 2017 in powerlifting), the mechanism behind the gap (connective tissue lag, the engine-and-chassis problem), and the consult Austin runs with a four-month-in lifter who shows up with patellar tendinopathy convinced the program failed them.
If you have ever started a program, made fast progress, and ended up with something nagging in a tendon four months in, this is the segment that explains why.
Timestamps:
0:00 - The injury rates almost no one quotes
1:00 - Lifting is safer than recreational running
2:00 - The CrossFit comparison: 9.5 vs 0.74 to 3.3 per 1,000 hours
3:00 - The checking account analogy
4:30 - Why anabolic steroid users tear tendons (19 of 22)
5:30 - The patellar tendinopathy consult
Resources
Pre-order our book, Signal: barbellmedicine.com/signal
Full episode: youtube.com/watch?v=iYDmLCk5Nhc&feature=youtu.be
Training Plateau Action Plan (free): barbellmedicine.com/training-plateau-action-plan
Progressive Loading Part 1: barbellmedicine.com/blog/progressive-loading
Beyond Progressive Overload Part 2: barbellmedicine.com/blog/beyond-progressive-overload
The Death of the Novice-Intermediate-Advanced Framework Part 3: Article: barbellmedicine.com/blog/novice-intermediate-advanced-strength-training
BBM Programs and Coaching: barbellmedicine.com
Aasa U et al. Injuries among weightlifters and powerlifters: a systematic review. Br J Sports Med. 2017.
Prieto-Gonzalez P et al. Injuries in novice participants during an eight-week start-up CrossFit program. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020.
Kanayama G et al. Tendon rupture in body builders. Sports Med. 2015.
