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US college star seriously injured in weights accident

chadcruz

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US college star seriously injured in weights accident.
September 30, 2009 - 1:42PM


An US college gridiron star was recovering in hospital on Tuesday from seven hours of emergency surgery following a weight-lifting accident at the University of Southern California.

USC Trojans running back Stafon Johnson was listed in critical but stable condition after having his throat crushed by a weight bar on Monday.

The 21-year-old American was lying on his back doing a series of bench presses in the gym when the bar slipped out of his hands and landed on his neck, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Johnson, who leads the Trojans in touchdowns with five, was spitting up blood through his mouth and nose after the incident and was rushed to California Hospital Medical Center for surgery.

"This is a very tight program and a very tight team. Stafon's been a spiritual leader and a leader on the field in all ways for a long time here and a beloved guy. So this is something that does affect you. We all will feel it for some time," USC head coach Carroll told the Times.

Johnson is expected to survive the ordeal but will have to undergo extensive therapy to get his speech back.

Carroll said that doctors told him that Johnson would be able to play football again, although, probably not for the Trojans. Johnson, who has carried the ball 32 times for 157 yards this season, is in his senior, or final, year of US college.

"It was just an absolute accident. It just hit him wrong, and he's had obvious consequences," Carroll said. "This guy is an expert lifter. He just lost control of the bar on his first rep of his last set and it dropped on him."

Johnson's complex surgery involved realigning his larynx.

"None of us really think about what's going on in your throat," Carroll said. "But from the things that control speech and breathing and digestion and all of the different issues, everything got affected to some extent. So it's hard to imagine what the doctors were working with to try to get everything back and reconstructed the way it needs to be.

"Because he's so fit and so strong and handled it so well, they were able to continue to do all of the intricate stuff that they had to do. Now we have to wait to see how everything hooks back up, really is what it amounts to."
 
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dilatedmuscle

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shouldve used excercize balls instead
 
Flex

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"It was just an absolute accident. It just hit him wrong, and he's had obvious consequences," Carroll said. "This guy is an expert lifter. He just lost control of the bar on his first rep of his last set and it dropped on him."
I laughed out loud at that part.
 
Johnny Bravo

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I'm thinking he's benching with suicide grip.
 
Flex

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I wonder if he was doing decline.

I'd find it hard to drop it on my neck doing flat bench.

I'll try it sometime :spy:
 
FlexFan

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^^ If your tumbs are not wraped around the bar it may slip...Considering it was his first rep, I think he tried to take the bar from the hooks without full grip and so it fell right on his throat (which is better than the skull)...
 
Flex

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^^ If your tumbs are not wraped around the bar it may slip...Considering it was his first rep, I think he tried to take the bar from the hooks without full grip and so it fell right on his throat (which is better than the skull)...
Possibly. But, I bench with suicide also and it'd be near impossible for me to drop it on my neck doing flat bench. The bar would likely drop towards my ribs.

I've had it happen before doing 315 on close grip. It was on my first rep also, luckily I just got the wind knocked out of me.
 
Zigurd

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Maybe he was doing "guillotine bench" where you lift the bar up from the neck.
 
tim290280

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I stopped using a suicide grip years ago. It used to be what the cool kids in the gym used, so I did too.

Simple rule of lifting though is that you should have control over the bar when lifting. You just can't with a suicide grip.

Also interesting fact: majority of the deaths from lifting every year are from benching. I remember seeing the figure for the USA as being a couple of people every year dieing while lifting, most from bench pressing (every now-and-again it is a heart attack or something compeletly different).
 

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Natureboypkr

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I hope that guy is ok.
 
Hypocrisy86

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Hmm i thought people use reverse grip for that "suicide" grip
kinda like reverse bb curls, ive tried reverse grip bench press, cant go all the way down due to elbows.
 
curtisymoo

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he might have just lifted it off without a complete suicide grip and as it was being moved over his face it started slipping down his hands THEN it dropped..?
 
Robcardu

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I will never bench with suicide grip again :skurred:
 
hulk777

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poor guy but what a thumbless dumbass. lol my mate gave himself a concussion doing flat bench when he reached the top of the rep he threw it and it smacked him on the head lucky it was only 20kg lol
 
Johnny5

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At my gym, there's a safety bar just inches above your neck. Do they not use this in the States? Is it too LIGHT WEIGHT?
 

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