THE WORST gym injuries (and how to avoid them)

In today's video, we delve into some of the most severe and painful gym injuries, from the infamous 1977 World's Strongest Man fridge carry to contemporary mishaps. We explore the types of injuries, their causes, and how to prevent them, supported by data showing that strength sports like powerlifting are relatively safe compared to others like rugby or basketball. Despite the alarming visuals, it's a reminder that with proper technique and precautions, the gym is a safe place to pursue strength training. If you're serious about your training and want to minimize risk, check out my programs linked below. Stay safe and lift smart!
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00:00 Introduction
01:35 Why We Don't Do Fridge Carry
04:09 Atlas Stone Injury #1
05:38 My Atlas Stone Injury
07:42 Final Atlas Stone Injury
09:12 Terrible Log Press Injury
11:02 Deadlift Gone Wrong
12:49 Old Fashioned Squat
16:15 Why I Will NEVER Arm Wrestle
18:06 NEVER Do This On Leg Press

[@mitchellhooperstrongman]

Get a program written by me: moosecoaching.com Get your LHBK merch here: lhbk.shop

[@JonahIronstone]

Fella in the thumbnail was my coach for a couple of years. He walked away from that stone landing on his chest, nothing but some scrapes and bruises, and was at the afterparty later that night. Nothing broken. Big Loz did an interview with him during the pandemic, if you want the details straight from the man himself.

[@sonaresgratis7924]

Now that's insanely Lucky. Happy for him. It felt so painful just to watch.

[@warrenchu5752]

I havent watched the video because of the thumbnail 🤣 Came to the comments to find out if its too much gore or not

[@FakeAccount-vw9gi]

Wait a little bit, he’s gonna feel it

[@Supersyian]

big z stood up and asked the stone if it was ok

[@espenstoro]

Loving the tips, but I have to look away for most of them. 😢 "If you watch closely..." I DON'T! 😭

[@everybodylovesducksauce7158]

right.

[@Pivitrix]

I looked away at first on a couple of them when i knew what was coming, but ended up watching when he replayed it. Gnarly nasty stuff.

[@Vintage_geek]

The videos are absolutely brutal, but Mitchell went beyond the basic "oh my god that was terrible" reactions and provide solid advice for people, which makes all the difference. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@HorstEwald]

No, Larry did not know what he was doing there. His opponent was in an arm break position, Adam runs over to tell him "pull, don't side press" and in just that moment Larry moves to the side (it's as if he was doing what Adam was telling the other guy to do). This is exactly why you wanna be super careful pulling beginners. I hope he learned from this.

[@jerppazz4525]

i think he was saying that larry knows how to armwrestle and not necessarily the situation that he was in. in other words he has technique and strength.

[@HorstEwald]

@@jerppazz4525 That could very well be true, but I thought it's important to mention. Because if he was training with professionell armwrestlers, they would prevent him from breaking his arm.

[@Movielover123451]

Injuries is 100% my biggest fear. Strongman and competing is my whole life I can’t imagine not being able to do it for an extended period of time

[@Professionalminutestealer]

How long have you been training for? I broke my back at a younger age and it hold me back from trying to hard in the gym but wanna go for it moreso

[@Movielover123451]

@@Professionalminutestealer been training 4 years but strongman specific for nearly 2

[@Professionalminutestealer]

@@Movielover123451 good shit keep on keepin on hope you hit all the goals you set out fir yourself!

[@strawberrysherbet96]

I think everyone in every sport are afraid. Injuries set u back hard. Now I train for longevity no more ego lifting. Just one step at a time.

[@Professionalminutestealer]

@@strawberrysherbet96 true although breaking my back and neck young sucked it's helped me too self aware but it's inadvertently saved me from being stupid. I couldn't bend over at all in hs now I'm touching the floor with my nose no hands! I be doing light weight but high rep or super slow up and down and I feel great. Would like to bulk up some but I need to lean out before anything.

[@mmfsnotsakuga3408]

Mitchell: *shows a disturbing injury* Also Mitchell: "if you look closely" NO Mitchell!! I'm not going to!!

[@azovandy14.88]

I had to look away a couple times bc of his “I’m going to watch that at .25 speed now.”

[@richliving1619]

That little research paper at the beginning forgot cheerleading and gymnastics lol. Lot of injuries in those two sports

[@crendler9912]

Definitely

[@TearTheRoof0ff]

Not to mention American football.

[@crendler9912]

@@TearTheRoof0ff I am sure UFC has a lot.

[@AdrionVolts]

​@crendler9912 for sure, the sport is basically learning how to manage getting injured, while injuring others 😂

[@CrippedtoRipped]

Oh man, I felt every bit of that knee dislocation on the fridge carry!

[@jasonbelt57]

@mitchellhooperstrongman, that’s me in the deadlift section! I was watching your vids this week gearing up for my first strongman comp and there I was. Absolutely geeked over it! You are an inspiration and wealth of knowledge.

[@TylerMarshall-zk7cf]

Hmmmmm I've got a strong stomach but watching this on my lunch break is not a good idea lmao

[@sonaresgratis7924]

Try to watch It better before sleep as I'm doing right now 😉

[@xaviermitchell578]

seen many of this clips before, but I love hearing the breakdown of the injury and how to avoid said injuries while still performing the lift 👍

[@jippmaster1436]

Imagine the hamstring stretch on the last clip

[@dragonlordme]

The hypertrophy is off the charts

[@themadfrankenstien]

Wow, knees are way more flexible than I thought!

[@TheArrowedKnee]

As someone that has torn their ACL in both knees, i can personally attest to that

[@MaseraSteve]

Sure.. but Once you torn them ligaments.. bearing your whole body on that leg one leg when you're standing will not feel the same again. And It'll gave you a dull ache, then later, It'll get inflamed as a bonus!. I now carry a stylish umbrella in case of needing to stand on longer, for let's say.. waiting in line as the results now..

[@QuickQuips]

The text isn't readable (maybe it needs impact style font) but I only noticed after I stopped cringing from the pain. Props for including your own injury.

[@terminaldeity]

I really don't understand why people overload the leg press like that. The advantage of the leg press is that you can do high rep sets and get a deep stretch without wearing out your cardiovascular system.

[@user-jl2ec2ko4v]

That was some ultimate ego lifting, he probably should have used like a quarter of the weight in there, so the reason is mostly idiocy

[@Viking_Raven]

There's not and there will never be a leg press competition, because of how unsafe the machine potentially is with big loads. Anyone who does this is immature and clearly doesnt take strength training seriously.

[@adambuchanan1092]

Watching this on my deload week

[@Alonewolfonspiritualjourney]

This deserves so much subscribers such a gentleman and polite and the MEGA plus part is he’s a strong man an has awesome trophies he has my support much love💯💪

[@PATRICKMARCUCCI]

I clicked on this video because I want to support your channel but I didn't watch it yet because I was about to train chest🤣🤣 Btw the stone lifting tutorial from the other day was great! Super interesting. I didn't know that there was that much prep that went into it.

[@mitchellhooperstrongman]

Wise choice waiting to watch 😂! Glad to hear you enjoyed the stones video!

[@PATRICKMARCUCCI]

@@mitchellhooperstrongman Hopefully you didn't have to train right after your video editor had you watch those! Great video! I remember watching JF's log injury live :( That was terrible. There are so many lifting fail videos on the internet sometimes it seems like people are rupturing bicep tendons left and right, but in reality its a safer sport then most. Thanks for sharing those stats. It should encourage people to take up lifting if anything!

[@MrJester323king]

Had that bicep tear last summer. I'm a stickler for form inside the gym, so of course it happened elsewhere. I will note I was a bit dehydrated at the time which I think contributed to it.

[@ChokyoDK]

Every time someone trains with Larry their risk of injury increases to 99.9 %.

[@daltonmason62]

I'm literally sitting in the gym listening to this while lifting lol

[@TheSLK66]

That's why I always take squatting and leg-pressing very seriously and don't mess around with form.

[@Hesher93]

I don't get why people ego lift at the leg press, that guy had knee wraps, used his arms for support and only did 1/4 reps. No one will be impressed by that and he will gain little to no strenght/muscle at all.

[@larrytate1657]

Just not worth going that heavy if you’re not looking to professionally compete.

[@espenstoro]

Leg press is a hypertrophy movement for me, as deep as possible, in the nasty 10-20 rep range to near failure. I'm fortunately so stiff that I can't even lock out. I'll make it work with 2-3 red plates on our leg press, not much past what I can currently squat. Hurts like crazy in the right ways, but it feels pretty safe.

[@Madcowdiseiz]

I saw a guy doing almost this exact thing (minus the injury) last time I was in the gym. His upper body looked like he had been working out for awhile, but it stuck out to me that he had tons of weight on the press despite having very thin looking thighs. I'm fairly new to all of this, but it didn't seem to match up with the advice that folks like Dr. Mike and Jeff give.

[@Viking_Raven]

​@@espenstoroTHIS! The leg press is an accesory. It should never be at the start of any workout. Testing your max when youre locked in place is never a good idea.

[@Maxstratus2002]

Keep these videos up Mitch, great video and great info. These videos showcase you knowledge of the sport and the medical knowledge you possess, besides being extremely informative and helpful. The more knowledge you have the less likely it is to be injured in the gym and outside of it as well.

[@genericname3113]

Trying to teach myself how to use straps efficiently specifically because of 11:02-on. Every now and then with an over-under grip, the under-grip arm almost reflexively starts to pull up. I figured the safest thing to do was just drop the bar and start the lift over, focusing on keeping the arms perfectly straight.

[@ifyouwereme]

I knew this would make me feel sick, but watched it anyway.

[@tonybarfridge4369]

This has made me recall my past injuries which I did not want to rehash in my mind

[@baconfromhell666]

4:38 I was in a comp where the organizers decided to do an atlas load to platforms where the athletes were on opposite sides of the platform. A stone is loaded by one guy, none of the people that were supposed to be paying attention did, so the stone rolls over and off of the platform on the other side where the other atlete is bent over a stone. Thankfully it only hit him on the shoulder. Had it been a few inches to one side, the guy would have gotten his head crushed between 2 atlas stones.

[@jonfitch8405]

Franco's injury makes me ill every time I see it. My knee did that playing rugby once- horrific in every way believe me

[@rdbm-uo5zt]

I had a somewhat related injury to my ankle (to your injury in the stone lift) when I slipped on an ice patch nestled inside a tire rut. Normally, the foot should have slipped all the way sideways, but it got stopped by the 'wall' of the rut. I went down with an outward rotation of the lower leg or calf. I heard a loud crack as my ankle sustained an incomplete Pott's Fracture (only the fibula snapped, not the lower end of the tibia as well). Also, the stabilizing ligament that attaches the fibula to the lower tibia was completely avulsed. I described it to my doctor as a reverse ankle sprain! Took a year and a half to a full recovery. I used to go to many gyms in the seventies and eighties, and I only once saw a bad injury. There was a guy doing heavy medial rotations (while lying supine) to build the strength of his subscapularis side pressure for arm wrestling, and he snapped his upper arm with a 130 lb dumbbell.

[@Jordan_C_Wilde]

11:10 The fact that the ref let him hold that for like 4 more seconds is almost criminal, what on earth ...

[@yocarara]

The last one just reminded me of the scene in rick and morty where Morty breaks his legs 😭

[@andrewzach1921]

Thanks for the video, couldn't watch most of the injuries.

[@everythingstrength1485]

I've watched the Franco vs Fridge clip, literally a thousand times probably.....and it still ain't easy watching his leg go "ziggy zag" 😱

[@elijahs4240]

Had to physically put something over the part of the screen with the videos to watch. You made me really glad I didn't see any of it by your reactions😂also when is your squatting moose tattoo coming?👀

[@johnboy8594]

Broke my tib/fib right leg twice 1st time jumped a flight of stairs compounded 2nd time was dirt biking in the mountains foot slipped off in front of the foot peg as i hit a rut and it folded my boot in half backwards, Stars air ambulance came and got me

[@dyelbodybuild5601]

The squat I believe is Paul Jordan 1977 worlds. (760 lb squat) He competed once more in 1979 with a 711/507/677. I guess he recovered fairly well!

[@lucavanantwerpen3752]

If i remember correctly he failed his previous squat and still decided to make a big jump in weight for his next attempt.

[@larrytate1657]

@@lucavanantwerpen3752 that’s insane.

[@bragiodinsen4604]

apparently he started training race horses

[@awallner1]

The appellation for this kind of episode should be “Ask Dr. Hooper.”

[@MC-ep8cu]

Clicked video and liked for support. but can't watch this one lol

[@MoriaMariana]

I would be curious to know how dangerous Crossfit is in comparison to powerlifting and the other sports on that list.

[@mertzgenda]

With the atlas stone drop Craig was actually completely alright besides a little bit of bruising also it happened in Kitchener Ontario

[@camerongordon9101]

Yup, that’s Max Boudreault’s coach

[@DavidJohnson-ib8lw]

i felt pain

[@viktor821]

Watching injuries isn't that bad, but hearing them is another story 💀

[@davidleeder1447]

The blonde guy screaming before he did his rep had me laughing, but then I saw what happened, and OW! Dude's body crumbled and bent in new directions.

[@knowwe]

Fantastic video, great jo!! One thing though, I'd like to know more about though is the metrics of the study you mention, ie physical level of participants (athelete, average joe etc), size of study group, timeline covered etc

[@Professionalminutestealer]

I broke my t9 t10 verts when i was young and found the gym after graduationg and its helped a ton but the worry of my back is holding me back. Best thing ive found is working on stabilizer muscles, farmer walking with 2 different weights.

[@tank2003]

On the old fashioned squat (with the tom platz look alike), if you watch the video from that day, you'll hear the Late great Terry Todd talk about how this was way too much weight for him. He had just previously missed a prior attempt. I think he decided to add like 30 kg on to his failed weight

[@tylerjpitt3388]

That last one was rough.

[@Blue-cq2hl]

Knees bother me so bad. Watching the dude doing leg press you know he had no business at all on that. I will use my hands if everything else is planted as feelers but never for extra help that's just asking for trouble when you start cheating.

[@scoink3]

That bicep tear is why you never do mixed grip

[@aidanhughes3458]

you should make a second censored version of this video so i can watch it lol

[@knowwe]

Totally watchable man, just peek behind your hands for anything that you are worried about. Excellent advice.given.in this.vid, strongly reccomend checking it out

[@espenstoro]

It's a good one to listen to for the tips.

[@TheBohemoth87]

You said my name at the start of the video 😂

[@SOLAscriptura-]

That last one almost made me lose my lunch. I was just leg pressing this morning.

[@snaxximan5737]

This is missing the clip of a woman doing a legpress and getting her knees completely caved in. Thats a fear that i will never overcome in my life and its the reason i will never lock out on a legpress.

[@user-fn1cd6mo9z]

Yeah, that one's a rough watch...honestly, it looked to me like her knees are hypermobile. Any kind of excess mobility past straight alignment is very dangerous under load, hopefully everyone who can move their joint past normal extension knows to keep a healthy bend just in case. Plus, it keeps the joint from taking load off the muscle, which is just good for training anyway.

[@yellowbeard1]

I like the idea of you going over these types of videos but can the editor make it so that the video you are looking at is the larger video and you talking is the smaller one? Or in front of a green screen and the video can be the background and you are on the bottom of the video, to the side.

[@jacewhite8540]

Could handle all the injuries until the last one. That one was truly horrifying, something you would see out of a movie with special effects, except it was real.

[@manix8499]

I got a spiral fracture on my right humerus while drunk arm wrestling and he’s totally right guys, the bone can reach an artery or, in my case, the radial nerve. Luckily almost 3 years later I’m even stronger than before but it was super painful at the moment and also the rehab process later.

[@filoue2583]

1:08 I would say that bodybuilding, done well, science based all that jazz, is safer. Because you're basically trying to achieve the greatest stimulus with lower loads. More full range of motion and controlled repetition, which over time reduces the probability of injury, more than a powerlifting style, faster, more explosive, and heavier loads.

[@USAarmwrestler]

I am an aspiring armwrestler, and you can completely avoid spiral pressure to the humorous by rotating with the pressure not against it

[@CalebAshcraft-fo2wq]

I wish I could say that was the worst arm-wrestling injury I've ever seen. I broke my friend's arm this way earlier this year, and he violently shook. Luckily, the spiral fracture did not leave any splinters, and as bad as the break was, he did not need surgery. Probably shouldn't arm wrestle again.

[@asmuel]

Some athletic careers end with a whimper, and some blow both quads off their legs like JF Caron.

[@joemarley5982]

You can easily avoid gym injuries by not going to the gym and living a chill, peaceful life and realizing you are enough. No cope, no injury.

[@WingspeedGarage]

I want to hear Mitch’s thoughts but I can’t bare to watch the accidents 😅

[@user-strength10]

lol, shaw and eddie doing reaction vid's, see you hoped on that wagon too haha, good stuff mitch (regarding atlas stones, obviously Tom's the GOAT atm on those but i've seen how he goes with the side grip on the heavier 240/250 kg stones, just curious of your opinion as to why tom might resort to that grip with the heavier atlas)

[@jamesjohnson7905]

Hard to watch while recovering from a fractured fibula 4 weeks post surgery

[@andrewmercier7991]

@mitchellhooper the first Atlas stone guy passed out, and he didn't shatter his arm, he just had a scrape. He was VERY LUCKY. can confirm nothing happened to him.

[@Sofloasian]

The leg press one, dudes leg became a straight up spaghetti 😭😭

[@johanbarnard3435]

Plenty of armwrestlers who have broken arms all say it actually turned into an advantage afterwards as that boje heals stronger than it was before. But this can be avoided by using good proper armwrestling technique. Proper technique and you're almost 100% gaurenteed you won't break you're arm

[@H_whit99]

I agree lifting is after than explosive sports. Weightlifting is a lot more controlled than sports where you change direction and explode rapidly.

[@BigBusiness02]

Should've had Tempa's bilateral quad tear on here. That was ghastly. Also, that arm wrestling one didn't look like a radial fx. It looked like an ulnar dislocation and possible medial collateral ligament injury.

[@cwstreeper]

Those were gross. Exactly the reason I'm not trying to do too much with my injured shoulder right now.

[@user-xz3ds2hn9l]

I remember the fridge carry injury. I saw that on TV as a kid

[@amirchapter]

I'm a 22 yo 120 kg man . I've been training for 3 years , but my deadlift and squat haven't improve from 160 and 140 kg . It has been 2 years of dealing with such problem. My technique and form is ok but don't get stronger anymore

[@rampagesmackssons508]

Are you bracing properly? Are you eating enough? Are you drinking enough water? What type of deadlift? What accessories for posterior chain are you doing? Could you be doing them at the end of your workout and be fatigued?

[@tonyducks1121]

Watching videos like these will make you throw a little caution into the wind.

[@robins3352]

When Z dropped the stone on himself I was worried for the stone!

[@sauleduardo95]

You mean a midshaft fracture of the humerus which could damage the deep brachial artery and maybe the deep radial nerve.

[@sonny585]

Half way through .. I’ll come back tomorrow 🤢

[@JeffGary9]

7:46 Franco competed in 1997 WSM 😆

[@LCDRformat]

The last one triggered my fight or flight and my gag reflex

[@iamcyberface]

hardest clips for me to watch are these

[@SteelOfLegend]

That last video is why I will never do anything over 1k lbs on a leg press outside of doing a single 4 digit. I'd rather do lower weight, controlled reps for muscle gain/maint instead of trying to go all out on bad form.

[@lulzywizard7576]

Man. Larry sure let go of that arm in a hurry. That had to feel awful

[@imccrae1]

The majority of these videos online are, as you said, people who usually have no business doing it. Columbo was like 175lbs 😂 Definitely shouldn't have been carrying a refrigerator.

[@MellonVegan]

1:15 I do not remember the specifics or the name of the study, so take this with a grain of salt but to my knowledge, this also depends on the way you define injury. Iirc, this study defined injury as stopping you from training for or participating in your sport (for a certain period of time?) but aches and nagging injuries that are still an issue but don't take you out were not considered. Another study found strength sports to be some of the riskier sports you could do when it comes to these chronic issues like knee pain etc. But again, I don't remember the specifics, I read this years ago.

[@AHeroAlmost]

I actually have a fear of “Arm Wrestling”… I don’t think I’ll ever do it again even messing with friends 😬

[@johnyoung5413]

Only zydrunas could drop a stone on his chest like that and walk away like nothing happened 😂

[@brentstratton2224]

I gave myself tendonitis in my shoulder a month before a 1200 mile offroad motorcycle ride. I had to stop working out to let it heal.

[@thisnameisnotfake517]

shoulder tendonitis is a sneaky bitch. right when you think your good, your not. Thankfully PT is now my religion

[@Karamjeet-kh9ln]

Last one got me seriously scared 😱

[@user-sx5nd4vb9l]

I can never access your store. Want to buy some merch but your site is never accessible. .

[@BrockGrimes]

OOF....that last one geezus

[@machlnlst1327]

Watched this before training

[@Peatore]

I have really bad hyper extending, specially when I bench. It hasn't been a problem yet, I'm sure it will be in the future.

[@vanessaruiz4705]

I wish I hadnt seen that last one. Really wish

[@estar500]

Damn, I did not know that muscles could snap like that.

[@Marcel16DM]

Surprised none of Loz's injuries made it into the video

[@michaellee9883]

In America we play football. There are 1000 injuries per 1000 hours of play.

[@mahmoudashraf9043]

When you said his humerus was shattered, i thought he's not going to be funny anymore

[@JstPF-93]

That guy doing those leg presses WHYYY

[@Mel_Astora]

My knee hurts just watching this